• This topic has 15 replies, 10 voices, and was last updated 7 years ago by km79.
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  • 5m Bell Tent – Nylon.
  • outofbreath
    Free Member

    I fancy a bell tent but I don’t want the disadvantages of cotton.

    You never see nylon ones so I assume there’s a disadvantage I haven’t considered.

    Would this:

    http://www.boutiquecamping.com/tents-c1/polyester-bell-tent-lightweight-c8/5m-lightweight-zipped-in-ground-sheet-bell-tent-p49

    …be a big mistake?

    …and why.

    somouk
    Free Member

    I think it’s just traditional to make them from canvas. It’s also flame retardant normally so quite a few people fit stoves or fires to them as well for warmth.

    outofbreath
    Free Member

    Looks like I’ll be investing then.

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    Gotama
    Free Member

    Post up how you get on please. We bought a canvas nomad tent and whilst it’s great I think I would also like a back up for those short weekend trips where the weather looks a bit iffy and it’s easier to keep the cotton dry given we would have to dry ours in the house!

    unfitgeezer
    Free Member

    no offence it looks cheap and if it looks cheap it will be carp, £250 is a lot of money to waste.

    £250 will buy you an Outwell that will be up to the great british weather !

    I write the odd review for tents…

    This year we are sporting the Jack wolfskin Great divide

    richpips
    Free Member

    I think it’s just traditional to make them from canvas. It’s also flame retardant normally so quite a few people fit stoves or fires to them as well for warmth.

    Ours is cotton and I assure you the canvas lights easily unless you coat it with a (heavy) fire retardant coating. I did a test with the bit I removed for its chimney. BTW a canvas one weighs ~35Kg, and as said above is a nightmare to dry properly. After Strathpuffer this year, ours spent a fortnight drying in the living room. 😉

    Del
    Full Member

    appears to be single skin. not very effective for a plastic?

    Gotama
    Free Member

    above is a nightmare to dry properly

    Often wondered about whether it would be possible to get an out sheet made for the tent. A bit like this but less hideous and to fit our bct bronte. If the weather looks dubious then pitch the light cover over the top although not sure whether the water would just leech through where it touched the canvas.

    http://lotusbelle.co.uk/products/patterned-roof-cover

    Anyway, idle musing derailment, sorry.

    qwerty
    Free Member

    I have no idea how you’d cope in your home with a 5m bell tent drying 😯 luckily we can pitch ours in the garden and let it dry there.

    outofbreath
    Free Member

    “it looks cheap and if it looks cheap it will be carp,”

    It certainly looks cheap, and that is a concern, but a cotton one would be £600 so I suspect if you factor the material saving in it’s about the same price as a cotton one. Hard to make a quality judgement without looking close up so there is always the danger that we have to pack it up and return it if it’s not up to the job.

    “£250 will buy you an Outwell that will be up to the great british weather !”

    I think you mean £600 for similar space, but yeah, that would be a known quantity. I just like bell tents – the simplicity of one pole works for me, and by not having an inner you can pile all the bedding on top of itself and have some living space. (And the wife won’t let me take the inners out of our frame tent, but she will accept a bell tent with no inner.)

    “appears to be single skin. not very effective for a plastic?”

    Good point. In a smaller tent condensation would be a killer but I’m thinking that the size of the interior space will help, plus a bit of ventilation. We won’t be using it in winter. Deffo a concern, and not one we can really investigate until we use it in anger.

    benp1
    Full Member

    I love the idea of a canvas tent, partly because I can have a woodburning stove inside so have it lovely and warm. But the thought of drying it when wet puts me off massively!

    Drying wet kit after a walking or bikepacking trip is already a pain!

    The canvas won’t be fire resistant, but it’ll be spark resistant which is handy, but then if you’re using a contained firebox and chimney isn’t a deal breaker anyway

    outofbreath
    Free Member

    “drying it when wet puts me off massively!”

    I like canvas but I’m not prepared to tolerate the weight, the bulk and the drying issue.

    outofbreath
    Free Member

    @Gotama.

    I bought the 5m tent in the link and after 2 weekends and one week away with it I’m delighted.

    Quality is fine – the poles are heavy but sturdy. (My guess is the poles + pegs are the same as the cotton version so seriously over engineered for the much lighter polyester – a good thing IMV.) The groundsheet is seriously hard wearing. All the zips are big and hard wearing. All the seams are taped and double stitched.

    The tent looks painfully ‘plasticy’ in the link – in the flesh it looks far better. I don’t think it has the ‘kerb appeal’ of the cotton version but it looks fine – people aren’t going to laugh.

    It’s rained every time we’ve been away and we’ve had big wind on one occasin. The tent did leak once in an extended period of torrential rain during the week away. Substantial drips came in at most of the hoops that secure the side if the tent is ‘floated’. I will probably treat that with seam sealer but I haven’t bothered yet and it hasn’t happened again. (I’ve never had a man-made fabric tent leak before so I’m not best chuffed but I know other people who seam treat a new tent as a matter of course, so maybe it’s not uncommon.)

    Polyester appears to me to be a vastly better material than cotton for tents and bell tents seem to me to be no exception.

    Didn’t notice any lack of thermal protection. With four of us in summer condensation was present in the morning, but not problematic.

    I’m delighted and would happily buy another.

    Vader
    Free Member

    we have a canvas one and use it a lot, mostly for work. It is ace and a really decent place to hang out and socialise. If it gets wet then it is a total PITA to dry, in fact you pretty much accept it’s going to get mildewed. I have toyed with the idea of nikwaxing it but I don’t have a space big enough to do it! It is also massive to cart about and very heavy, so I can see how a nylon version would be very tempting. Basically they are great for a weeks camping, not so much for 1 or 2 nighters unless it’s def not going to rain…

    outofbreath
    Free Member

    If it gets wet then it is a total PITA to dry

    You’re not kidding.

    IME a bog standard two/three man tent is a doddle to dry on the site – you can always find a big enough patch of dry grass and can carry the thing without touching the damp grass to get to a dry spot IYSWIM. That means most times it goes away dry, if not it can easily hang in the garage.

    I’ve discovered a 5m bell tent is a completely different beast – a vast amount of material to dry and every time I’ve used it I’ve had to put it away slightly damp and dry it at home which is a PITA. There’s no space to drape it around the garage. There always seems to be another fold with droplets hiding in it. The equivalent drying job with canvas doesn’t bear thinking about.

    Most importantly the polyester version I will feel happy about putting away slightly damp in Autumn if needs be, at least I know it won’t perforate with rot. I wouldn’t feel able to do that with Canvas.

    Obviously I’ve sacrificed a bit of kerb appeal and I suspect the polyester will tear a lot easier than canvas but I reckon I’ve made the right compromises for me.

    km79
    Free Member

    …and we’ve had big wind on one occasin.

    Campfire beans? Paaarrrpp!! 😆

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