New tent needed - help wanted

Minefield you've entered Neil :)

Personally feel there is no perfect tent, there is always a compromise to be had.
An extended tourer would be my pic, or better, get several 3 second Malamoo type tents, 2, 3, 4 man available.
This might not be practical with weather issues over 3 months, or if there are numerous very little children tha need to go in with mum and dad.

I'd say the only answer for your post points above is a multi roomed dome type tent.

The big drawbacks here are weight (though not much more than say an Oztrail), and the biggy, they take so long to put up and pack up.

Freedom camping have heavy duty touring tents, not cheap.
Buy a good basic tent for essential sleeping, awnings and storage can be added or done cheaper

Have you thought about two smaller tents instead? One just for the kids sleeping zone. Just an idea, it is how we used to do it.

What about a couple of Oztents, linked together like this photo?



Just need some of the joining bits to set it up.

Bob

Hi Neil, have a look at the "outdoor connection " range. We have their "weekender" tent which scored highly with choice magazine a few years back . They have larger models which would fit your brief. We found that our tent was extremely well made- surviving extensive use without obvious wear or tear. Completely waterproof and sound in high winds. It had numerous excellent design features including the bag it came in(opened right out so was easy to get everything back into it again). On top of this it was quite cheap compared to similar others. We had a geodesic years ago but it was not a patch on this one. Cheers doc.

We had a Freedom Tourer pre-kids and loved it, but currently have a camper trailer. I checked out these tents a while ago in a camping shop in Armidale and was pretty impressed. I'd look seriously at them if doing a longer trip without the trailer.
http://www.longwayleisure.com.au/products/flex-bow-canvas-tents

Take a look at the Southern Cross range of canvas tents, we’ve had one for 15 years and still serves us well when we use it.

Mind you, they won't come cheap, but you get quality for your money...

What caught my attention was your requirement to have something that fits 5 people, and importantly will withstand strong winds. We have had our Southern Cross up in atrocious weather and high winds and never once did it feel like it would fail us…

You might like to take a look at this one.



Good luck with your deliberations,

Baz – The Landy

Coleman instant up 8. I have a 4 and 6 and they are not as heavy and long as the Oz 30 s tent.

We have the Coleman Instant Up 6 Gold, if the larger ones are anything like this one, it is an awesome tent, 4 mins set up, rated for 100 kph winds, packs up relatively compact and not a stupid weight to load and unload, do yourself a favor and have a look at them. We trialled them before they were released in Australia.

We had a tent made by the Australian Canvas Company, in Bayswater, Melbourne. The company owner had originally been a tent repairer, then he designed his own tents that eliminated most (if not all) of the faults he had to repair.
Ours was a rectangle, about 5mx3m and well high enough to stand up in. We loved its ease of putting up - 6 side poles all the same length and 3 ridge poles all the same. Plus a couple of veranda poles. We bought with it, two side flaps or extensions that zipped onto the sides of the veranda and shaded or extended the outside area. It had side and back windows - straight zips, no wicking of rain inside! Big front door and flyscreen - again straight zips. The flap at bottom of front door had velcro fasteners at the side so it wouldn't tear when tripped over. Was tropical canvas, heavy duty floor. We loved it and used it extensively over some 12 years.
It was not cheap, but we were so happy with the product that when we wanted a smaller tent to put up just for quick overnight stops, we bought their dome tent.
Both tents were packed in an envelope shaped bag which made fitting them back in quite easy.

Hi,
I'm a new member and I don't know if this is allowed on this forum, but I am selling an enormous tent on ebay at the moment, it's brand new in box, so I can't comment on how easy it would be to set up.

It's called Large Family Tent Oxygen 10 man, if you search ebay. It's a geodesic design. I bought it for a trip to the Flinders Ranges with a friend of mine who uses a wheel chair and her Aunty, so we wanted the three "bedrooms" as well as the large central area to store the scooter, wheelchair and all our other crap. It has 3 double bedrooms as well as the large central area, like I say I don't know if it's quick to set up, but many hands make light work and if you need a tent this size you must have many hands!!
It's a tent-mahal!

On another note, my partner and I just bought the new Speedy Earth Tent, it's canvas and is almost 3 x 3m, it comes with a large awning and folds up smaller than a 30 sec tent, so fits in our dual cab canopy. We have had it up a couple of times and it is quick and simple. Taking it on it's first trip next week.

Good luck with the tent hunt!

Yeah Les,
that's the one, if fact, that's probably THE one we bought. We found it on ebay for about 40% off as it was a demo. I'd seen them online but balked at the price, so as soon as I saw the ex demo I bought it straight away. We are taking it on it's first trip next week. It's like an oz tent but bigger and yet folds up smaller, i'll see if I can add some photos from our trip and I might write a review. It's got great windows on all sides. The weather is supposed to be a bit up and down while we are away (Broken Hill, Cameron Corner and Flinders Ranges) so hopefully we can see how it performs in all weather
I did just see that they have released an extension, called a "hub" a great idea for those who want extra space

Cheers