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Lakeland
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If you were able to start from scratch and pick out all your tent camping equipment, what would you buy. Price to function is important. Tent needs to be 150 square feet and easy to set up, beds/cots for 2 adults and 2 children, cook stove and grill to be propane, lighting for site and tent,cook box, A/C, ceranic heaters, ect.....
Camping only at State Parks, thus electric and water at each site!
Thanks for your tips and ideas! Tomm
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edited 10/12/09 07:27pm by WTW *
Work/live Lakeland
Fish/play Port Charlotte
Two little girls and mom + me
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Rolling Condo
South Carolina
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If you're interested here's a great opportunity to get a portable propane stove, oven combo HERE
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skipnchar
Topeka Kansas USA
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Joined: 12/17/2003
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If you were camping in MY are I'd suggest the BIGGEST STOVE you can carry 
2004 F-250 SCREW Long Bed (new)
OR 2004 F-150 HD (85,000 towing miles)
Rockwood 8314SS 34' travel trailer
We have enough YOUTH...how about a fountain of SMART
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Vapor_Trails
Yucaipa, CA
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Honestly, if you are looking to be "the most comftable (sic) in the camp ground! " then you need to get get an RV.
But, if you want to tent camp it's because you enjoy a more simplistic, "back to nature" kind of outdoor experience. Many folks, myself include, who post here in the Tent Camping Forum own RV's. But, we occasionally like to shed the mechanized form of camping and get back to basics.
However, getting back to basics does not mean you should suffer, or forgo the comforts of living western culture has come to enjoy. Unless that's your shtick.
Having said that the "Ultimate" in family camping, IMO, is as follows:
Tent: Springbar Canvas Tents. I have a 10x10 Kodiak Canvas Tent, a functional copy of Springbar, but not as large or as versatile as Springbar's offerings. Check out their website to see what they have.
Springbar Tents
Stove: A Coleman two burner is economical and very easy to use. And will serve you just as well as any stove costing a lot more.
Chairs: Buy any "quality" recliner style outdoor chair and you will be the envy of all your tenting friends.
Beds: Some folks go as far as carrying along a traditional mattress like you'd find in your bedroom. But, that's not very practical. Mostly you'll find people touting air mattresses or cots. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. Only you can decide what will work best for you. Do some research and go from there.
Bedding: High end sleeping bags, sheets, quilts and comforters are all common fare with experienced tent campers.
Food and beverages: Most folks would recommend the "Extreme" style ice chests that keep stuff cold for 3 or 4+ days. Both Coleman and Igloo have affordable offerings. But, a lot of folks bring a dorm-style fridge when electricity is available. The ultimate camp coolers are the 12 volt style Engels and the like. But, those run in the multiple hundreds of dollars.
Sundries: There are no shortage of tenters who use electric lights, fans, radios, TV's and even air conditioners. Again, only you know what meets your needs.
In my case, I like to tent camp way back on 4x4 trails where I can not bring my travel trailer. I also like to backpack on occasion. But, when I 4x4 camp I bring a generator, satellite (I'm a sports junkie), a fan and/or heater, porta-potty, beer, good food, comfy chair, etc. I also have a very comfortable bedroll. And that's what works for my middle-aged self. Back when I was a young man a shallow trench filled with fire-warmed rocks covered with tree boughs was fine. But, not these days.
And when I do backpack I bring my AM radio and my iPod. Not only because I can but because I enjoy music and talk radio; and I don't see any reason why I should deprive myself of the technological things I enjoy just because I'm off on some mountain trail. And I don't give a rat's backside if some some "naturalist" thinks it's sacrilegious to bring that stuff into the wilderness. I do what I want to do.
Bottom line: figure out what YOU want as a camper and pay absolutely no mind to what others think you should be doing. Camping is what you want it to be, not about looking over other people's fences.
68 Me & DW
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tplife69
SoCal
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tom, good post topic! I agree with Vapor Trails, you sound more like an RV camper to me. But as far as tenting, here's my take, it's only my own opinion: 150 square feet is first of all too large a tent footprint for the best tent sites with shade, level ground, away from runoff areas, etc. so that's out and a 10 X 10 is max and a 2nd tent is bought instead. A 6-man tent will house all four of you with the 2nd tent for your gear, and soon the kids will take that tent over as "theirs" anyway. You'll wish you did later as setting up tents larger than 100 square feet are a pain and you'll enjoy more camping trips if you are setting up camp alone while everyone else has fun. Price to function means getting top-end brands like Marmot or Sierra Designs (yes, even Northface and a few models by Eureka!) because quality means functionality, lifetime guarantees are the best, and you'll spend more with lesser brands over time anyway. The same is true with sleeping bags (Marmot,Sierra Designs, Northface), and sleeping pads (ThermaRest) when you spend more you get a LOT more. When you buy knockoffs, you get 2nd rate gear and you're paying the original company anyway as these technologies (i.e.; where did SwiftClips come from? hint: Sierra Designs) are patented. While catalityc heaters are a nice touch, you can be comfortable just heating the inside air with a lantern (using great care)if you're using goose-down bags and some insulated underwear for pajamas while moving about. I should have switched to white gas years ago, but better late than never. I use 2 Coleman Model 288 lanterns ($25 each, Ebay) with MSR fuel bottles ($12 and $15, A16 and SportChalet) and they are much more inexpensive to use (and convenient) than my propane NorthStar ($20 Target). Coleman offers outstanding tripods for hanging lanterns ($20, Ebay) since trees aren't always where you want them, and the days of hanging ANYTHING on a tree or bush are over in campgrounds. As far as my stove, I'm going to get a few more years out of my Coleman propane 2-burner (21 years old and still in VG condition) as its thin size is a plus (Coleman compact white gas is too narrow for my gear) and I use a lot more fuel for lighting than cooking. Still, if I did it over, I'd get the Coleman white gas stove, 2-burner wider model. Of course my Weber table top gas grill is propane and propane is the shiz-nit for BBQ and charcoal doesn't take up less room for this job than propane. I avoid cook boxes because I travel with a compact car so my gear must be in soft cases and flexible for arranging. Not a problem with zippered gear bags available everywhere almost for free. I'd skip AC and ceramic heaters as having to be in campgrounds (or campsites) that offer electric and water means missing out on some of the very best camping has to offer in location and views, shade and privacy, so that's definitely out. I carry an OPTIMA 12V house battery so I have all the juice I need for music, recharging small appliances and special-effects lighting. Any of today's coolers will keep your food and bevs cold all weekend, longer trips mean a 2nd cooler with dry ice.
Where I differ with others on this issue is right here: DO pay mind to what others think you should be doing. You needen't follow their advice, but you might LEARN something new. I continue to enjoy camping with diverse groups because I bring novel ideas I've picked up from other campers: Fire starters, colored flames, special effects LED lighting, a wide selection of music tastes with an expensive outdoor stereo system, spare tents for "guests",extra tarp and cords for rainy weather, generic ranger clothing outfits, whistles, whittling & crafts for the kids, the ability to make the campsite bright like daylight or dim like nightlights, more than enough hardwood for fires, pie ovens for gourmet smores, and stories of The Jersey Devil and indian stories of long ago. I didn't pull this stuff out of my behind, they were offered and handed down from others And I LEARNED something new. And I'm still at it! ;-)
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WTW
Lakeland
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Joined: 03/13/2006
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Thanks for the reply, I am an RV camper w/ a HTT, love the HTT. But we only camp 6 week-ends a year, in the winter. Thus we would like to sell the HTT and put the monies into our morgage and a nice Tent equipt. So the reason for asking what your the tent site campers enjoy in the way of tenting! Thanks again for the constructive replies! Tomm
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Opie431
Bellevue, MI
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Joined: 06/19/2004
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We had a nice piece of carpet for inside our tent. Just before we left for our long trip I found a four yard piece of heavy upholstery material for $1.50 at a garage sale. It was an ugly color but it was much lighter than the carpet piece we had, folded up easily and kept the floor clean. The unused carpet will go to Goodwill.
We camped in some cold weather so we took the two chairs inside during the evening and sat a Rubbermaid container between them to use as both storage and a table. Elegant it wasn't but handy it was.
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hotbyte
Barnesville GA
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Joined: 08/31/2004
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A few things I'd want if we still tent camped...
- bag big enough to easily store tent in without standing on your head to get it in the bag. One that would let me put it in fairly loose and then tighten up to conserve space.
- wide thermarest pads. I used a standard width tent camping for scouts and it was fine for occasional use. If I tent camped regular a wider one would be nice.
- Nice cargo style trailer to keep it all in. My most hated task was loading/unloading Durango.
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Opie431
Bellevue, MI
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PS. We just came back from almost six weeks of tent camping and we took to much stuff but we knew that we would often be 50 miles from any store that we could buy replacements if something went wrong. If you are twenty miles from a Walmart you do not need two air mattresses, if you are fifty miles of bad roads away you do.
Luckily I put in two blankets in addition to our zip together sleeping bags because the temperature varied at night from 23 degrees to sixty. A light blanket was enough some nights and we needed to add both blankets other nights in the sleeping bags.
Having everything we need in the TT probably made me pack too much to tent camp.
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StaceyE
Chicagoland
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I look forward to the answers here, as I'm pretty new to tenting also. Our family camps in a TT, but this past summer I took my girls tenting a couple of times for the experience. I look forward to many more nights in the tent with my girls and the dog. Here's what I found great.
We have a Coleman tent I bought off Craigslist that I don't love. It was cheap and got us started, but our camping is in the summer and even though it's mostly white, it was really hot inside. I would love to get a good tent that would ventilate better. Ideally one tent for sleeping family of 4 plus a dog, and a second tent for changing and gear storage.
I love my RV style awning rug (the plasticy kind) for inside the tent. We pulled them out of the camper to bring with while tenting. I have a set, so the 9 x 12 went in the tent (great for bare feet and protecting tent floor) and the 5 x 7 went just outside the tent door (great for leaving the dirt outside).
I also brought our awning lights and used clothes pins to clip them along the front of the tent - kids loved that and they provided nice 'mood' lighting.
I wouldn't camp without my Volcano stove - in a tt or tenting. I LOVE it, works great as a compact charcoal grill, but what we really enjoy is stacking dutch ovens and letting our whole meal simmer away on coals while we play. I can make BBQ ribs, baked beans, and cornbread in three dutch ovens, all on the same stove - I love, love, love this stove.
What I REALLY want is the Cabela's camp kitchen, and the Eureka Northern Breeze Screen House. With one flap lifted on the screen house, I could set up kitchen in the shade right next to the table in the screen house. Now that would be luxury for me!
Tom and Stacey
DD Nikki (11) and Kate (6)
Wrigley our big black dog
'02 7.3 Excursion with '93 Prowler 27BH
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