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This tent performed very well at the weekend when it rained cats and dogs! However a few niggles;

1. groundsheet does not fit - it is shy of the edges by a good 2 inches on both sides and the front.

2. No porch - or at least not one that didn't dip madly and threaten to drown anyone walking beneath it in rainwater - so we kept it shut and just used 1 side door.

3. Red pole snapped (well the elastic keeping the separate bits together did) when removing it from the tent. Luckily BestBuys have said they'll swap it out no problem.

I have been thinking about buying a groundsheet big enough to make into a bath tub style one with Wurmi waterstop pegs to cover entire footprint of tent (3.5m by 5m approx). Can any of you clever campers think of reasons why this is impractical/unadvisable/dangerous/daft etc? I mainly want to stop the wet/dirt getting inside.

This leads me on to a "porch". I want an awning/something to place over an entrance so that we can take off wet boots/coats etc without getting inside of tent wet and muddy. It would be fantastic if I could put kitchen stuff in it too and possibly cook in it if a howling gale outside. I do happen to have a garden gazebo which I was wondering about adding fabric sides to and putting that over the front door area. I saw this done at the weekend where 2 familes had one pitched between their 2 tents, windbreaks at the sides and hey presto - cheap and cheerful outside dry(ish) area.

Am I barking mad - have my "pikey wifey" ways got the better of me? Will either of these solutions work?

I'd love to justify buying a new tent (had serious tent envy at the weekend - especially the Outwells) but my bank manager doesn't agree - so have to make best use of what I've got.

All replies gratefully received, many thanks,

A

Have a look at the Coleman Classic Awning - you can get one for between £25-30 and it is supposed to fit most family tents.  Might be a bit overkill for your tent though and is not that good when the wind is howling as it could turn into a giant kite!

Cheers Jacqszoo - what's wrong with a gazebo??

Thanks Midge - I've looked at that already but have been advised it doesn't fit my tent. I wish I'd bought a totally different tent now

Hello again.

Was the camp up in my neck of the woods?  I assume that you were prepared for the rain?  There is a reason why the fields are all lush and green up here.

Regarding the groundsheet, I am fairly sure that a groundsheet on this type of tent should be shy of the tent walls or else there is a real risk of rain dripping from the tent wall and onto the groundsheet.  You would then have puddles in what little "living/storage area" this tent has.

We also used only the side doors - this allowed the main door/porch to be uised for storage.

Regarding the elastic, should that happen again once your warrenty has expired, there is a thread or two on this site on how to replace it yourself; I'll see if I can find it for you.

Regarding the porch, rather than go down the tarp route, and avaoiding a gazebo after all the horror stories on this site, I splashed out on a Royal Dayroom.  Nearly asmuch as our tent, I'm afraid, but of great use as a fairly spacious room in the wet or shelter from the sun, storage at night, etc.  You can see a picture of it (and my Lakeside) in my gallery.

PS - what on earth is a Pikey Wifey?

Forgot to say (in response to other thread)....

Haven't got away again and, unless I grab a weekend during the Indian summer that has been promised, am unlikely to do so.  The boys and I only have two weeks left of the summer vacation and all that's left after commitments to visit friends and family is about three days before term starts - and I need that to prepare myself for the onslaught of Autumn Term.  I started to put tents and equipment back into their winter storage places last week, hit strongly by a sense of, "What the hell happened to summer"  Why does term time go so slowly and vacations so quickly?.

Hi FS,

Yes, we were at Newhaven - lovely campsite - would have been even better in summer! We were prepared for rain - just not in the relentless quantity we got! Also our pitch sloped quite a bit so we were constantly sliding down the beds! We visited (no thanks to camp staff who can't tell left from right!) Matlock, Matlock Bath, Ashbourne, Bakewell (hence back on diet - again!) and Buxton and on Friday it was quite warm and sunny. We came back a day early as we'd pretty much done what we wanted and couldn't see the weather improving any.

Have read the gazebo horror stories too - just - so will definitely ditch that idea. I like the idea of a day room - have got my beady little eye on one on eBay at the mo. Do you reckon I could pitch it right next to the front of the tent and so open out directly into it? Could I cook in it too? That might help me get it actually as I wouldn't have to buy a utility tent for that very purpose so saving quite a chunk of cash. I'll let you know what I get.

A pikey wifey is a perjorative term and is often used to refer to a wide section of the (generally urban) underclass of the country, or merely a person of any social class who "lives on the cheap". My family are constantly embarrassed by my cheese paring ways (only when my own comfort isn't affected of course!!).

Hi again - was typing soooo slowly you've written loads in between!

Thanks for link re cords - will check it out for future reference. If I do the bathtub groundsheet I'll get some Wurmi water stop pegs - about £10 for 20 pegs I think. I was going to make holes in it (with special hole making and eyelet fitting gadget) so it would still fit bedroom pods. I can see having problems at back of tent where pods are supposed to attach to back egde - might have to make big holes there!

My son's back at school Sep 5th so am hoping to get away 29th/30th possibly. His au pair is going back on BH Monday so he'll have to try out a different summer camp for a couple of days before my leave starts. We're then off to the Astronomy Festival (yawn) on 8th Sep as he's mad on all that and being dutiful mother with no life of my own I feel duty bound to encourage him. I just hope it's nice weather - I don't fancy another wet break!

You sound like a teacher (and not British either - vacation!?!) - I hope you get yourself all set, I volunteer at my son's school and am frankly frightened by children en-masse!

Thanks for the link for urban; I would never have known otherwise!  Glad you enjoyed Bakewell; you can always get a nice tart there.

Au pair!!!  Not so pikey, then!

I am indeed a pedagogue, but very much British (with Irish leanings and sympathies).  I just like to broaden my pupils' vocabulary and can't get out of the habit once out of the classroom.

Re dayroom: I had thought about pitching it right up to the Lakeside myself, but its hexagonal shape has a guy on each corner and so it would have been very difficult, what with guys coming from both tents criss-crossing, trying to get it anywhere near.  The only possibitiy was the main door/porch and I don't think that even this was possible.  So, as you may be able to see from the gallery photo, we pitched it about three or four yards away.  This was fine and, on relfection, I think it may have felt a little claustrophobic having it any nearer.

Can you cook in it?  With all the available space and ventilation it is more than possible and quitre safe (as long as you are not crowded by kids); and I pick up from others on this site that some do cook in similar structures.  However, once I got there I decided to only cook in it if I had to.  Why?  When I think of all the grease on our cooker hood at home I thought, "I don't want that on the inside of my tent."  Now, obviously, the cooker hood sees more cooking and more of the type of cooking that will leave such deposits, but I really enjoyed cooking in the open, as long as I had my hat to shade my bald patch from the sun (not a problem in the Derbyshire Peak District!).

Wurmi pegs are the ones I was thinking about.

Don't talk to me about no life due to kids!  The first free evening of the week used to be Thursday (football, swimming, piano, cubs) but now my eldest has been elevated to the Scouts, even that has gone.  In fact, when the football season gets under way, I will be opperating the taxi service seven days a week!!

Errr, OK I'll 'fess up - I copied the explanation from Wikipedia and forgot to remove the link!

The au pair was another way of trying to save money - his summer holiday club wanted £134 a week for the pleasure of his company (and to get this good rate I needed to pay it in February) and last summer he came home with head lice on day1 and a vocabulary that would make Bernard Manning blush on day2! The au pair has been fine, she's a pleasant enough girl but in all honesty it's just been like having 2 kids, except I can leave her to watch the boy. She doesn't cook, thinks things tidy themselves away and a square meal is 2 packets of Walkers and a chocolate bar!!!! Of course the boy is loving this - eating rubbish and playing PS2/Wii all day long Anyway, since her arrival my Tesco food bill has gone stratospheric - who knew 17yr old girls ate so much?? and I seem to spend much of my free time ferrying her about to show her the sights or taking her shopping!

I saw your day room; it looks very impressive - I was thinking if I got a square one it would maybe butt up nicely to the front of the Lakeside - with the front door maybe as a covered roof?

oops - must dash, said I'd be home 5 minutes ago....

A

Hey, AKB - you're not the only one to moan at the groundsheet!!

You well?

As another poster said, it is best not to have the groundsheet too close to the tent walls.  If it is flush with them, every time it rains, you'll get all the drips from the walls making rivers across the g/sheet.  We knew this, but weren't quite careful enough in Norfolk last week - a bit of sheet was close to the wall and while we were out for the day, two bucketsful of water got into our tent!  I know how much it was, because I had to mop it up!!

I threw the groundsheet away, as it kept getting filthy and muddy due to the lack of a porch area on the Lakeside.  This is a minor gripe, however, as it is a great little tent.  I think I'll stick to good old grass under my feet next time!