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I have a Vango Force ten thats a little odd.
It doesn't have a bell shaped back or front, its more straight. The inner is straight between the poles at the back, so there is some dead space at the back.
Also it has a 2ft extended fly sheet in the porch, to support this the ridge pole is extended and has an integrated A piece. There are no extra legs.
It has the thickest groundsheet of any force ten i've ever seen.
It has a nylon fly.
I'd keep it if it had a cotton fly, alas I want to sell it but don't know how to describe it - is it a prototype? a one off? a bona fide edition with a name?
Its not used much, but the bags have seen better days.
Stealth add?
If not, that tent looks like an antique. The newer Vango trekking tents are a lot more compact / lighter, many with semi-geodesic / geodesic designs.
I'd email Vango and ask them if they know what model it is. There have been many over the years and someone might recognise it.
Pretty ancient though!
Wow - that looks proper old! Love it!
Rachel
Force 10. Yowsers, I did a school trip to the Outer Hebrides in Force 10s (counts) 19 years ago, and they were old then!
Some of the ones we used had a green nylon fly, rather than the orange cotton fly. Inner was deffo straight slab back and front.
I think basically, there were a few aftermarket fly sheets offered for the force 10, because they were so common. One of the was deffo the extended porch version, was it the Mk5 CNX?
Well named too. Ours weathered a force 8, and they were ancient.
I've used ones with nylon flysheets (supposedly they were the "lightweight" version I think), but never one with a porch extension like that or without the bell shaped bit at the back. But then it was only about 35 years ago I first slept in one, so I presume they had different designs before that!
Vango mk3 CNX
I.e. MK 3 size (2 /3 man)
CNX. Cotton inner, Nylon outer, eXtended fly
Probably 30 yrs old[i]
I recall that sort of inner and pole arrangement when I worked at Outward Bound in the 1980's, except the flysheets were also orange cotton and Bast*rd Heavy when wet.
The groundsheet style and material looks familiar too, absolutely waterproof and would float happily in water...
Replaced by a nylon model made by Aguille that was more bombproof than anything else I have camped in. I never knew one knocked down in four season camping over 8 years....
“A friend” used those in the Scouts in the mid eighties. Some of those and the cotton/cotton ones, too. Were indestructible, mainly because they weighed more than the Moon...
Rachel
Yep, the groundsheets were unparalleled, as we found when the nearby stream diverted itself over the nice grassy campground we'd chosen. Unlike the more modern tents which the teachers had ... 😆
Good times, trying to bivi in fertiliser bags notwithstanding.
Vango mk3 CNX
This.
Used them for a few years in mid '90's at outdoor centres.
First used one in 1974 in scouts, still have three in the garage (not the original scout ones) yes heavy, but excellent when the weather turns nasty,
Brings back memories of Ten Tors training back in the early 90's.
I can still remember the unmistakable smell of those tents.
You have got a Trangia cooker to go with it haven't you.
Stayed in one of those in the Alps, cotton fly. It did not cope with continental rain. Our stuff was soaked.
Solid yes but not pisshead proof. Back in about 1985 when camping at the Welsh 2 day trial (or was it enduro by then?) I crawled out of mine for a slash with about a million pints on board. Went under the fly as I couldn't find the front zip in a hurry! On attempting to re-enter (remember those millions pints) I applied drunken logic and looked for the zip. Knowing that just pulling the bottom parts of the zip apart would open the zip I cleverly found a peg loop and puller. Ziiiiip. Crawling through I become tangled in a wall that shouldn't have been there. That was the best I could manage and I gave up and collapsed where I was. A few hours later a banging head and probably a 490 Maico woke me, tangled in the tent. The "wall" was the side of the inner tent and the "zip" was the peg loop mid way along the wall of the fly. I now had a fly sheet with 2 entrances.
Forces 10's also allowed you to remove the flysheet when drunken mates were inside and re-install them 180 dgrees wrong ie the door at the back. When said mate needs to exit in a hurry, for a slash or when you shout that the tent is on fire, it is most amusing.
Yep at least 30 years old.
I borrowed one from our scout group and despite reproofing the flysheet it did not cope at all well with the Welsh rain. The rain pissed through the fly sheet and because the ground sheet is so waterproof I ended up basically lying in a bath of water. Wettest night I've ever had in a tent.
On the plus side it didn't blow away...
Blimey, that brings back memories of scouting in the eighties 🙂
Brings back memories of DofE expeditions in the 70s. Did my Gold expedition in the Rhinogs in 1980 with one of those and it was effing heavy.
Reminds me of heading up to Snowdonia from Walsall in the back of a Bedford Rascal with 3 other guys & our climbing kit all stuffed in there, back in the early 90s.
Getting to the campsite in Capel Curig at about 11pm in the pissing rain to find that we had managed to leave all the tent pegs at home.
Managed to bodge the tent up using a dry stone wall, the van and assorted stones & sticks before retiring inside to drink cheap cider.
excellent old tents. My parents had one. Very heavy but effective. Survived the Esk flooding in Boot in 1990.
However, the waterproofing on the back of the flysheet doesn't last 10 years wrapped up in the loft.
Bitter experience told me this.
This is brilliant. They still mke these tents. However if you fancy something newer, it turns out Terra Nova do 30% off if you [url= http://www.terra-nova.co.uk/p/customer-services/tent-trade-in/ ]trade in an old tent. [/url]We have just sent in a 39 year old tent in the hope this works out.
However, the waterproofing on the back of the flysheet doesn't last 10 years wrapped up in the loft.
I've got a 20 year old North Face lightweight tent in the loft. Fabric is fine 🙂
I still have a cotton fly Force Ten. Doesn't get used though, I prefer my Mountain Hardware Trango. I do recall my mate's Blacks Mountain Tent. Now that was proper old school. Tunnel entry, snow valences, weighed a ton.
I would simply advertise yours as a Vango Force Ten and add pictures.
Great so it is an 80's force ten mk3 CNX.
I will advertise it as such.
Glad it got you all reminiscing, I have a normal cotton mk3 too, needs reproofed as it is always used in preference to the nylon. The cotton fly breathes so is much nicer to sleep in than a nylon flysheet that gets condensation on it.
I do also have a trangia.