ok, this might be the heat, or tent envy (or shear procrastination to avoid my studies) but I am seriously thinking about getting a proper big Pyramid tent
We have Obelink Eldorado and it is a fab weekender. We have Cabanon frame tent and it is ok for a week+ away but boy is it heavy to put up and take down (and our marriage has suffered enough)
Was thinking of taking family to Holland for a camping holiday in a pre erected DeWaard but then it occured to me a better investment might be to save the pre-erected fee and put it to a used Dewaard, then stay in Holland for the week and camp/explore
So - how much to budget ?
The travel and ferries I can figure (500 miles to Dover at 25mpg plus c£200 ferry in school hols)
How much will a good tent roughly be (need a biggee but happy to miss out on the superluffles) ?
And a week of camping on a nice site with good facilities and tranquility ?
Plus travels and visits ?
any and all advice most welcome
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You want a biggie? So an Albatros or Vergrote zilvermeeuw then?
Do you want it with any extras (I will list them if it helps?)
Zijluifels - side canopy things (I am a brilliant translator huh lol)
Sun canopy
Varioluifel - the big luifel (see my prof pic). This bumps the price up quite some usually.
Mesh door(s) - Each door rolls up and a mesh door can be unrolled and zipped in its place but this is an extra so not all tents have them.
Opbergschorten - large triangle storage thing with huge pockets for whatever you want to put in them. The bottom pockets are easily large enough for rolled up bath towels.
Innertent - most DWs seem to be with just curtains (including ours). I thought I would have a problem with this but I dont .
How much roughly do you want to spend? I am a wizard at finding bargains. If I told you how much I paid for our 10 year old, used for 12 weeks Alby with all the extras you would never believe me :)
as we would be replacing a Frametent I think Albatros is best choice
Not so keen on double pole designs (or a tent called silver meow?)
Lepelaar et al dont have the space we would need
As to extras, not sure we need much.
Not bothered about mesh doors, storage would be handy but no deal breaker
I know avoiding the varioluifel will keep the cost down, dont like the suncanopy but if it came with one or two side thingies that would be good. Do like the vario but it adds cost and weight and pitch time so not a critical item
Will probably need inners though - but have to discuss with OH about that, she really doesnt like the idea of our Eldorado without inners so I might struggle
Budget - well that is the bit I am much less clear on as we dont have a fixed amount. And I dont know what is reasonable either
I figure whatever we buy, if it is looked after we can sell on in UK with little loss in the future. Probably when the kids dont want to camp any more (or my business takes off and we can afford nice hotels). So all it is doing is tying up some money and giving us cheap holidays
To compare - in UK £200 would get a nice used, useable frame tent, £400+ gets you a something classy and barely used (not that anything we want comes up)
Looked on marktplaats and seen Albatros from Eu250 to Eu1200. So am guessing Eu400 to 500 is sensible territory for a good basic one, but I am guessing. If we need nearer Eu1000 then this idea isnt going to fly
Looking to the future, so content to wait til late in the season - am I right in remembering the summer school hols finish earlier in Holland ?
Albatros. This will give you living space of 4,2m x 2m so plenty of space.
I would definately recommend the side canopy things. Without a VL I would suggest 4 (2 each side) as they are not very wide.
The mesh door is no biggie to us either. DW have an amazing eye for detail and the way the door unzips and rolls up and the mesh does the opposite to replace it is genius but I am on vacation and cant be bothered with fiddly zips etc lol.
The storage things are handy but can also be bought seperately from DW or alot cheaper on MP.
You might get lucky and get a VL. It doesnt make that much difference to weight etc. There are 3 poles and a bit of canvas.. that is it :)
The schools finish in this part of Holland on July 9th but I cant remember when they go back and it does differ in different areas of the country.
Just asked DS when school starts again and of course he doesnt know,, he is only 15 afterall lmao.
I think the inners is going to be the problem. There are only a small percentage of DWs on MP that have inners and the price is usually silly then.
Ok, need to lie down now. I just checked the price of a new inner....
€595
THUD !!!
I think waiting until later in the year is a good idea as tents seem to have high prices at the moment and finding a bargain is harder than usual but still doable :)
I sure hope we never need any De Waard parts if an inner if Eu600, I guess the £30 in Towsure wont fit . . .
am I right in assuming from what you have said an Alby with no liner or Vario can be had for Eu500, though I am starting to think the Luifel would be helpful and the budget might need to stretch
my next step is to get my wife to try Eldorado without inner - time to make a PVC footprint I think
Brian, again my wife is a constraint, very anti tunnel - fancy a go through myself so might not tell her and drop some Valium in her tea when we get to the loading bay
did some price checks (w/e in school hols) and Ferry was £200, tunnel £250 - I need to figure the cheap travel times I reckon. Cant believe it is 35 mins though
tell her not to worry about the tunnel, it is just the same as going on a normal train ride, dont forget the 35mins is including the time it takes to reach the tunnel and get out the other end, by the time she has had a cuppa and a sandwich you will be coming out the other end..
we found the best times to travel were really early or really late. think the most we have paid is around 140 pounds which included 35 for the dog.
Dont forget if you shop in Tesco then you can use your clubcard points for tunnel or ferry tickets
------------- Brian
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Hi Littleskink, the inner tent for a 4m bell tent can quite easily become the bedroom area for a dw albatros with a tiny bit of jiggery pokery. thats what we use and its absolutely fine, keeps the kids contained and the bugs out - costs about £80-ish depending where you shop tho got better deals on dutch or belgian sites rather than brit.
i spent 500 on my albatros and got a really good deal but have dutch mates who bought for 100 and still going well after 4 yrs holiday use (france) - in my opinion you need a sunshade and 3 side panels to be cosy and protected tho we have 4 cos we're greedy - "superluffles" look good and offer max protection but check out the cost !! Not worth it in my opinion.
Quote: Originally posted by martinandzoe on 01/7/2010
Hi Littleskink, the inner tent for a 4m bell tent can quite easily become the bedroom area for a dw albatros with a tiny bit of jiggery pokery. thats what we use and its absolutely fine, keeps the kids contained and the bugs out - costs about £80-ish depending where you shop tho got better deals on dutch or belgian sites rather than brit. i spent 500 on my albatros and got a really good deal but have dutch mates who bought for 100 and still going well after 4 yrs holiday use (france) - in my opinion you need a sunshade and 3 side panels to be cosy and protected tho we have 4 cos we're greedy - "superluffles" look good and offer max protection but check out the cost !! Not worth it in my opinion.
Post last edited on 01/07/2010 00:53:25
Ohhhhhhh I had forgotten about your genius adaptation of a belltent inner :)
How did you do that?
If my memory serves me correctly, didnt your tent have a new canvas? If so then for €500 it was a great deal :)
I agree that the varioluifels are fab protection and look great but do bump up the tent price but an inner seems to bump it up more so if a deal can be done with a VL and belltent inners can be adapted then all could be had at a reasonable price.
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: Sensible price to get DeWaard from mktplz
