Making Sense of Tents
Only you know what you want to do, where you want to go and how you want to do it, so we don't say "this is the best tent", what we do is help to show you a range of tents that cover all camping holiday options offering great value for money, and help you make an educated choice that best suits you!
Guylines - These are easily adjustable and help to maintain the tents shape and stability. It is worth spending a little time getting all the guylines taut and checking them again before settling down to sleep, so to ensure maximum sturdiness in the event of any strong winds or bad weather. Some guylines are reflective or luminous which makes them easier to avoid tripping over by torchlight. Why not change yours or personalise them with your own bright visual warnings?
Groundsheet - A groundsheet is usually sewn-in as a tray-shaped floor to your tent. The purpose is to keep you off damp ground, protect against rainfall run-off and cut out draughts as well as stopping creepy-crawlies getting inside. To protect a sewn-in groundsheet from abrasion, it pays to place it over a cheap plastic tarp or, even better, a custom tent 'footprint' that fits the shape exactly. As there's no real insulation value in a groundsheet, spreading out a fleece blanket makes a comfy 'carpet'.
Mesh doors - Mesh doors keep annoying biting insects, creepy crawlies and irritating moths at bay whilst allowing air to flow through the tiny pores to aid ventilation when going to sleep in your tent.
Flysheet - Pitched over the inner tent's like a large umbrella, it's made from strong waterproof material to keep out rain and any bad weather. It also offers some protection from the sun and the doorways may unzip fully to form sun and rain awnings.
Doors - On inners and flysheets, doors usually have a two-way opening facility for flexibility with ventilation and shelter. Condensation can easily form on the inside of a totally waterproof flysheet with two people (or more) breathing away all night in a tent zipped up tight against insects and draughts; it's easy to mistake this condensation for leaking! This can be helped by opening up the doors, venting the tent and getting rid of the moisture. Maintaining good ventilation is advisable when camping, and most tents have features and tips to aid good airflow and minimise the potential problem.
Poles - Poles make up the framework of your tent, the sections are often linked for easy assembly using elastic cord. Colour-coded poles and pole 'tunnels' help easy pitching and are great for helping to teach the children how to put a tent up. Continuous or in sections, pole sleeves guide the poles into position so that they can be held snugly in place by eyelets or ring and pin systems that slot neatly into pole ends.
Porch - Porch space can vary throughout tent designs, from just enough space to park a rucksack, boots and stove in a lightweight tent, to a huge living space sheltering a table and chairs on larger family styles.
Inner tents - Light and very breathable, often with insect mesh doors, inners make cosy bedrooms.
Dimensions - The tent dimensions will show you how much length, height and width you have to play with; helping you make the best choice for you. The overall size diagrams of the tent will give you a good idea about how much space it will take up on a site and the pitch size you will need if you are pre-booking a campsite. It also makes sense to give some thought to the internal dimensions, especially headroom if you want to stand up in larger designs.
Hydrostatic Head
This measures the waterproof qualities of fabric; the higher its Hydrostatic Head figure the more waterproof it is. To measure the Hydrostatic Head of a fabric, a column of water is pressed against it and the height of the column is increased until the water penetrates the fabric (see image). For a fabric to be considered fully waterproof it must be able to withstand the pressure of a column of water 1000mm high without leaking. All our waterproof tents comfortably exceed these guidelines.
Groundsheets may have higher Hydrostatic Head figures quoted and that's because standing on fabric puts great pressure on a small area that may be pressed against rain-saturated ground. We recommend for a British three season period, Spring, Summer and Autumn, that the Hydrostatic Head of the tent should not be less than 1000mm. Tents with a lesser rating are likely to leak or have water seeping through after a period of time or during a storm for example. Bear in mind where you are going and the likely rainfall, and also that wind-driven rain requires a higher Hydrostatic Head.
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Groundsheets may have higher Hydrostatic Head figures quoted and that's because standing on fabric puts great pressure on a small area that may be pressed against rain-saturated ground. We recommend for a British three season period, Spring, Summer and Autumn, that the Hydrostatic Head of the tent should not be less than 1000mm. Tents with a lesser rating are likely to leak or have water seeping through after a period of time or during a storm for example. Bear in mind where you are going and the likely rainfall, and also that wind-driven rain requires a higher Hydrostatic Head.
» Back to Tents
