Tent waterproof levels.

osarusan

Hi all,

i'm looking to do some camping with my kids, and am wondering about waterproof levels of tents.

I would only be planning to do it when it isn't raining, but I'd still be worried about heavy showers anyway.

I was in Halfords today and saw a camping set for 100euro, but the hydrostatic head was only 1500 - I guess I'd need something better than that?

Also, sleeping bags - what lower comfort temperature should I be looking at to make sure the kids (and myself) are warm enough?

If anybody has any recommendations, I'd be grateful.


EDIT: If this would be better in the general Outdoor Pursuits thread, then apologies.

Pat Mustard

I don't know about those tents in Halfords. They might be okay but you are not necessarily buying a tried and trusted brand.

I would think that you would be better off buying a Vango or something like that. It will cost you a bit more but if you look at the stitching in the seams, the poles and all of the kit involved, Vango stuff is usually pretty well put together. I've bought cheap tents in the past. One was great and stood the test of time. The other was poor, had poor stitching, weak poles, and was just not fantastic, apart from keeping off the rain.

As regards a Hydrostatic Head of 1500mm, I would hope that this would be reasonable enough for camping in Ireland, assuming that it would be used reasonably close to sea level, far away from driving winds that occur higher up in the hills. Obviously, if you can get a better tent with a better HH, go for it.

Look at this Vango Venture 450. HH of 3000mm and positive customer reviews on Amazon UK.

Another option may be to buy two smaller Vango tents (maybe 2 three-man tents), costing maybe €70 each, the advantage being lower weight, the disadvantages being having two sets of kit instead of one and less headroom.

You could also look at Coleman tents. I've never used one but I hear that they are good.

As regards sleeping bags, I know that it is August and it is supposed to be somewhat warm but I think that a good three season bag would be relatively versatile. Look at this Highlander bag with a comfort limit of -2 degrees celcius. Remember that if it gets warm, the sleeping bag can be unzipped. While it is possible that bag may be a little too warm for this time of year, I've used bags with similar ratings in August/September and there was no element of overkill. That said, heat doesn't bother me too much.

A Vango Ultralite II is a good general bag.

You will also need sleeping mats for underneath the sleeping bags, for warmth more than comfort.

This thread may be of some use to you.

osarusan

Pat Mustard wrote: »

Useful reply

Hey, thatnks for that detailed and very useful reply, I really appreciate it.

As it's just with kids in warm weather, I wonder what I need and don't need, but what I really don't want is to buy a piece of junk and realise that I'd have been much better off spending a bit more in the first place.

silverharp

on your sleeping bag query , what I do (in summer) is bring a winter bag for my son and I use a summer bag. To be on the safe side have spare layers , hats and socks and they should be fine. Treat yourself to a Thermorest style ground mat , foam ones for the kids :pac:

Carawaystick

Isn't the HH quoted for the groundsheet? Does this tent have a flysheet?

unkel

Pat Mustard wrote: »

Look at this Vango Venture 450. HH of 3000mm and positive customer reviews on Amazon UK.

Looks like a great tent. I was thinking of buying this Vango myself:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vango-Berkeley-500-Dome-Tent/dp/B00OKCK3HY/ref=sr_1_6?s=sports&ie=UTF8&qid=1438901366&sr=1-6&keywords=tent

A little bit cheaper again, but bigger (a 5 man tent) and with a HH of 4000mm

Any thoughts, Pat?

Pat Mustard

Spot on, unkel, looks like a good one.

I suppose that it would also be worth looking at the Vango site to check the area and dimensions of the footprint before buying either of these tents, just to make sure that it will cater for all of the necessary people and gear.

But I think that the tent suggested by you should be a bigger tent than the one I found, being a 5-man.

unkel

It is. Sleeping area is 210cm long and 300cm wide. Price has gone up from £110 to £121 since I posted that though

unkel

Its smaller sister has a 210cm long and 260cm wide sleeping area (still slightly bigger than the one in your link) and is £103 (free shipping), which is pretty good value too. A bit too small for me though, but might suit OP

Linky

markc2951

I've had some miserable times with cheap tents in the past..now I'm using a vango tent with 5000mm hh

Used it during a stormy night at the cliffs of more and was perfect..no issues

jelenka

Nothing is properly waterproof unless it's hh count is over 3000. I'd suggest vango too as they have a good selection of tents with 3000-5000 hh count.
Sleeping bag for the summer 8-20 degrees 2 season is enough, but with the summer that we had this year ( 2 degrees one night few weeks ago) I'd get season 2-3 with 4-20 degrees.