OSH '05 Comments

In article ,
Bob Chilcoat wrote:
We have a 35-year old French ridge tent with a solid vinyl molded bottom.
We've had 2" of water running under the tent in a downpour and absolutely no
leaks. It has a separate rainfly that goes all the way to the ground. Not
high tech -- it's just waterproofed cotton, but we've never gotten wet.

Ah well, I've got a circa 55 year old "Ted Williams" (the Sears, Roebuck &
Co., house brand in those days) umbrella tent. purported 6-person, with an
*inside*frame* (a design few people have even "heard of" these days
Integral fully water-proof floor -- not sure what the treatment is. but
like Bob described, have had streams running under the tent, with no water
inside. Rain fly? _What_ rain fly? Didn't come with one, doesn't _need_
one. It's a _very_ tight-weave cloth -- cotton duck?? -- and water just
_doesn't_ go through it -- not even in torrential rains and high winds. And
we've _never_ had to use any supplemental treatment on it -- no 'seam sealer',
nothing to 'renew' the waterproofing, not -anything-.

Yeah, it's heavy and bulky. No, I wouldn't _dream_ of using it for back-
packing. But I *wish* I could buy something approximately as good _today_.

I can't even find anybody who could _custom-manufacture_ a duplicate.

We
bought it in the UK in the early 70's and have camped all around the UK and
Europe and here in the US. OTOH, it's pretty heavy and bulky. We've since
bought a couple of different "high-tech" nylon dome tents with fiberglass
poles, but none of them measured up to that old tent. If we knew it was
likely to rain, we'd take that.

--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)


"john smith" wrote in message
...
After seeing others experience with tents at AirVenture '05, I am going to
write an article to post prior to AirVenture '06 about what to look for in
a tent that will keep you dry and stay where you place it.

However, since you are asking now, here are a few quick suggestions so you
may seek and purchase a tent at a discount this Fall when stores are
discounting this Summer's merchandise.

o Three season tent with full rain fly. Single wall tents are lighter, but
do not breath because they are coated to seal out the water. As I have
told others, in 25 years the only weather I have not yet seen at OSH is
snow.

o Look for a tent that has a full rain fly, not those little umbrella sun
shade things that some tents have. You want a rain fly that goes almost
all the way to the ground, completely covering the inner tent. You want a
fly that is factory seam sealed.

o Bathtub floor. The waterproof tent bottom that comes up the sides of the
tent six to eight inches.

o Ground cloth. I use TYVEK, the vapor barrior material that is wrapped
around new house construction. Find a scrap in the dumpster or ask the
construction crew to save you a piece. (Check with a local Boy Scout troop
to see if they have a roll that they will sell you a piece from.) Cut it
to the shape of your tent's footprint so it is two-inches from the edge
all around. If it is the same dimension or larger than your tent's
footprint, water draining off the fly can be caught on top of the ground
cloth and flow under your tent. Although the bathtub is waterproof, water
will still seep through microscopic holes and make the inside of your tent
wet.

How many people will be sleeping in the tent?

Do you need/want a stand-up size or a crawl-into size?

Metal poles vice fiberglass poles? I prefer metal, but the most important
feature of the tent will be multiple lash points for guying. If you have
sufficient guys/tie-down points, it will withstand very strong wind.

Domes/A-frame/rectangular shape. Think airflow. How will the surface of
the tent deflect the wind and rain? Domes generally allow the greatest
interior volume and best wind/rain shedding.

Visit a backpacking store or good sporting goods store and try out the
different models. Read BACKPACKER magazine. Google "backpacking+gear
reviews" for websites and read what users have to say.

Onlines websites:
www.campmor.com
www.rei.com
www.northernmountain.com
www.sierratradingpost.com
(these are the ones I commonly check for sales)
there are many others, including the manufacturers websites.

Remember, this is a brief overview, there is lots to discuss.

RDR wrote:
Is this the summer of the dicount tent?

Ugh.

Matt Whiting wrote:
Tom McQuinn wrote:

This is my third year in a row at Osh and the second time I've had a
department store tent fail me. Never again. My 'C' brand tent with
its 'guarantee' to keep me dry is going to a yard sale and I don't
care if it sells for 75 cents. It isn't worth the closet space it
would otherwise take up. I am very interested in any brands of tent
that anyone could recommend. Because if I do this again I intend to
stay dry somehow. I did notice that some of the manufacturers make
rain flys that will keep water out as long as the tent is standing. I
gotta get me one of those!


I have a Coleman Classic tent that is more than 20 years old now. I
don't know if Coleman even sells it, but it survived the storms of OSH
in 1995. It is an 8x10 and has something like 16 or 18 peg loops around
the bottom. I carry an ammo box with rail road spikes to use as tent
pegs. My friend teased me about carrying all of that weight to OSH (but
the Skylane was easily up to the task!), but he stopped teasing me when
my tent was one of the few that survived the thunderstorms intact and
even dry inside.

This isn't a lightweight tent and isn't made for backpacking, but it is
a robust tent that doesn't leak and has held up well during 20 some
years of use. I'm on the second fly as they don't hold up well due to
the tension on them, but the tent is still in decent shape.

Matt
We bought a Eureka after I did extensive research on brands and models.
Somewhere there is/was a website that had wind ratings for tents. I
found that one very interesting. This year I took on a very slight
amount of water as I THOUGHT I didn't have any seam sealer (found an
empty). When I was packing up the tent I found THREE bottles of seam
sealer in the peg bag (Ron pegged the tent). Even without the seams
sealed the tent only took on about a cup of water during Monday's storm.

Margy

"Morgans" wrote in message
...

What kind of accommodations did you stay in? I saw your plane, but never
caught up with you.

By the way, you had one of the nicest planes in the HB show area, IMHO.

Jim.............

I had planned to go to the show solo, camping along the way and with friends
at Camp Scholler. Then an old friend who was a WWII B-17 navigator asked to
go along. I couldn't say no (and am glad as heck I didn't!) so I called the
Oshkosh Convention and visitor's bureau at (920)235-3007. Being only about
six weeks before the convention, I didn't expect much.

Surprize, surprize! They gave me ten phone numbers of folks who wanted to
rent out rooms in private homes and told me if I didn't rent one of those -
call back and they'd give me ten more. We rented a single room with two beds
located ten *houses* (1½ blocks) directly North of the airport. A hot
breakfast was included with this air-conditioned lodging and our hostess,
the young wife of a U.S. soldier, was happy to drive us to the store, to the
North gate, and anywhere else we needed to go. All this for $50/night each.

When the "Toonder an' Lightning" was crashing and the rain was pouring down,
I was really glad to be tucked safely in bed.

I'm sorry we didn't get to meet face to face. As a fellow DDD'er, I feel a
kinship. (No, I didn't rent a scooter, but I had to lean on trash cans every
50 yards). I wrote my cell phone number on the propeller card hoping that
would help.

Thanks for the kind words about "Essie". She's getting a little shopworn
after six years but still carried us there and back with dispatch and
comfort. Did you see that green Pietenpol? Perfection! Too bad the owner was
such an egotistical pompous ass, fruitlessly trying to keep all folding
chairs out of the display area. Kind of like holding back the tide.

Rich S.

Tom McQuinn wrote:

I am very interested in any brands of tent that
anyone could recommend.

http://makeashorterlink.com/?U5A232C8B

George Patterson
Give a person a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a person to
use the Internet and he won't bother you for weeks.

"George Patterson" wrote in message
news:ND4Ie.6501$2y2.4439@trndny02...
Tom McQuinn wrote:

I am very interested in any brands of tent that
anyone could recommend.

http://makeashorterlink.com/?U5A232C8B

He said he wanted a tent, not a hangar. :~)

Matt Barrow wrote:

He said he wanted a tent, not a hangar. :~)

8' x 8' isn't a hangar. That's only a little larger than the Spaulding dome tent
I use.

George Patterson
Give a person a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a person to
use the Internet and he won't bother you for weeks.

Actually, Blackjack is about the only game where a player can have the
advantage. Catch is, they need to know basic stragety and counting.
The advantage is pretty small though.

John

Tom McQuinn wrote:
I am very interested in any brands of tent that anyone could recommend.

George Patterson wrote:
http://makeashorterlink.com/?U5A232C8B

George, that's not a tent!
That's a portable mansion!

john smith wrote:

George, that's not a tent!
That's a portable mansion!

Check the smallest size.

George Patterson
Give a person a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a person to
use the Internet and he won't bother you for weeks.