I'd Like a new Tent...

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Originally posted by Dave Larrington
I've just bought a new Saunders Satellite plus, which I have not yet had the opportunity to try.
£254 and weighs under 2 kg.
Click to expand...

http://www.robertsaunders.co.uk/pages/satellite.html

Got one last year from Linsports in Lincoln, cost 198 pounds and I'm fairly pleased with it inspite of initial teething troubles.

Used it in the rain at Cyclefest and it leaked along the the ridge seam so get some seam sealant on it.

Loads of space in the extended bell end especially for sitting under the hoop.

Throw away the pegs that came with it and get some decent ones.
 
Seamus wrote:

> Throw away the pegs that came with it and get some decent ones.

Depends how you define "decent"... Though the usual skewers with Saunders' lighter tents aren't
exactly the most premium available on the planet they keep the tent up just fine and are very light.

Any tent going lots of places should have a selection of different pegs available at home (skewers
best in rocky ground, V-stakes in loose soil/sand etc.), but it's unreasonable to expect a
manufacturer to ship pegs that will work in all circumstances. If you're just camping in typical
fields though there's nothing wrong with very basic alloy skewers, so why pay extra and get
something heavier?

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch University of Dundee Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net [email protected]
http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/
 
Seamus writted wif words an' everyfing:

> Throw away the pegs that came with it and get some decent ones

What Peter said. As I am currently the owner of four tents (!) I have an embarrassment of peglike
riches on which to draw, though, ranging from the spaghetti-like aluminium ones which were
standard issue with the Vango Zephyr of tiny size and fond memory through to the steel
camping-on-concrete numbers purchased from Decathlon in Beziers after an almost futile attempt to
pitch the Coleman Colorado on a Mediterranean camp site which saw no rain for months (until the
night *we* arrived, natch).

Dave Larrington - http://legslarry.crosswinds.net/
===========================================================
Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter
http://www.bhpc.org.uk/
===========================================================
 
Dave Larrington <[email protected]> wrote
> What Peter said. As I am currently the owner of four tents (!) I have an embarrassment of peglike
> riches on which to draw, though, ranging from the spaghetti-like aluminium ones which were
> standard issue with the Vango Zephyr of tiny size and fond memory through to the steel
camping-on-concrete
> numbers purchased from Decathlon in Beziers after an almost futile attempt to pitch the Coleman
> Colorado on a Mediterranean camp site which saw no
rain
> for months (until the night *we* arrived, natch).
>

I usually take one solid steel peg (a 6" nail with welded on crossbar) to make the holes for the
other pegs to go in. You can bash it with a big rock and it won't bend (easily).
 
In message <[email protected]>, Jon Martin <[email protected]> writes
>Helen Deborah Vecht was sufficiently re-animated to talk about I'd Like a new Tent...
>>For the York Rally I'd like it to be roomy (2+ people), with good headroom. It should also be
>>lightweight as I'm car-free. Price is not really a problem.
>>
>>I've had a Saunders Jet-Packer Plus for the past 15 years, which has served me very well, but I
>>hope to have company this year and I feel I need more headroom as I find squatting rather
>>difficult.
>
>I've got another Saunders (spacepacker 2) to replace my old Fellpine (original jetpacker).... it's
>lovely, light and reasonably priced. Lots of room in the bells

Yep I have Spacepacker Plus (as was) it's the two person version, must be well over 10
years old now.

Makes a good 2 person tent, the second bell is good for storing panniers etc. and also as another
door if needed. The transverse hoop design means that there is plenty of headroom in the middle of
the tent where it matters, and across the whole length of the tent. There are a lot of other tents
now on the market, and I occasionally look at them, but except for maybe a Nallo nothing can still
come close to a Spacepacker in terms of weight to space ratio.

We have recently bought another tent for family car camping trips, it's a ludicrously large Kyham
job , you could probably pitch half a dozen Spacepackers inside it.

Putting it up in the garden it felt like a house. Camping in the rain with a 2 year old soon made it
feel a lot smaller.....
--
Chris French, Leeds
 
chris French wrote:

> Yep I have Spacepacker Plus (as was) it's the two person version, must be well over 10 years
> old now.

All four Spacepackers (Mk1 and Mk2, standard and Plus models of each) are 2 person. But the plus has
a bit more room to play with being scaled up from the basic version, and certainly suits taller
people better. The Mk2 has bigger porches but the inner's the same size. The fly is made of a
cheaper polyester which is more stable under long term UV exposure but is heavier. I think it may
have options to pitch inner and outer together but since mine's a Mk1 and I've not seen a 2 in the
flesh yet I'm not sure.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch University of Dundee Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net [email protected]
http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/
 
> Used it in the rain at Cyclefest and it leaked along the the ridge seam so get some seam
> sealant on it.

Do all Saunders tents need seam sealing from new? I have a Triton that I have never used (use a
Vango equinox 4 in everyday use) and always wondered if I need to seal 'em??

Cheers

Steve
 
Steve wrote:

> Do all Saunders tents need seam sealing from new? I have a Triton that I have never used (use a
> Vango equinox 4 in everyday use) and always wondered if I need to seal 'em??

If it has a silicone elastomer coated nylon fly (IIRC the Triton does) then it won't be seam sealed
(seam tape won't stick to the coating, but OTOH seam tape and PU coatings it sticks to both heat and
weaken age the fabric significantly more than SE). It won't necessarily leak without extra sealant
though, depending on how well the seam has been machined, and if it does it'll only be the odd drop
which the light proofing of the inner should easily deal with. But it only takes a few minutes with
some goop to do it.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch University of Dundee Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net [email protected]
http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/
 
The pegs that came with my Saunders Sattelite Plus were very short and bendy, sort of thing that'd come with a childs play tent. I replaced them with the far superior quality pegs that I'd got with my Wild Country Mistral (got wet once too often putting an inner first tent up so I've given it away). Field and Trek sell some similar pegs with a daft name like super-skewer.

Cyclefest last year it rained a lot for several days. Organiser John Bradshaw suggested renaming the even, "Aquafest," how droll.
My tent let in lots of water but when the sun finally came out I got some seam sealant and fixed it.

Last night of the summer trip I was on a campsite at Brielle in the Netherlands. The pitch I was given was bare earth where a big tent had spent the summer so my skewer pegs were pretty much rubbish at supporting the tent. If it had rained the tent would have collapsed. Lesson learned I now have a dozen angle pegs as well as the skewers.

It's still a nice tent and I like it a lot though it would have been nice if Mr Saunders had included some note about seam-sealing on one of the bits of paper that came with the tent.
 
Seamus wrote:
> The pegs that came with my Saunders Sattelite Plus were very short and bendy, sort of thing that'd
> come with a childs play tent.

Sound like the ones that came with my Spacepacker and Snowcat...

> I replaced them with the far superior quality pegs that I'd got with my Wild Country Mistral (got
> wet once too often putting an inner first tent up so I've given it away).

The quality may be superior, but that doesn't make them better. The pegs that came with my Saunders
Mountain-Trek were of far superior quality but they were also rather chunkier and thus heavier (the
tent's chunkier and heavier too, so that makes sense). I like the Spacepacker because it's light, I
don't want to add to the weight unnecessarily.

> Last night of the summer trip I was on a campsite at Brielle in the Netherlands. The pitch I was
> given was bare earth where a big tent had spent the summer so my skewer pegs were pretty much
> rubbish at supporting the tent. If it had rained the tent would have collapsed. Lesson learned I
> now have a dozen angle pegs as well as the skewers.

And I have a set of V stakes too, but I only take them if I think I'll need them. If I choose to go
cycle touring along the Fife coast this weekend I can rest assured that I won't have dried out bare
earth to contend with, for example.

> It's still a nice tent and I like it a lot though it would have been nice if Mr Saunders had
> included some note about seam-sealing on one of the bits of paper that came with the tent.

Saunders are comically bad at is marketing and information. Pity really, as the designs and
materials are very good.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch University of Dundee Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net [email protected]
http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/
 
Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

I think I'm getting drawn to Hilleberg, probably Nallo or Nallo GT. I'll still have a look at the
Saunders Spacepacker.

--
Helen D. Vecht: [email protected] Edgware.
 
Helen Deborah Vecht wrote:
> Thanks everyone for your suggestions.
>
> I think I'm getting drawn to Hilleberg, probably Nallo or Nallo GT. I'll still have a look at the
> Saunders Spacepacker.

Saunders are quite difficult to find in the shops, or at least shops where one will be pitched, but
Saunders do a "sale or return" policy so you can check it out yourself. The Nallo is better made,
easier to pitch and has a roomier inner but OTOH it's heavier and more expensive and also has rather
less flexible porch and door arrangements for when you're 2 up. You choose, you lose... (they're
both excellent tents though IMHO)

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch University of Dundee Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net [email protected]
http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/
 
In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] says...
> Helen Deborah Vecht wrote:
> > Thanks everyone for your suggestions.
> >
> > I think I'm getting drawn to Hilleberg, probably Nallo or Nallo GT. I'll still have a look at
> > the Saunders Spacepacker.
>
> Saunders are quite difficult to find in the shops, or at least shops where one will be pitched,
> but Saunders do a "sale or return" policy so you can check it out yourself.

A long way for Helen but, Saunders usually have their full range pitched at the Saunders Lakeland
Mountain Marathon---somewhere in the Lakes the first weekend on July.

Last year some bloke must have turned up at the campsite when it was dark and just gone for the
first row of tents he could see. In the morning there was him in his non-Sunders pitched neatly in a
gap in the row of Saunders demo tents.

Colin
 
Thus spake Peter Clinch <[email protected]>

> Helen Deborah Vecht wrote:
> > Thanks everyone for your suggestions.
> >
> > I think I'm getting drawn to Hilleberg, probably Nallo or Nallo GT. I'll still have a look at
> > the Saunders Spacepacker.

> Saunders are quite difficult to find in the shops, or at least shops where one will be pitched,
> but Saunders do a "sale or return" policy so you can check it out yourself. The Nallo is better
> made, easier to pitch and has a roomier inner but OTOH it's heavier and more expensive and also
> has rather less flexible porch and door arrangements for when you're 2 up. You choose, you lose...
> (they're both excellent tents though IMHO)

I bought a Nallo GT over the weekend, from Field & Trek, with which I'm delighted. It is HYOOGE and
I hope it won't be too big at York. It's not very heavy despite its dimensions and I can split pack
twixt self & partner if needed..

Having lurked in uk.rec.walking for the past fortnight, I hope it doesn't suffer the fate of the
Wasdale camper...

--
Helen D. Vecht: [email protected] Edgware.
 
Saunders Spacepacker For Sale on Ebay at the moment. It is a Mk 2 so not so light. Kind
regards, John.
PS Not For Sale by me.

-- ---- NOTE:YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO SEND A REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE

John, Pauline & Hannah. Thornbury, South Gloucestershire. UK. http://www.pbase.com/john28july
 
Helen Deborah Vecht wrote:

> I bought a Nallo GT over the weekend, from Field & Trek, with which I'm delighted. It is HYOOGE
> and I hope it won't be too big at York. It's not very heavy despite its dimensions and I can split
> pack twixt self & partner if needed..

Note that if you split Hillebergs then they're a bit more of a faff to put up. No worse than
anything else, mind, just not so easy as usual when inner and outer go up together (and the fly
goes up first, so you can still do the fiddly bits out of the rain and wind). And in the GT,
where there's no need to disengage the inner for extra party space, even more the case that the
labour-saving of leaving inner and outer together may be a welcome feature at the end of a
long, hard day.

> Having lurked in uk.rec.walking for the past fortnight, I hope it doesn't suffer the fate of the
> Wasdale camper...

Indeed. Major bummer, that. Staying away from honeypot sites in the Lakes is probably the best
way to avoid that. After all, who thinks twice about somebody striking camp in the middle of a
tent village?

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch University of Dundee Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net [email protected]
http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/
 
Thus spake Peter Clinch <[email protected]>

> Note that if you split Hillebergs then they're a bit more of a faff to put up. No worse than
> anything else, mind, just not so easy as usual when inner and outer go up together (and the fly
> goes up first, so you can still do the fiddly bits out of the rain and wind). And in the GT, where
> there's no need to disengage the inner for extra party space, even more the case that the
> labour-saving of leaving inner and outer together may be a welcome feature at the end of a long,
> hard day.

I was only (mentally) proposing to leave Poles & pegs away from tent. I CBA to faff more than that!
Splitting inner tent from fly & reassembling seems like FAR too much like hard work!

> > Having lurked in uk.rec.walking for the past fortnight, I hope it doesn't suffer the fate of the
> > Wasdale camper...

> Indeed. Major bummer, that. Staying away from honeypot sites in the Lakes is probably the best way
> to avoid that. After all, who thinks twice about somebody striking camp in the middle of a tent
> village?

Hopefully, my York 'neighbours' will know if anyone else were to interfere with my gear.

--
Helen D. Vecht: [email protected] Edgware.
 
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