The Camping Forum

[dadsbeaniemad]

Cabanon Andorra 4 bert tent - unsure of year but think it is 2001/2002
It has the zip out panel in the left hand side
Pitching is just practice pitching at home and not pegged out or in full camping mode





From the back - one of the good things is rear door


with toilette annex zipped in




The annex from the inside


Kitchen area from the inside (without linings/curtains)


With the bedroom annex zipped in. Difficult to find these days so had to buy an A series bedroom annex which fits but doesn't match colourwise. Annex not guyed out.



From the inside without bedroom inner (we don't have/use one but they can be bought if you can find them)


Zip out panel (from the inside)


Bedroom inner. To sleep 4. One large space that can be divided into two by unfolding the dividing curtain.
This is the bedroom with the Aerobed Active Explorer double bed in it - both ways round. As you can see, not enough room for 4 BUT if you were all to sleep on selfinflating mats then you could get 4 in there.





one bag contains the Sun Canopy and one bag the bedroom annex

[in-a-tent]

Cor blimey how many tents do you own?

We've got a Sun Valley 8, it's brill.

[dadsbeaniemad]

Cabanon Montpelier 6 berth canvas tent (4 + 2). Unsure of year but think it may be around 10-12 years old. The newer version is in blue and green.

Practice pitching - not pegged out, no inners, no lining or curtains or Sun Canopy

Fram on it's knees





In full camping mode complete with Sun Canopy






Kitchen area - behind the curtains


Inside pictures



4 person bedroom - it can be divided into 2x2 by unfastening the middle curtain.
This is with Aerobed Active Explorer double air bed with bedroom left as one space for 4



other bedroom for 2 - girls both sleep on non inflated airbeds this trip(!!)



More recent pics (from Easter 2010 at Pillaton Hall Farm)






Inside
(between the 2 bedroom area there is a wardrobe area with a pole to hang your clothes from - we have a set of hanging shelves in there as well)




Behind the kitchen curtains

[dadsbeaniemad]

Cor blimey how many tents do you own?

We've got a Sun Valley 8, it's brill.

Well ..............

I have to admit that the Athena is not my tent but my camping friends.
I couldn't resist buying the Hawaii when it's owner said she was selling it - but I haven't had it picked up yet.

The SunValley 6 we bought at a good deal in the local camping shop (independant shop - Kendal Camping). OH really wanted the 8 but they didn't have one.
About 2 months later a brand new never opened 8 (still in it's box with the plastic straps round it as owner had kitted themselves out then had to emigrate for his job) and all the brand new, never opened gear for 4 people to camp came on eBay BIN £350 so we just had to - and sold the 6 on.

The only other one that was new was the Michigan - again a great deal at Kendal Camping (£280 for tent, carpet and footprint) and was to be our weekend tent .............. but I'm not that keen on it and it deff needs the extension. It was my brithday present last year

[dadsbeaniemad]

Khyam Tourer 400 - not sure of age but it's discontinued. It's a 4 berth vis-a-vis with no sig or zig.

Packing up to go home


With a Khyam 4 pole wind break - the ones with the 'roof' - one and only time we used it (windreak not tent)


Before I remembered to take lots of photos

[Wayne]

Keeley, brilliant pics. Thank you

My OH Sarah(Jubbababy on here) love the Cabanon Montpelier 6 berth, cos of the lights round the outside
I must admit, I think it looked a great tent too.

I'm interested to know why your not keen on the Michigan, I quite fancy the Michigan XL. Its basic design is the same as the Carolina, which we have for quick weekends, getting a bit tight with 5 of us in there now , and I want to stick with steel poles, so Michigan seems the perfect choice. We also have a Vermont L, but to much trouble sometimes for a weekend. That said, by the time I have set the Carolina up and then the Kitchen tent, its probably easier to just set up the Vermont, but in the colder months the Carolina is easier to warm.

[dadsbeaniemad]

It's just the front of the Michigan I 'm not happy about. It's the sloping door that you have to crawl on hands and knees to open to get in and out when it's shut (iyswim)
When it rains you get wet lol. The door doesn't fasten along the bottom edge. If you have the door up on the poles then the rain collects in it and runs back into the porch area.

Now, when you add the extension on the front ............ great tent

I think Outwell deliberatly marketed it as a just under £300 tent which is roughly what a first proper tent buy would be then you realise you need to spend another £80 or so on the extension and then you have a really good tent. If they had added the extension as part of the tent to start with and charged £360 for it then it would appear a bit expensive.
all the blurb says the extension has steel poles but it doesn't it has duraflex poles. the tent does have steel poles apart from the ones for the bedrooms.

I did a review for it (if it's OK to post it - and feel free to use it) Did it before we bought the extension and before Fat Airics.




Just back from a first weekend with the Michigan L

We bought this as an easy up weekend tent so were not expecting it to be huge in size but just comfortable for 4 (2 adults, 11 and 12 yr old)

Pitched the Michigan in the drizzle and fog - didn't quite get the sleeves in the right places over the bedroom poles and as it was damp the pole (even after drying off) were quite slippy. Would have redone if not for the weather.

It's quite simple to pitch for 2 people as there are basically 3 steel poles to fit. Each comes in 3 sections - 2 legs and the arch piece. They are threaded sections so there is no mistaking the poles. After you get them in then there is just the bedroom carbon fiber poles to insert and they slot into cups on the legs of the main poles - one each side. Peg out, guy down and voila!

Inside you then fix the two carbon fibre cross poles in the central living area and velcro them in place - easy. I'm 5'5' and managed to do this no problem.

The tent is very light and airy and the 'sky light' is a good idea as are the two window panels each side of the 'back door' and 2 triangular windows either side of the front porch. All have curtains that can be rolled up or down and fasten with the usual toggles. The Mocha colour (better in real life than in pictures) makes everything seem lighter too but is not a problem at night time.

The tent is vis-a-vis style - meaning sleeping areas at either end facing each other.

This is supposed to be a 6 man tent but is definitely NOT. Even as Outwell say - comfortable 4 I would take a little issue with it as the bedroom pods only just fit the double air bed (Aero bed Active Explorer double. Not the biggest double I've seen by any means).

The girls have Aero bed weekender singles and thank goodness one likes to have hers deflated as they wouldn't both have fit in if they had both been inflated. The deflated one was under the inflated one by about 3 inches.

There was plenty of standing height in the central living area. We used out kitchen unit up against the 'backdoor' (you can see in the pictures I posted) but that didn't leave all that much room and we put our little Alu roll up table out in the porch for cooking. We managed to get all 4 chairs in and sit down so there is enough room to stay comfortably (over a weekend). WE spent all our time outside though - even with the rain.

The porch - this is where it gets disappointing.

For the money you pay for the tent you would expect to get porch poles - well you DON'T so remember to take or buy some - we realised before so took ours.

The 'front door' slopes and once again with an Outwell tent you have to crawl on all fours to get to the zips to zip it up at night and undo it in the morning.

This is no good if it is raining as you tend to find some rain has crept in under the door and you get wet knees.

I have no idea why they don't put double zips on here as it would be so much easier - especially for night time visits.

We struggled with fastening down the door completely too.

I don't know if it was the way we pitched or the design of the tent but the rain seemed to roll off the roof and straight down the sides and got inside the porch area through the gaps at the bottom (going to pay more attention when pitching next time to try and get this bit perfectly right) meaning we had to be constantly mopping up. After being out for the day when it rained all day we had to take everything out of the porch area and dry it up as it was swimming.

This could have been due to the field as it was far from flat and level and there were lots of pools of water between the tent and footprint when we decamped (large pools)

This is also the reason that it sat very high at the front- we think and hope)

This said, not a single drop of water actually came in the tent at all. Everything was dry and snug.

It was very warm in the tent the whole weekend.

The fabric and manufacture is up to the usual good Outwell standard.

The footprint fits perfect and is well worth buying as it saves cleaning the bottom of the tent (thought we had to dry ours because of aforementioned rain).

The carpet too is a great fit and just makes for a softer warmer underfoot experience (not completely necessary but good to have if you want to spend the extra)

I'm going to give it another weekend away before I decide if it's a keeper or not.

I would recommend the tent to families for 4 only if the children are younger than mine or for weekend use only but that depends on how much space you like.

I would also say it is the perfect tent for a couple for weekends, weeks or longer stays.

[dadsbeaniemad]

The lights on the Montpelier were for Halloween (pegged on with clothes pegs)
They were £2 a string in Morrisons in the nearst town to the camp site (Orchard Park, Tuxford ne Newark) and powered by 2 AA batteries. Some wher pumpkins and some where ghosts. They did well becasue it absolutely p'd it down a couple of nights and although the shapes filled up with rainwater the lights kept going (after emptying them out of course)

[Wayne]

Actually, I do remember when we were looking at the Michigan, Sarah was put off by the slopping door and having to be a contortionist to close it, we had this with an older tent and hated it, called an Halstadd XXL or something like that by Rage, it was a cheap and crap tent. I'll have to find some pics of it, horrid thing.

Thanks for the info, put me off a bit, will probably take another look this summer, will have to buy a small but slightly larger tent than the Carolina for next year I think .

Cool lights for Halloween, bet it looked good.

[Wayne]

Found some pics, it was by Rage and it was called an Halstaad XXL (that had the sloping door), it really was a bad tent, the poles warped after one use, the ground sheet never fitted in the centre section, it wasn't SIG, the sleeping pods didn't fit a double bed in, we had a big one then, but all the same it wouldn't have took a standard double. We got it in early 2007 and used it for a weekend locally, then we used it for a 2 week break, the weather was fine so we had no idea how lucky we had been, but then the following year it rained and the wind was heavy and we came back after only 4 nights, we lost the Halstaad on the 2nd night, rushed out and got a cheap ASDA tent but as you might have guessed that failed .
Oh how little we knew then .



Not even been erected for 1 night from new, yet already the poles look like they cant carry the material


This picture was actually taken on our weeks holiday, all week I was trying to adjust the tent so it wasn't looking so lob sided, but it just wouldn't sit right


Looking into the tent with its horrid door that could only be opened and shut by a small child


Looking in through the door.


We had to un-clip the sleeping pod and lie it on the floor to get a double airbed in


The ground sheet was too small to reach any of the pods and water just poured over and into the center section, notice the pods only big enough for a single bed:twisted:


Another view of how the ground sheet was short and the tent fabric didn't even touch the floor allowing the elements in, never buy without first looking at a tent set up is what I learned from this.

[dadsbeaniemad]

BUT ........ it didn't put you off

We very nearly bought a Rage as well - thinking wow, what a lot of tent for your money and such a bargain price too. OH had is finger on the bid button and then decided to do an internet search for reviews on them and changed his mind. Went for an Outwell Hartford instead (£250 rather than the £25 the Rage tent was).
Some are lucky though and wear by their Rage tents but I have my suspicions that they have only used them on the few truly summer days we get

[Wayne]

It did put us off for awhile, but only a few months

We came away from the experience a whole lot wiser.

[sarahc]

Here are some pictures of our kampa Studland 8.

Just back from our first trip in it - and first ever camping trip. We are raring to go again and hubby (who was anti-camping), is talking about getting a smaller tent for weekends

[Rob-merlin1973]

Love the pictures and i am glad that you enjoyed it.

I have used our big tent for weekends and big holidays and now we have the pitching down to 30 mins it does not really bother us.

so are you gonna join us on the campout in september ????/

I noticed the Fox Carp chair ...... there are a couple of nice carp lakes where we are going

[sarahc]

Very observant on the chair spotting!!!

Will have to see about the campout - would love to come will try our best.