A two-part question for the camping and caravanning types on here.
Summer holiday chez Gromit was spent camping in France. All very good except for the backache when I woke in the tent after a night's sleep on an air matress (we had a Gelert double matress and a Highlander single - the single was marginally less uncomfortable.
Can anyone recommend more comfortable tent-bound sleeping accomodation based on your own experience? I tried sleeping on the air matresses before the holiday, and all was well, but I guess a night on the sitting room floor and three weeks under canvas aren't quite the same thing!
Meanwhile, Mrs. Gromit became rather smitten with the neighbours' trailer tents (a family-sized Trigano, a two-person CampJet and another family-sized one whose make I didn't see), and even more so with a Holtkamper Kyte. It has a slatted bed. It'd be more comfortable than any tent she says. And she's right. But €15,000 for a new one buys a lot of camp beds.
So, the second question is can anyone recommend a good trade off between cost, comfort and durability in trailer tents if we go that route (or suggest a good dealer - I can only find three in Ireland, so we may well have to travel to buy)?
We've discounted a caravan rather than a trailer tent - strangely, perhaps, we found tenting much less claustrophobic than staying in mobile homes previously, and to us a caravan just feels like a smaller, more mobile, mobile home.
And yes, I know you'd get many nights' hotel accomodation for the cost of any towable holiday shed, but you also get the dubious pleasure of keeping small offspring entertained from morning 'til night, for which we've yet to find anything to beat a good French campsite and Brittany Ferries...
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On the tent/sleep issue I've found and old fashioned steel/canvas camp bed. We inherited a couple of very solid post war ones branded 'Safari' which lasted several years but eventually the canvas and/or stitching gave out.
Modern equivalents by outfits such as Gelert, Vango or Kampa are not as ingeniuos in construction and a bit of a chineses puzzle to assemble but fine once erected. Four legs are better than three though. Example is:
www.towsure.com/product/EasyAssemble_Tubular_Framed_Camp_Bed_Single
Lighter and more sophisticated versions are available with alloy frames etc but ass they get bigger fitting them in tent can be a problem. My experience is also limited to the basic type.
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I agree with Bromptonaut. It's many decades since I was a camper, and found camp beds far superior to air beds for a good nights sleep. The one that I had, had four stretched W shaped legs that slotted into poles that were inserted through the canvas on each side. Coupled with a Black's Icelandic down filled bag, I got a great night's sleep.
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>> Two for £20 - must be worth a try?
>> www.gooutdoors.co.uk/hi-gear-4-leg-camping-bed-p143629
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>>
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That's the type that I had, and that was over thirty years ago.
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Half a bottle of decent red does it for me.. :-)
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I tried that JBJ. It half worked...I got to sleep fine, but getting up without a sore back (or head) the next morning was another matter!
Mrs. Gromit has found this camp bed from Holtkamper. A bit like the trailer tent, I'm wondering how much better than the competiton suggested above can it be considering how much more expensive it is?
tinyurl.com/holtkamper-bed
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>> tinyurl.com/holtkamper-bed
Assume that's Dutch. I love the word slaapoplossing in the text.
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Slaapoplossing lekker slapen.>;) About £155 not a bad price Brompt.
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>> Can anyone recommend more comfortable tent-bound sleeping accomodation based on your own experience?
Yes.
I went camping once, aged 17.
Thereafter I used hotels or guest houses.
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>> >> Can anyone recommend more comfortable tent-bound sleeping accomodation based on your own experience?
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>> Yes.
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>> I went camping once, aged 17.
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>> Thereafter I used hotels or guest houses.
Abso F L
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How is your lutely these days?
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>> >> Thereafter I used hotels or guest houses.
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>> Abso F L
Each to their own.
We had, I think, 15 camping holidays in France when the Lad/Miss B were kids and teens plus a good few weekends in tent round New Forest/Dean etc. Off to New Forest again tomorrow in the caravan.
I'd still backpack in mountains but Mrs B's lack of flexibility (arthritis?) would mean it had to be a solo pursuit.
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>> Can anyone recommend more comfortable tent-bound sleeping accomodation based on your own experience?
Yes, a folding camper like this www.camperlands.co.uk/trigano-randger-415-dl-folding-campers1/
We had one for ten years, just upgraded to a caravan last year, could erect the thing and get the kettle on in ten minutes if we didn't put the awning up. Was plenty big enough for two without and needed no pegging.
Sleeping on a decent foam mattress off the ground, easy to tow, we visited quite a bit of Europe.
Other makes also available like Conway and Pennine.
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To cure one of the terrible "camping" disease, may I recommend a night in a two man bivvie with a poncho as a groundsheet, tastefully situated on the side of a hill on Dartmoor in December, thus waking up at sparrow-fart ten yards further down the hill and covered in frost?
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>> To cure one of the terrible "camping" disease, may I recommend a night in a
>> two man bivvie with a poncho as a groundsheet, tastefully situated on the side of
>> a hill on Dartmoor in December, thus waking up at sparrow-fart ten yards further down
>> the hill and covered in frost?
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Did that at 16 as an army apprentice, only on Snowdon; no bivvy either cos the lad who was carrying the tent got lost. Found out how good army "maggot" doss-bags are though!
As for what to use; I got fed up with replacing cheap air-beds, space is at a premium on the bike, so invested in a self-inflating Thermorest mat. Has lasted three years so far, as the name implies it insulates you from the ground so you stay warmer; only caveat I'd offer is get a full-length one if you plan on camping in autumn, or you risk cold feet.
Last edited by: Harleyman on Wed 10 Sep 14 at 22:21
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>> As for what to use; I got fed up with replacing cheap air-beds, space is
>> at a premium on the bike, so invested in a self-inflating Thermorest mat. Has lasted
>> three years so far, as the name implies it insulates you from the ground so
>> you stay warmer; only caveat I'd offer is get a full-length one if you plan
>> on camping in autumn, or you risk cold feet.
Both my (adult) kids use thermarest type mats in small tent, they're successors to the dense foam 'karrimat/rool mat' of my late teens/twenties. Miss B has a premium model acquired for her world challenge trip to Ecuador.
Brilliant in backpacker scenarios but maybe sub optimal for age 35+ parents in 'cloth cathedral' family tents.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Wed 10 Sep 14 at 22:35
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In spite of having a caravan ( well, maybe on Friday when they've finished the repairs ), I sleep in the awning. I still like being under ' canvas ' and there's more room for me bits and pieces.
For years now, I've used a Gelert single blow up mattress and it's been fine. I've taken it on various tenting trips to Germany and it rolls up nicely to a length of about 75cm, which was just the width of the bike with it's panniers. Easy to strap on the pillion.
I noticed that after 10 nights in July my back and leg pains were a lot improved. Seems to work for me.
I was in Camperlands, who T Junction mentions, a couple of weeks ago making the massive purchase of 15 metres of elastic to thread down one of the awning poles. I had a look at the trailer tents. Seriously nice bits of kit but Mrs O likes her 17 feet of luxury.
As an aside, I have two awnings to dispose of. One is a conventional, alloy poled 17 foot and the other a 10 foot, carbon fibre pole jobby. PM me if anyone's interested before they go on Gumtree
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Gromit
I continue to backpack despite being nearer, erm
Anyway, my preferred sleeping mattress is a Z rest, cut in half, from waist to shoulder. I stuff the sleeping bag cover with clothes for a pillow and normally sleep like a log. When not backpacking light I use a Thermarest pro light. Many options in this range of sleeping solutions.
Far more comfortable than any air bed, which I find cold and invariably roll off in the night.
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Plenty of food for thought there - many thanks everyone.
Legacylad, I spotted an ultralight camp bed on the thermarest website that can take the prolight matress on top. Even dearer than the Holtkamper bed, but a lot less than a new trailer tent!
I might start by trying something like the Higear bed - ideally if I can get one locally and return it if it doesn't work for me. Have been thinking about this a bit more with Mrs. G and spending a bit on a decent night's sleep and even a little trailer to carry it all seems the more sensible approach.
As for those hotel thingies, that's for Mrs. G, me, a GT86 and the Logis de France guide when the offspring have, well. sprung off...
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>> I know you'd get many nights' hotel accomodation for the cost of any towable holiday shed,
Ugh. Hate hotels. It's like being in prison, except you're paying for the privilege. Self cater - and I can now thoroughly recommend airbnb for finding self catering worldwide.
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From experience long ago, the important rules of camping are:
1) remember the poles
2) level ground
3) check for cows in the field.
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>> From experience long ago, the important rules of camping are:
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>> 1) remember the poles
>> 2) level ground
>> 3) check for cows in the field.
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4) Tent pegs & mallet - been there done that ! (unless these items are obsolete with modern tents)
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Those rules still hold for my tent (a Vango Harewood, if anyone's interested) - the poles and pegs pack into their own pouches. Biggest problem is stopping Gromit Jr making off with the mallet to "fix things" (read: whack the car).
Was at my physio last week - for final treatment of my back after the hols :-( - where he suggested having some 'give' in a bed is best. So he suggested trying a memory-foam top layer on an airbed or similar. Seem to recall mention of using Ikea toppers on boat bunks in Practical Boat Owner not so long ago, so I'll try one on the existing airbed and play with how much I inflate the bed first.
Will report back in due course...
(BTW, Physio's not a fan of very firm orthopedic matresses even at home.)
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Physio is right. Much BLX about 'orthopaedic' beds that are just rock hard and force you into uncomfortable or even damaging contortions. Ikea is a serial offender.
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>>Those rules still hold for my tent (a Vango Harewood
My tent is a 'proper' Vango - a Force Ten. Last year on a campsite a small child walked past and asked of its mother, 'Mummy, what's that?'
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What's with Harewood as a tent name?
Khyam do one as well www.khyam.co.uk/products.asp?s=Harewood We have its predecessor the Rigidome XXL though not sure it'll get use now we have the 'van. A fantastic tent for a family of four though. We had hours of wry amusement watching other people shoving 3/4 of a mile of shock corded poles into other tents of similar size.
And nobody ever paid a grand for one. Even the £480 on website looks a lot.
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My first serious tent was a a Blacks Mountain tent. Could just about get 3 in it through tunnel entrance. A poles either end with a connecting ridge pole. Seriously heavy. Seriously bomb proof for winter camping in the hills....think Skye at Xmas. Sold it yo a collector for a lot of money a few years ago.
My tent of choice for bad weather is a Hilleberg Akto. For more clement weather my Squall 2 Tarptent or Trailstar.
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>>and I can now thoroughly recommend airbnb for finding self catering worldwide<<
So can I, it's excellent.
Pat
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I'm impressed, not to say intimidated, by you cats with collections of tents for all conditions from arctic to balmy. I don't think I'm a natural camper although I have roughed it in many places and slept in some right tips.
Rain and mud are an absolute no-no. Met them at scout camp in Gloucestershire in the fifties and came down with malaria to the doctor's consternation.
I've heard about people being drowned in flash floods camping in the wrong place in the Sahara, but I have to say that's the only place where sleeping under canvas doesn't seem too bad. There are scorpions in some places but the locals know where they are. When the wind blows hard you get very dusty. And finding a discreet place to crap in the middle of an endless flat plain is a bit of a nuisance.
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Camping - a good night's sleep - Bromptonaut
