Beginner camping, family tent recommendations?

Hi Pinkukelele,

Once upon a time, a long time ago, we also had young kids we used to take camping - and on long touring holidays, too - using our old, narrow Ford Cortina.

We would often be on the road for 6-8 weeks at a time (as we were when we took the family - my wife, three kids 1, 3 & 5 and yours truly) on a trip from Adelaide to Cairns) and used an old South Australian made "Sar Major" centre-pole type canvas tent, 10 feet (3.05 metres) square at ground level, with no floor except for a separate canvas groundsheet I'd inherited from my parents.

Somehow or other we managed to fit pretty much everything in - folding camp stools (NOT chairs) and the rigid stuff in the boot, soft stuff like clothes and sleeping bags/sheets & blankets between the front seat and the rear seat squab up to seat level and on top of the rear seat itself. Sure, the road rules were different and we didn't have to deal with car seats and baby capsules, so your challenges are greater than ours might have been back then.

Now, that car had a reasonable sized boot, but there was no way on earth that tent was EVER going to fit in the boot, too, so we bought the cheapest possible roof bars that we could find, and roped the tent to them over on the driver's side.

One thing is for certain though, we did this (a) on a shoestring (b) with the least amount of gear we thought we could get away with and (c) with a tent that, even for the time, was looked at with some considerable disdain by others we met on the road..

We just didn't care about that - we really didn't have much choice if we wanted to do what we were doing.

I guess my point is that you can certainly do it, but try really hard not to over-burden yourselves with "stuff" and that includes biggish tents. Kids don't take up much sleeping space, unless you want them to and we found that the five of us could sleep quite comfortably in that tent, with room in one corner for clothing. The two-burner gas stove we moved in and out of the tent as needed for storage or cooking.

I emphasise, however, that my wife holds the World Championship in vehicle-packing! And that's a skill that will certainly need to be developed.

Most of all, ENJOY! The kids are only young for such a short time and the day will otherwise come when you had all wished you'd done what you're starting out to do. Overloading your car and yourselves won't add to the enjoyment, but the occasional sacrifice regarding creature comforts can be good for the soul.

Regards,


Charlie

Turbo Lite Twin 300 would be perfect for them, but much more than $400.00

We started out in 1998ish with a 5 man dome tent that was around $150. Similar age kids. Best tent ever for occasional use, still gets used. Because we just went camping for the odd weekend we could check the weather forecast and decide not to go if it was going to be bad weather.

When we go on touring trips we use a canvas pyramid style tent. Takes up a lot of room and is quite heavy. Much easier to setup and good in any weather conditions.

The Coleman products have always been good for me, so I wouldn't hesitate with the instant up tent.

Aren't the kids a bit young for a separate tent at 2 and 3mths?

Excellent advice!