Hi, our aging 6 berth motorhome has gone and after decades of ‘soft camping’ I feel a great loss, no more camping!
We can’t afford, nor do we want a replacement motorhome, then it occurred to me that we could convert to real camping. Now my missus is “not a tent person” but I have previously camped and found it enjoyable with the right company :0)
So, I am seeking your advice, selection of our first tent is probably the first challenge but also what equipment is necessary? Bear in mind that we have grown use to having 670kg payload in our van, so given that everything has to pack in our small to medium sized estate car together with our two dogs we are clearly going to have to simplify our trappings of camping.
I wondered whether an air tent might be a good place to start, simplicity being the name of the game and how big given two adults and two dogs?
I have so many more questions but can we start with the above please?
Thanking you in advance
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We used to camp, then changed to MH, and are temporarily reverting (glamping pod out of necessity rather than choice). Start with the absolute essentials: sleeping. Comfort & warmth, use your duvet, use a duvet cover as a liner, buy an air bed. You can sit in the car with the doors open in the evening with your beer or wine, it’s what we did when we had a car too small to take camping chairs.
Then use UKCS to find a site nearby, because you could go away to the right site in the right place & go out for breakfast & dinner - that is, cooking kit (cooking system, pans, plates, washing up liquid, tea towels etc) can come later. It’s what people with roof box tents do (from what I’ve seen on site).
So - just get a tent & go. If that tent turns out to be not ideal, that’s common with the first one you get. Move on & buy the perfect one next. Good luck & enjoy yourselves.
Doing the MH to tent 'downgrade', really I think it should be considered 'alternative' camping choice rather than downgrade, needs a little thought in the right frame of mind. It'd be far to easy to think of it as (re)turning to a grim basic existence and giving up all the comforts, but it doesn't have to be. A wise choice of tent and equipment can make all the difference. Despite having a nice 'luxury' caravan for my own holidays, I still use a tent when going away for 'lads' motor racing breaks, and we don't suffer too much.
Must have features for tents in my view are, separate porch area for setting up a decent kitchen (stove on a stand, larder cupboard to keep creepy crawlies out of food, work/table top for food prep, proper camping fridge, not a cool box - either compressor if on EHU or 3-way on gas if no EHU), AND it's somewhere to change out of/dump wet/mucky outdoor gear that is best not brought into main tent space. Bedrooms to give better comfort - protection from mozzies, drafts etc. Stand up head room. 'Living space', enough room to sit and eat in comfort, at a table preferably, if (when!) the weather is foul. Of course, always remember to 'downgrade' any manufacturers claim of berths by 1, so a 2 berth bedroom is only fit for 1 person, 3 berth fit for 2 etc.! We usually take a porta-potti and a toilet tent, as site toilets are often grim and a long way away on the on-circuit sites we use, but even with good site loos, it's nice not to have the trek in the dark/rain etc. - downside, porta potti's take a lot of boot space!
It's easy to get carried away with fancy tents, like airbeams (not against per see) BUT you do have to carry the heavy holdall AND fit it's unforgiving bulk in your car ALONG with all the other gear! You need to be VERY mindful of how much space is needed to pack EVERYTHING into the car! A lot of 'collapsible' things like washing up bowls, dish drainers, colanders, kettles, buckets etc. are a Godsend for space saving! A golden rule is 'don't transport fresh air!' - pack stuff within other stuff so that no space goes unused, nest hard things, stuff soft things into gaps. It's a pain in some ways and makes packing slower, but it also means you get to take stuff that otherwise wouldn't fit!
Another golden rule, pack the tent and tools for erecting it in car LAST - then it's the first thing out of the car on site and you can get the tent up as fast as possible to provide shelter for both all your worldly goods and yourself - many a novice will have to leave all their gear lying around in the rain to get the tent out of the car because it was the first thing they packed!
I have a liking for tunnel tents, as they give some of the best use of space. Minimal waste of pitch space combined with max internal space and headroom. Some, like 'dome' tents, 'vis a vis', etc. often only have standing height at the very centre. Bedrooms don't necessarily need true standing height, a ducked head height is tolerable for the short time you'll spend in it upright.
Raised beds, be it camp bed, double height air bed etc, are all very well, BUT most tents have sloping walls, and the sleeping space is measured at floor level! The higher the bed is off the ground the closer it gets to the walls, even to the point where it's uncomfortably (for the occupants!) jammed into walls! If wanting raised bed, check sleeping area is suitably 'oversized'.
Dogs can escape most tents if they have a mind to, mine does! Dog crate(s) can be very handy! Smart dogs nuzzle zips open if runners left within their reach, and dive under mud flaps if no SIG, like in some porches!
Camping in a tent can still be reasonably civilised and fun. I've used my 5 berth Outwell tunnel tent with just me and my Border Collie, and had plenty of space and comfort, certainly room for 2 adults and another not too large dog.
Maybe, not in the 'fun' bit, make sure you have somewhere large enough to erect or spread out your chosen tent at home to dry it after a wet pack up! You've only got a day or so before serious risk it will go mouldy if left tightly packed in it's holdall! Mould is not only damaging to the tent, breathing mould spores can be bad for health, so really to be avoided!
A tent can be fun - honestly! Says the man prepping his luxury caravan for the new season.
Ha ha, thank you Monty15, I’m not especially stressed about the change from motorhome to tent, after all we all get to use the same ‘facilities’ on traditional campsites, pros include ‘the freedom of having our car rather than using the whole kit and caboodle to explore’.
Thanks for your golden rule of ‘order of packing’, I expect I would have fallen foul of this keeping heavy things close to the rear axle.
Thank you for your advice Fiona, I agree start simple and discover the things you need or miss. When we started out in our previous MH we added things as we needed, but also many a trip to the camping shop resulted in all manor of purchases of stuff we never used.
I’ll do a list of things I used as a MH’er and see if we really needed it or whether it can be dropped in the interests of saving weight!
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It's often the little things that totally stitch you up when tent camping, even seasoned campers (we have! ) forget things like tin openers, when you've carefully packed a range of tinned food for easy storage etc.!!!!
Favourite is no way to light the stove!
It's far worse with a tent than with a caravan or MH, they tend to have their own permanently on board equipment, but when you have to gather together and pack everything for every tenting trip, it gets trickier!
You are of course quite right, I was chatting to the sales man at the camping store earlier today and he mentioned getting robust pegs, it was at this point that I thought, “forgetting the mallet” might be bad. As you say forgetting ‘fire sticks’ which we always kept in our van would lead to disappointment! The main thing we repeatedly forgot to bring on motorhome trips was salt and pepper, hardly a calamity. :0)
We forgot a bag of poles on one trip, it should have been packed away into the bigger bag with the tent & the other poles. So we had a very droopy tent that weekend, but survived - we just had to wriggle into the front door.
As for forgetting salt & pepper in the MH, ours stays fully stocked, right down to the microwave rice, and the plastic sandals for getting to the shower. But I’ve kept my packing list, on filing cards: dog has a card, one for cooking, one for sleeping etc. and I’ll be looking at that for the glamping “dog pod” next week.
Being an ex-tenter and a solo camper with a dog, I got myself a leisure trailer, a Brenderup 1105, in order to keep as much of my camping gear packed and ready to be hooked up to the car.
I did have a roof box before the trailer, which I outgrew when I switched to my first 4-berth Dutch canvas pyramid tent.
A packing list certainly helps, and different types of pegs to suit different grounds.
If money is no object and I were fit enough to lift the weight, I would probably get a Karsten 350 with an rain awning and comfort awning.
However, I loved my last tent which was a cotton canvas Dutch pyramid, an ESVO Bedouin 340 4-berth tent, plus side panels and vario awning, and missed it dearly. It should be sufficient for 2 adults and 2 dogs.
I would strongly advise for the OP to visit the tent display at Camping Travel Store. They are UK stockists for ESVO, Karsten and also Cabonon tents. James and Susie are very helpful, and through them I got my custom Bedouin 340 with two extra ventilation points and EHU entry point.
They even helped me by taking my Bedouin 340 back to ESVO near Edam for repair after it was damaged by my own stupid fault.
Personally, I would advise against airbeds and swear by camp bed + a self-inflating mattress (SIM) on top, held in place by a fitted flannel sheet with additional clips. Duvet for me, an all-season one with a 4.5 and 7.5 Tog each which could be used separately or combined for the colder months.
If I were to get a new camp bed, I would get the Coleman Posadas or similar (Kampa makes one too) for its ease of setting up.
For cooking, I swear by Coleman 424 Dual Fuel 2-burner stove which I was able to use all year round including winter. I sold mine when I switched unit to a van and missed it so much I bought a replacement recently, just in case I need more burners when I entertain (about once a year ).
Don't forget a toaster and I used the single slice folding one which worked really well with the Coleman 424.
A camp kitchen is handy - Kampa and Outwell are good brands. Go Outdoor also have their own versions.
An electrical kettle is also handy, no more than 2kW which could be difficult to find nowadays unless it is smaller in volume like the 1L ones one could find in hotel rooms, which is what I bought for my van.
I would probably add a single burner low wattage induction hob, like the Vango one. This would mean getting some induction compatible cookware, and I would suggest cheap and cheerful Scoville ones, or the more expensive Tefal Ingenio which is what I have for use with my van's induction hobs. I love the Ingenio range as they can be stacked without the handle, very space-saving.
20cm frying pans would work well with the Coleman 424 with 2 side by side.
In case the OP has not worked it out, I camped and still camp with EHU; and would advise getting a decent roller unit with USB ports which comes with 15m of cable, plus a 25m extension cable just in case it is needed.
A fan heater is handy for the colder nights even if one does not camp over winter. Dual heat output no more than 2kW.
All the above are based on my own experience and preferences.
Good luck with kitting out, great fun!
DK
------------- Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest & Play!
- 2027: ? NL+DE+FR
- 2026: FR+DE
- 2025: 17/77
'24: 10/49; '23: 9/47;'22: 8/46; '21: 9/34
* Ex-tenter
* Treat life events like a dog: if you can't eat it, play with it or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
I forgot to mention, I swear by the Delta Dog Tethers, their long peg remover, their nylon Delta pegs, and also their stainless steel rock pegs etc., and I kept all of them and use them regularly for my wind-out awning on my van and also the windbreak.
As for packing, agree with Monty that the tent and all the bits such as poles and pegs to be the last ones in and the first ones out.
However, equally important is something to drink while setting up, either something cold and alcoholic from a coolbox (normal when I was a tenter); or something hot, so have a brew kit ready and easy to access such as the EHU kit, a kettle, mugs, milk, teas and coffees etc...
DK
------------- Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest & Play!
- 2027: ? NL+DE+FR
- 2026: FR+DE
- 2025: 17/77
'24: 10/49; '23: 9/47;'22: 8/46; '21: 9/34
* Ex-tenter
* Treat life events like a dog: if you can't eat it, play with it or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
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Topic: Ex motorhomer in need of advice
via mobile 19/4/2025 at 7:41am
Says the man prepping his luxury caravan for the new season. 
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