A camping/tent question or two.
- Thread starter Dave7
- Start date
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Recently bought a Vango Airbeam tent online, but had done the research beforehand.
Obviously heavier that the pole version, but a damn sight easier to erect & strike. Also one of the few tents that had a protected porch so you can sit / stand/ cook etc. under cover. Most family tents have a rear leaning porch so when it rains, you have to close the porch flap or it gets very wet inside - !
Obviously heavier that the pole version, but a damn sight easier to erect & strike. Also one of the few tents that had a protected porch so you can sit / stand/ cook etc. under cover. Most family tents have a rear leaning porch so when it rains, you have to close the porch flap or it gets very wet inside - !
Aston
Active Member
Is there an Alpkit store near you? https://alpkit.com/pages/support?hcUrl=/en-GB/where-can-i-find-alpkit-stores-363412
Definitely worth a visit
Definitely worth a visit
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
Recently bought a Vango Airbeam tent online, but had done the research beforehand.
Obviously heavier that the pole version, but a damn sight easier to erect & strike. Also one of the few tents that had a protected porch so you can sit / stand/ cook etc. under cover. Most family tents have a rear leaning porch so when it rains, you have to close the porch flap or it gets very wet inside - !
It's a reason why we have a tarp we can attach to our Bell Tent. Well, two actually. We've a massive 'diamond' shape one that's free standing and a smaller rectangle that we can attach to the front of the tent to act as a sun shade/rain shade.
The tent doesn't have a porch, but I know the designs you talk of where the door area is sloped, so if open it rains in.
Just had ours out on the drive, checking the ground sheet and the 'tent'. Not been used since autumn, so making sure all is dry and no mould. We had a couple of patches last year as the tent must have had a damp patch, so I cleaned and re-proofed it - that's now gone, and the tent went away bone dry - I'd hung it undercover for a week or two, then hung in over some chairs in the house before packing away for the winter as we'd had a wet 10 days camping on multiple sites, including some storms.
Even at 73, I still don't have a problem sleeping on a hard floor provided I have good insulation underneath - !
On camping, saw Fire Dragon have made a civvy version of the old army issue folding hex cooker using their bioethanol gel fuel tablets.
In Go Outdoors, the cooker plus six tablets is about £6, which seems good value if you simply want a quick brew without the faff of getting your full stove kit out.
Anyone's thoughts on the Fire Dragon setup / gel fuel - ?
In Go Outdoors, the cooker plus six tablets is about £6, which seems good value if you simply want a quick brew without the faff of getting your full stove kit out.
Anyone's thoughts on the Fire Dragon setup / gel fuel - ?
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fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
On camping, saw Fire Dragon have made a civvy version of the old army issue folding hex cooker using their bioethanol gel fuel tablets.
In Go Outdoors, the cooker plus six tablets is about £6, which seems good value if you simply want a quick brew without the faff of getting your full stove kit out.
Anyone's thoughts on the Fire Dragon setup / gel fuel - ?
Might work OK, but doesn't like a way to shut it off, but it's cheap.
Hicky
Guru
On camping, saw Fire Dragon have made a civvy version of the old army issue folding hex cooker using their bioethanol gel fuel tablets.
In Go Outdoors, the cooker plus six tablets is about £6, which seems good value if you simply want a quick brew without the faff of getting your full stove kit out.
Anyone's thoughts on the Fire Dragon setup / gel fuel - ?
Used the army version in Lithuania(and other coldish places) in November....two or three gels later and I had a brew warm enough but not something that could be stowed in a flask for later. Very clean burning though compared to hexi and less of a light signature.
It has it's uses but I rarely had truly hot food when my body actually needed it rather than something warming.
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