Choice of tent etc..

[Mustard]

My tent got destroyed in the mud last year, and a replacement needs to be found before the festival season starts. I would rather replace it with something nice, preferably something covered in thick canvas and not the generic nylon dome type tents. I'm torn between buying something ready made or trying my hand at making something.

I really like yurts etc, however these do not appear to be feasible. They cost too much, and they don't seem ideally suited to festivals (heavy, and time consuming to construct)


I've been toying with the idea of making a geodetic dome recently to take to some festivals etc with some mates. These seem very expensive pre made, which makes me worry that covering them sufficiently might be fairly tricky.

I've been looking at the canvas to cover them and was wondering if anyone here had any experience with covering such domes? How would you go about covering a sphere. I have seen some people cover with a wrap around for the sides and a sorta crown covering for the top, not entirely sure how I would go about this tho. Seen some sewing patterns online for V2 domes, I am assuming that the proper canvas to cover it would be far too thick for my sewing machine and I don't much fancy stitching all that by hand. I'd probably do a piss poor job at it anyways.


Ideally I would like to fit it with a wood burning stove, as we intend to live in it for a bit on some friends land this summer.

Been looking at the flue kits + stoves on ebay, and they seem to come to about £250, this seems a little steep to me, or am I wrong? I can't seem to find them much cheaper online everywhere I have looked. I don't mind spending a bit of money on something that'll last, just don't want to pay too much more than the going rate.

Also been playing with the idea of buying a bell tent off ebay, as I have seen some 4m ones on there recently with stoves and flues etc for about £430. Which would save me a alot of time etc.. Do these seem reasonable value? Anyone have any experience with these types of tents? Anyone know anywhere with a comparable product at a better price? I don’t mind investing a bit of money in something decent, just want to make sure its worthwhile before I part with any hard earned cash.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=310044264348&Category=2020&_trksid=p3907.m29

Would it cost me much more to properly cover a 4/5m geodetic dome. I'm looking to make/buy something which will last many years of use. I am not adverse to getting my hands dirty and constructing something, however if its going to cost me as much to make a decent covering for a dome as it is to buy a nice tent then I figure I should probably just buy a bell tent or similar. I'd imagine it should be made to a higher standard than something made by my hands.

Was not sure if this is the correct forum, was torn between here and Lifestyle health and travel, if i made the wrong decision sorry. Mods Feel free to move this where ever you feel appropriate.

Anyways, I’ll stop rambling. I just wanted to ask peoples opinions, any comments/etc would be appreciated.

[MrAHC]

bell tents are fine and dont take up as much space as a geo dome or yurt.
i've used yurts and geo domes b4 though never owned one.

i'd go for a standard bender cut sections of willow or hazel sove in ground, or tie then throw a tarp/canvas over. shove some pallets on the ground and carpet over. cut a hole in the tarp and surround the hole with aluminium sheeting.

next take a empty gass bottle knock out the valve with a hammer & fill with water to remove any excces gass. take a still saw and cut a square shape in the front. weld 2 hinges to the square and weld the ends to the bottle. cut the handles off the top of gass bottle and cut a circle in the top. find some cast iron tube for a stack pipe...and you have a bacic wood burner

you can use you imagination to improve on the above. that should of cost you around £20 to make iff that...

Pikey Power!!!!

[SNIPERWOLF]

get some old ex mod tents, most of the ones ive seen/used are V.thick canvas and are good quality you can get ones ranging from 2 man up to ones with enough room for a double bed and sofa!

jake

[DaftFader]

yeah lke sniper wolf sais .. get a canvas tent .. or some thing along them lines .. not a shitty nylon pice of shit ...

[m45k1]

my misus just bought one (belltent) form www.soulpad.co.uk (http://www.soulpad.co.uk), put it up the other day, its huge, weighs just over 22kgs so we bought a fishing barrow/bedchair to carry it. still lots lighter than yurts/tipees ect, and you have the option of sticking a stove in.

[rachus]

Anything with a porch! Porches are vital! I learnt a valuable lesson last Glade.. never get a tent without a nice large porch!

[redneck]

next take a empty gass bottle knock out the valve with a hammer & fill with water to remove any excces gass. take a still saw and cut a square shape in the front. weld 2 hinges to the square and weld the ends to the bottle. cut the handles off the top of gass bottle and cut a circle in the top. find some cast iron tube for a stack pipe...and you have a bacic wood burner

doing any of that is way beyond me but i bought one exactly like it for £50.
i had an old scouts tent for years, no groundsheet and toggles for the door but sound as fuck, saw me through plenty of festies.
i've got a two bed, nylon thing i found at pilton now. bit of an effort to put up but feels like luxury camping compared to a 2 man tent.

[DJCliffy]

Has anyone seen those tents that pop open. Fucking great invention for the lazy man and woman!! I want one!!:weee:

http://www.goplanetgo.co.uk/products/quick-pop-flash-pop-up-festival-tent-2-man

[lilmstrixta]

I need a new tent put mine up yesterday to make sure it was still water proof for next week n one of the poles elastic has broken need to buy a new one of friday

[mattelephant]

have a look around for truck sidings- they are very heavy but also hard wearing and wont soak up water like an old army tent. there was a crew about who had cut up huge lorry sidings into triangles then stuck them together in the perfect shape for the dome by melting them at the seams.

we bought some tarps of the back or army trucks- kind of rubbery stuff that was flame retardent (good as some festivals require this of all structures).