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Hi, I am looking into starting a trailer tent hire business as I cannot see anyone else in my area who does this. I would really appreciate people's views of whether or not you might consider renting a railer tent or know people who might. The people I feel might rent one might be someone who is thinking of buying but would like to try out first. Any comments very welcome. Thanks - Dave

The main issue as far as I can see is that a person who is thinking about buying a trailer tent may not have a tow ball fitted so you will also need to take said trailer tent to whatever campsite they want to visit which might prove to be a bit expensive - although it might serve a dual purpose as you could then show them how to erect it.

There is someone who advertises this sevice on ebay - it might be worth looking at their set up to see what they offer - you may even be able to link up with them if you cover a different area.

As said above, people thinking about renting one may not have a tow bar and the cost would be too much to just try and see if people did not like it.  There is also the challenge of putting them up of course which is not something you can just turn up and do. 

A lot of people on here seem to buy older, cheaper models to see if they like it and then upgrade afterwards.   Maybe a business buying old trailer tents, doing a little repair/cleaning work and then selling on may be more vaiable and you could test the market by starting with just one or two cheap ones and take it from there. You could try with one for a couple of  hundred pounds at the most and see if you can make a profit.  If not for that price the chances are you could sell on for similar so very little risk.

I know there are camping shops out there doing this of course but you tend not to see many really old trailer tents and in the places where they do have them (part exchanges I suspect) they don't seem to be bothered with displaying these at their best.  

In fact I would not mind trying this myself!!!

I don't think there would be much of a market for this persoanlly. We have camped in ordianry tents for years, and as oldcow says, we bought an old Triango to test out trailer tents as you can pick an old model up pretty cheaply and ours is in perfect condition.

Also I agree with some of the other comments as if you are new to it, then you most probably haven't got a tow bar, as this is one of the things we had to address before buying, which means either you get them set up at locations for people in advance, which is more cost to you.

Also there is the down side of our weather. If you have a couple of wet tents when they come back, have you got the room to dry them.

Well said, old XXXXx i mean andcow     i had a chuckle when i saw the posting and have been waiting for your reply.

DaveQ1011 ,  I have to agree with the comments about damage and drying out tt's. I wouldn't be able to sleep if someone i didn't know was using one of my tents, I would have to keep going to the site to check up on them . LOL  I had thought that there is a need for a TT / FC  canvas re-furbishing business ???  lots of people buy these and have no idea how to use them then sell them on fleabay, to give the buyers the problems of trying to get the necessary repairs done, You have not said where your area is? but i've got a good sewing maching but no outside space. Good Luck in your ventures.

Thanks for your comments and useful tips. It seems like the repair/second hand sale market might be worth pursuing.

Cheers