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Hi,

After about a month of researching, I've finally decided on a 6 berth, 3 bedroom, steel poled tunnel tent with SIG for a family of 2 adults and 2 toddlers, oh and that also pitches fly first.

The Royal bordeaux 6 seems to be the most reasonably priced tent that fits the bill (around £300 from what I can gather). But before I buy can anyone tell me if there are any problems with it in terms of stability in wind, leaks, difficulty putting it up (how long does it take to put up?).

I'm really looking forward to finally making a purchase, so if anyone can recommend it or warn against it, that would be very welcome to help make a decision.

Cheers Beth

Bump

Dont have first hand experience of the Bordeaux but it is styled very much like the Outwell Montana6. There are a number of posts on here that seem to show that the Royals are holding their own. I would expect to be able to pitch it in a similar time to the Monty in about 30 -40 mins after some practice. This can be more like 1 hour in bad weather. The tunnel style tents are very stable, easy to erect and generally hold up well in bad weather. the only issue I would have with the Bordeaux is the bedroom layout in that it is 3 140cm bedroom pods where the Monty is 2 x 210cm pods. the Monty comfortably sleeps 4 where in the Royal you will be hard pushed to get 2 airbeds in a pod since they are generally 80cm wide. the pods have clearly been designed for the narrower sleeping mats which are 65-70cm wide.

There is also another alternative with the Vango Breckenridge. It too has three bedrooms but they are 180cm wide which is far more comfortable and you could use the third unused room for stotage. the living are is also quite large and the tent size overall is similar to that of both the Bordeaux and the Monty6. Unfortunately I have yet to see one in the flesh here in the Midlands but it may be our next tent as it would better suite us as a family of 5.

there is a royal bordeaux set up at tamworth camping me and the wife brought 1 very nice tent well designed very solid as well we dont have seperate airbeds just 2 double airbeds they fit in with room to spare buy 1 u wont regret it we havent

Thanks for the advice guys, I'll have a look at the Breckenridge, but I think I've got my heart set on the bordeaux now. 

Cheers,

Beth

Hello Beth

We bought the Bordeaux 6 with the ZIG a few weeks back, replacing a very well used 10 year old Eurohike 4 berth.  The Bordeaux is a good tent - light, airy, extra storage annex, well made, and dry!.  Just to clarify the bed sizes - it is 2 x 140cm, and 1 x 120cm.  In the 140cm pods, we have had 2 single mattresses (red and blue old-fashioned rubberized canvas) and a double red and blue.  Whilst snug, they do fit quite easily.  I haven't tried the 120cm pod yet - it is for the travel cot for our baby.  It has straight "walls", so may be okay for the double mattress, but two single mattresses may be pushing it.

Stability seems fine - a steel pole tent, with lots of guys, so should stand up to a normal amount of weather.  It is, though, 7 1/2 feet tall, so I wouldn't expect it to stand up to severe weather, eg hill top location, or on an exposed clifftop site in very bad weather.  In the recent rain, we had one or two leaks down the toggles that hold doors and windows up, but a dab of seam sealer sorted that out.  The fabric, stitching etc is perfectly watertight. 

Putting it up is a challenge - our last tent was much smaller, had fibreglass poles, and nowhere like as many guys.  I can do it in about 1 hour ten minutes, but that is fully guyed, inner tents up, and with only 5 minutes of help from my spouse (she takes care of junior while Daddy dashes about).  I would expect if you have two toddlers that they would also need to be entertained, so a similar time wouldn't be too far short of the mark.

One last thing, the Bordeaux has brow poles inside the tent.  Really gives it a solid feel when they are properly tensioned. And they give you somewhere to hang light things like coats too!

Bear in mind that most people will be happy to either sing the praises of a tent, or have nothing but bad words to say if they have had a less than happy experience.  The vast majority of people will not post if they are merely satisfied. This tends to skew the responses you see on the forums.  Best (if you can) to see each tent you like in the canvas, as it were.

Best of luck and happy camping with whatever tent you get! 

Mountearl 

 Grunty - enjoy your trip.

One tip for putting it up quickly.  Take chilled wine out of coolbox, two glasses, and leave on driver's seat.  Promise not to open it until tent put up and all kit stowed.  Voila - whirling dervish!

Earl

Thanks for the advice Earl, that's really helped.

I've got 2 more days to head scratch, and then I'm going to buy a tent!

Cheers,

Beth

Hi, I have just purchased a Royal bordeaux 6, first time campers with new tent weekend just gone.  I have nothing but praise for it and in torrential rain stood up to the test, fab space and we fitted double airbeds in the sleeping pods. Plenty of storage with pockets and extra storage annexe.  Liked the canopy for cooking under whilst it was raining, ours has a zipped in ground sheet. 

Didn't get any instructions with it so printed off these from Royal website, but not great to follow.  It took over an hour to pitch, but I think this was due to the weather and our first time pitching a tent.

I would recommend it to anyone, a real home from home and very postive comments from fellow campers when they saw it pitched. 

great stuff addvic cant wait to go in ours next saturday how did u like the windows and the bit on the side  for cooking in is the guide ropes easy to adjust ? we aint tried ours yet

thanks

I have just had the Bordeaux 6 sg delivered today am hopeing to put it up this weekend for a practice.Glad to read positive things about the Bordeaux I cant wait to go camping next month and test it for real.

Would be interested to hear how you get on with yours?

Enjoy.

Thankyou.

I hope the weather improves for you and you have a great time, Look forward to the pics.