Whether the weather be fine, or whether the weather be not,
Whether the weather be cold, or weather the weather be hot.
We'll weather the weather, whatever the weather,
Whether we like it or not!
This old English poem will be familiar to many of a certain age and will certainly apply to the lives of many who are keen campers. But in order to "weather the weather.." their are a great many things to know about to survive while Camping in the Great British countryside. And it is not only weather you need to think about when you come to consider buying your first tent, unless you wish to be quickly contemplating your second tent of course!
The first thing you need to look at if we are talking about weather is the hydrostatic head, which is a very fancy way of saying how waterproof is the tent??? There are guidelines that show what kind of tent you would need to purchase for what type of camping you intend on doing. If you are only taking your tent on Camping trips along the Mediterranean Sea for example you can probably get away with one that is shower proof. If however, you anticipate Camping in the wilds of Scotland a completely waterproof one is an absolute must. Shower proof is measured at a hydrostatic head of 1000 with 1500 being potentially okay for summer camping (providing it doesn't rain of course!). The most waterproof you can get is a hydrostatic head of 5000 which will keep you completely waterproof except at doorways and windows. You may be able to get away with one that has a hydrostatic head of 3000, provided you can persuade all users not to touch the edges (or have anything touching the edges) of the tent after any kind of rainfall, but 5000 is much better. You also need to consider how safe your tent will be in strong winds and little detail like what kind of ground you are Camping on and will your tent pegs bend in half as you bash them in with the rubber mallet or not. It is always a great idea to have spare normal tent pegs with you, spare heavy duty tent pegs with you and certainly spare guy ropes with you!
This also means that not only do you need to shop around for your tent, with especial care paid to the hydrostatic head level but you also need to learn how to pitch it well so that the doors and windows do not leak!
I have found when looking into the tent I am going to buy for this years Camping season that reading the customer reviews on Amazon is really very helpful. For example I was originally really impressed with the Skandika Korsika 10 man tent until I read a number of reviews both on and of Amazon. This is how I first heard about the importance of the hydrostatic head and while the Korsica is a great tent for summer camping and camping on the European Mainland, its hydrostatic head of 3000 is not what we are looking for, with a view to regular camping trips in England! On the other hand, its cousin, the Skandika Milano does have a 5000 hydrostatic head and the one we are most interested in, the Skandika Hurricane has a hydrostatic head of 5000 and sleeps up to 12 people which would be great for us with the amount of children's friends that have expressed an interest in camping with us!
The second thing to consider is what I have discussed above and that is the size of the tent. A one man tent will more often that not fit exactly that, one man, no extras including equipment. Okay if you have your car close by to store all your stuff in, but useless if you are hiking or cycling, unless you intend to get another tent for your gear! One person alone really needs a 2 man tent and for a couple you really need to get a 4 man tent in order to have enough room for both of you and all your stuff. The ratio works out the same all the way up really with experience, that you need to double the amount of people you will be taking with you to find the size of tent that you need. As mentioned before the Hurricane is a 12 berth tent (berth means how many people will fit in it) and as there are 5 of us just in the family, not counting Jess's boyfriend, or the potential of a large dog in the future we are going to get this one I think. I like the Skandika range as they seem to have a very transparent selling policy and they tell you if the tent has things you need to watch out for.
I am not going to go into very much detail about equipment for tents in this article, although look out later today for a review of a sweet little Camping gazebo that is great to provide extra space for dining and other social activities in our must have section. The only other thing I wish to talk about now is the ground-sheet situation. There is a simple rule with ground-sheets which is where ever possible always ensure that your new tent has a built in one before you buy it. If you buy a tent without an integral groundsheet and it rains, you, your family, your dog and all your belonging are going to get wet! The Skandika tents as well as tents from other manufacturers like this eight person Gelert tent all have a double tent system. This comprises of an outer tent which is just the basic structure and a second inner tent that has the rooms and floor all sewn into together for extra warmth and security. Most of the big ten manufacturers have this kind of system now, particularly for the larger family ones, but do have a good look around and check the specifications to see if the tent you are choosing has everything you need it to have. After all it will be your home from home, hopefully for many years so make sure it is perfect for you and your family in every way.
If you are looking for tents or any other Camping equipment, from back packs to sleeping sacks and everything you can possibly put in the, pop along to our Camp Shop to get everything you need in one place!,
Crystal xxx
Happy Camping
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