Camping and Caravanning UK

Tents

The camping tent is the MOST important piece of camping equipment for obvious reasons. In this country you need a tent that isn't going to leak if it throws it down, is going to stay upright in very strong wind and provides reasonable insulation if there is a frost.
Even in summer you can't guarantee decent weather so a good tent is vital.

Things to look when buying a tent are:

• Twin Layers - An inner tent and a fly-sheet
  Most tents have two layers these days but it is time to get a new one if yours doesn't. Having twin layers means that there is a gap between the inner and outoer layers, providing insulation and a barrier between wet tent and dry tent.
• Quality Seams
  Look at how well made the seams on a tent are, this is often the point of leakage on lesser quality tents where the stitching isn't waterproof and allows the rain through.
• Structure
  The structure of the tent is very important although it is more difficult to judge the quality with an un-trained eye. If you are looking to buy a dome tent then the quality and strength of the flexible poles needs to be looked at. These tents are great but buy having so few support pieces if one snaps then often it's good-bye camping holiday.
• Material Quality
  The material your camping tent is made with is also very important, it's the barrier between you and the outside world. It is also very difficult to judge the quality of this as often the best materials are the very light ones. A good judge here is on price, the more expensive the tent, the better the materials.