Carbon monoxide is released from any gas, petrol, coal burner or lamp and will remain inside the tent unless you have a breathable cotton canvas. Heat damage can also easily occur within polyester tents as the manmade fibres are prone to melting and some are not even flame retardant. The worst case scenario here is not a bad holiday but death. 

Those determined to ignore this warning, which from my experience are numerous must at least keep cooking equipment right at a large opening in the tent and away from the material. This is however by no means proven to prevent CO buildup in polyester tents and some deaths have occurred with such ventilation in place.

1. Ask somebody to stand inside your dome tent and lift the cross over while you pin the poles.
2. Pitch your tent with the bedrooms uphill to stop water pooling at the back.
3. Angle your pegs at 45 degrees away from the tent for strength.
4. Buy at least 5-10 heavy duty pegs as those included with tents are often too small.
5. When kitting out consider covering three main areas. Light, sleep and nutrition.

The Ontario 8 from Kyham has proved a popular choice for families looking for a solid piece of kit that isn’t a mind bender to erect. Thanks to it’s tunnel tent structure it is not even beyond a single layman to put this slick 8 berther up, though it’s always better to err on the side of caution and say that in general we’re looking at a two person construction. If your budget is around £200-300 and you’re looking for a family tent for 4-6 people, this tent should be on your list of possibles. If you’re sleeping 8 then of course this tent will pack them in, but the overall experience will be somewhat marred if you hope to spend some leisure time inside. After the 3×3 metre living space and 4 bedrooms the Ontario is left wanting for extra areas to inhabit, unless you opt to stick on Khyam’s fair weather sun porch.

So you’re interested in the way it looks and the price, but what’s it like to own one of these and use it? Well out of the box we’ve got a single bag that’s roughly the size of a large sports bag and it weighs in around 30kg. That’s a carry-able weight over a short distance if you’re able bodied, and if you’re not it’s quite reasonable to shift from a car boot to the ground without incident. Open it up and we’ve got a bright blue flysheet with a fully sewn in groundsheet that looks and feels to be a good quality of polyester and our pole set. The poles are colour coded and are made from 10mm diameter glass fibre, which is reassuring on a large tunnel tent. The flysheet is colour coded to match the poles and help you locate them, it also has a hydro-static head of 5000, so it’s at the top end of the scale in water proofness. What that means in reality is that this tent’s materials are able to resist well the worst of the weather and unavoidable problems like inners/items touching the flysheet when soaked, it’s also a breeze to put up.

Now everything’s out of the bag and we’re ready to put it up. Here’s a rough idea of the procedure

1. Lay out the flysheet where you want the tent to stand and free up the sleeves as much as possible to aid pole insertion.
2. Construct the pole sections and match the colour coded tapes to the bands on the flysheet sleeves then slide them in so that an equal amount of the sections remain visible at either end of the sleeve. (There are only 5 pole sections, and they don’t cross over in tunnel tent designs so it’s snag free easiness)
3. Place the ends of the poles onto the pins found around the base of the flysheet one section at a time until you have a series of semi circles laying on the ground.
4. Position yourself at the end of the tent where all the semi circles are facing away from you and pull using the corner pegging points so that the end stands up, then peg both corner points.
5. Stand the other end the same way, and peg it. Now peg the rest of the points plus guy ropes and hang the inner tents.

A really easy tent to put up and it pegs well if you keep everything taught and make sure you start with the four corners. The poles are all tensioned whilst the tent is on the ground and then the tent is stood up in a separate procedure. This is the beauty of tunnel tents and the Ontario happens to be a very well executed example of the style.

The tent’s up quickly and easily and it doesn’t break any backs when packaged, but it’s also a nice environment to camp in, which should be the point right? The sewn in groundsheet keeps things clean and tidy inside whilst stopping drafts, just be wary of keeping the doors open incase it rains, there is no shelter over the top of the doors to stop water pooling inside. Other neat touches include two cable entry points, a removable divider curtain in one of the bedroom ends to allow joining of the two double berth inners and wind activated air vents on the ends of the flysheet. The optional carpet adds a homely feel and some good insulation, so it’s worth considering.

When I worked in sales, this tent was a huge seller and will be again this year. We didn’t get many returns atall, only a few factory errors on the flysheet, which could be sorted easily. The only thing that is likely to interupt a trip with this tent is a broken pole or two because it’s a tunnel and will move a bit in wind. Just take some duct tape with you to make a quick fix and visit a decent camping shop for spares when you get home if this ever happens to you. I really rate this tent, especially for the price. Well worth considering.

I’m Steve and I have worked in the camping trade providing information to campers both new and experienced in the hope that they might find the perfect gear for them. I have been collecting my thoughts and knowledge over the past few months and gradually feeding my computer with them. Through this time consuming relationship a series of books have been emerging that I plan to release as and when possible. To supplement these books I am going to push a few keys from time to time and aim them at this blog. Thanks for reading and enjoy.

Branding!

A question I have received time and time again is ‘what is the difference between the brands?’

The answer depends on what kind of tent you’re after. If we’re talking cotton canvas frame and trailer tents then the difference in quality, price, style and longevity can be huge depending on brand. There are some brands here who stick exclusively to the lower end of the market and some who do quite the opposite. A classic example is french brand Cabanon who provide top quality cotton canvas and everything required to keep it suspended with a long life and a price to match. At the other end of the scale we have Sunncamp who are a European brand preying invariably on the lower end of the market, sourcing their materials from Asia in order to lower costs. Of course quality and lifespan take a dive with the price, the canvas degrading beyond saviour in as little as half the time it takes the french prince of cotton. The trick with it is to pay attention to detail when choosing a brand, unlike polyester, the spec of cotton is rarely advertised, especially if it’s bad. Go and feel the quality with your hands if you can get to a display or alternatively do your homework online.

Polyester tents are a different animal when it comes to brands. Many of the brands span the quality spectrum, so it’s up to you to look at specs. In general all the materials that make up your typical polyester tent are coming from the same places no matter what brand you’re looking at. China has completely monopolised this sector of the industry and many of the brands are booking time at the same factories to get their seasons range made in time for summer. So branding wise it is very hard to say who is generally better quality or longer lasting and so on, we need to look deeper. Your biggest clue to overall quality is the hydrostatic head value as the industry has adopted it as it’s ‘message to consumers’, i.e the thing you are supposed to all desire.

To be honest HH is not the be all and end all but it does give you some idea of whether a tent is kitted out with economy parts or higher end stuff. Your other two weapons are your hands and the price. You get what you pay for and that’s a fact and if you don’t believe it have a feel of some tents at a display, low quality will stick out like a sore thumb. What I say is when it comes to polyester, you can almost forget brand loyalty and reputation, just pick a budget and try to judge the quality of your options whilst placing more importance on how the tent’s features suit your needs. You’ll regret taking the tent you heard was the best quality over the one that gave you good vents, storage, living space, headroom etc.