I currently have a 4 man dome tent that is now too small for my family (2+2). As we all know, while a 4 man dome tent may fit 4 men head to toe, by the time one has packed in a double air mattress and 2 singles, you struggle to actually get into the tent, never mind the odd bag of clothes, kids cuddly bears etc... Bottom line is, I need to upsize my tent.
Normally I have my camper van when on holidays, but need a tent for the occassional trip where I cannot take my van (or when I should not!!! - had a repair bill for many $$$$ recently, but thats another story). So, a tent will not get much use (say 1-3 times a year) and is mainly used on an overnight stop, 2 nights at the most (ie. weekend 4WD
camping trips). Basically I do not want to spend a fortune on something that will not get a huge amount of use, but do not want something that falls to pieces after 1 or 2 uses.
I have used dome tents for many years and basically like them. I find them warmer than a "single skin" canvas tent, relatively easy to put up and pretty
well self supporting on sand etc with a few
well placed sand pegs. And I can get a resonable quality 6 man dome with front vestibule for under $200 that I can easily stand in.
My experience with canvas tents is limited to the old style "cabin" type that take half the night to put up, but sure have plenty of room. But, many people rave about the centre pole family tourer types and after taking a look at them they seem to have some good points. They seem even quicker to put up than a dome (just stake it out and raise the pole) and have good useable floor space.
But I am unsure of their perfomance on either sand or very hard clay surfaces as the stability seems very dependant on how good the tent is staked out, unlike a dome tent (is this correct?). Also, the ones I am looking at are in the $350 price range, not the
Southern Cross type quality, so will they be strong enough, waterproof and are the poles of accepatble quality? Remeber though, only a few uses per year tops - the van is just too dam comfortable and after 20+ years of tenting I think I have earnt a bit of comfort;)
To wind up this long winded post, what do those who have used both dome and centre pole tents prefer? Also, if I do go centre pole, will the "cheap" one last for ~20 uses (probably 10 years of tenting for me these days) or should I spend the extra dollars and go for top quality?
Thanks in advance for any help.
Cheers
Captain