Oztent Owners – Beware

I had an older style coloured Oztent for 11 years - it was magnificent. The zippers are much much finer than the current 'chunky' zippers and as such are probably a bit susceptible to dust/fine sand problems.Mine finallly gave up the ghost on my last trip across the centre - the zips that is. I gave it to a neighbour who had a family member replace the zips and the tent is still going strong. I've now elected to use a small 9x9 centre pole tent when camping and when conditions allow I go soft and take the campertrailer along. I'm not sure if I like the material that the newer Oztents are made from but those who have them say they are awesome.

Can I ask what your sleeping setup was within the tent for that length of time?

We had one of the first OxTents (Tracka 2m X 2m) that they made. Been everywhere with it for years and weathered some great storms and floods. Sold it recently.

We did have initial shrinkage years ago and at the time OT supplied and fitted FOC a vertical insert into the fly screen fabric to adjust for the canvas shrinkage that had taken place. All other zips were OK

An important point in setting up the tent to prevent zipper damage is make sure the tent is square at the front and the verticle zip and side corners all appear perpendicular. Otherwise it places a crooked strain on the vertical zip as well as the 2 bottom zips.

Easy to adjust by tightening / loosening the front fly guy ropes. I rarely used the tents built-in guy ropes except in extreme weather. Keep it clean and don't leave it wrapped up wet for more than a day (if that unfortunately occurs) and it'll last for years.

I have a good few cleaning tips if anyones interested.

I'm 73 and have just upgraded to a slightly bigger RV4 of the new polycanvas type. This one will probably outlast me.