[Closed] What's wrong with tents?

They have their advantages. But they are cold, damp, blowy, a faff to pitch, you can hear all the noisy people on your campsite, noisy in the rain, you sleep on the floor.. camper vans and caravans are way more comfy obvs.

We still use a tent sometimes but it's no contest for a family UK break. Motorhomes and caravans also have cookers, fridges, hot and cold running water, spring mattresses, blown air heating, toilet, shower and so on.

 their use seems to be in decline.

Not sure I agree with you premise there.

<insert non-copyrighted image of glastonbury camping>

Every time I've done the sums its just much more comfortable to stay in an upmarket B&B / Hotel 😉

Hotels are good for towns and cities, less so elsewhere.

I have a theory that will probably get totally shot down but I reckon camper vans are the new mid-life crisis vehicles. In our parents' day age mattered more in society so you would demonstrate your continued youth to your peers by buying a sports car to let them know you were still active and virile. Now we work longer and are active later in life but spare time is at a premium more than ever. Therefore, you demonstrate your success by buying a camper van to show others you're successful enough to have abundant free time.
Slightly toungue in cheek, drive what you want at the end of the day.

What gunz said, mainly a statement imho.
We prefer tents though as proper woodland camping wouldn't work in a camper, plus we have an awesome insulated tent that keeps the light out, the inside warm and actually provides a decent level of noise insulation too

cold, damp, blowy, a faff to pitch, you can hear all the noisy people on your campsite, noisy in the rain, you sleep on the floor

think that's everything that's wrong with your post covered 😂

We use both.

Tents for adventures

Motor (converted parcel force van ) for convienance.

Ours is self sufficient so we don't book anything so we can fall back on parking anywhere

With a tent we would have to book or sleep in the front seats of the car if it was full.

Tents cool down much faster at night and are insect proof assuming you buy one with a mesh inner. Even if the odd insect gets in there's no problme killing them in such a small space. In hot insect infested places I sleep better in a tent than anywhere. The worst possible place to spend a night in a hot insect infested place is the over-cab bunk in a campervan.

People have much more money than they used to and what were previously 'wants' have become 'needs'?

footflaps

Member
Every time I’ve done the sums its just much more comfortable to stay in an upmarket B&B / Hotel 😉

Guess it depends on your strategy, if I was to get into the campervan game, i'd probable buy 2nd hand and sell it a year or 2 at most down the line, rinse and repeat.

You could probably sell for close to what you bought it.

We've got both a bell tent and a small campervan. The Tent it great if we are staying somewhere for a few days or somewhere hot. However the campervan we can use year round - in fact we use it more in autumn/winter/spring than we do in summer. In the summer we predominantly use the boat for weekends away.

It just wouldn't be feasible to use the bell tent frequently in winter - it would be a bugger to try and dry.

For convenience and warmth, the campervan wins hands down.

Tents are a pain when you arrive at the campsite in the rain, and they're a pain if you have to strike them when they're wet. I don't have anywhere I can readily dry out even a small tent at home.
But then I wouldn't have a camper or caravan because I don't want a second vehicle and don't want to be lumbered with one as my only vehicle since tbh I'm only camping for maybe 15 nights in a year.

I have a theory that will probably get totally shot down but I reckon camper vans are the new mid-life crisis vehicles. In our parents’ day age mattered more in society so you would demonstrate your continued youth to your peers by buying a sports car to let them know you were still active and virile. Now we work longer and are active later in life but spare time is at a premium more than ever. Therefore, you demonstrate your success by buying a camper van to show others you’re successful enough to have abundant free time.
Slightly toungue in cheek, drive what you want at the end of the day.

I reckon you're basically right, My favourite method of winding the few people we know with campers is to jokingly refer to it as a "lifestyle bus" obviously that title implies all sorts of aspirational, insta-****tery on their part, which is generally not too far wide of the mark...

Of course I wouldn't mid owning a lifestyle bus myself, but then I am approaching middle-age.

don’t buy a shit sleeping bag, don’t buy a shit tent, don’t buy a shit tent, don’t buy a shit tent (or just practice), don’t go to a shit campsite, earplugs, air mattress

I've got quality kit thanks. You must be new here if you think I buy shit gear.

There's no getting away from the fact that tents are less comfortable, and much less so in poor weather. It is possible to get cookers and chairs and proper beds and fridges and all when tent camping, but you need a big van or trailer and it all needs packing away which takes forever the more kit you have.

I've done both tent camping and caravanning, I still do. Both have their place but caravan/motorhome for.comfort, no question. Tent for adventures and/or flying.

Sometimes I even take the tent AND caravan!

Tents are a pain when you arrive at the campsite in the rain, and they’re a pain if you have to strike them when they’re wet.

This.

Dedicated tent user here.

isn't the whole tent thing some sort of wilderness virtue signalling? Look at me, I'm so hard with my flappy canvas pulled taut and erect over tensioned alloy pole and my sleeping bag full of feathers from chickens I killed myself before plucking them. Yes, plucking them. Look at my multiple trip-hazard guy-lines, so tight and deadly. Look at my swaying erection wagging in the wind.

I have a theory. Tent use is the new mid-life crisis lifestyle issue for people who just want to have an argument on the internet over something that doesn't matter very much.

Look at me, I’m so hard with my flappy canvas pulled taut and erect over tensioned alloy pole and my sleeping bag full of feathers from chickens I killed myself before plucking them. Yes, plucking them. Look at my multiple trip-hazard guys lines, so tight and deadly. Look at my swaying erection wagging in the wind.

This is what's *right* with tents, isn't it? Perhaps you misread the thread title?

People have much more money than they used to and what were previously ‘wants’ have become ‘needs’?

Yep, just thinking back to my childhood, we have so much more disposable income now.

Tents are much better for loitering within.

I just sleep under bridges on waste cardboard - so much cheaper and many varied locations available. You might get a kicking and pissed on though - but swings and roundabouts!

Sometimes I even take the tent AND caravan!

Judging by the campsite I stayed at last week; the default is a campervan with a tent the size of a small convenience store attached.

THe thing that gets me about the recent van-fetish is that people who use them seem to think its their god-given right to sleep wherever they like. When i was younger I spent a lot of time sleeping in the back of the car; but we'd always park up discretely and be up and off shortly after dawn. Near where I am the campervans seem to like parking up in full view on top of a hill and stick around most of the morning strolling aorund in dressing gowns.

I just sleep under bridges on waste cardboard – so much cheaper and many varied locations available. You might get a kicking and pissed on though – but swings and roundabouts!

Latest mid-life crisis accessory a 2l bottle of frosty jacks then?

Near where I am the campervans seem to like parking up in full view on top of a hill and stick around most of the morning strolling aorund in dressing gowns.

Do you live in Scotland?

7/10.  Non agressive OP, well thought out subject choice - guaranteed to get an argument going from people defending their choice / attacking the 'other side'.

Loses points for not using the terms "Lifestyle" or "Scene Tax" or even mentioning VWs.

However, you have yet to come back to post, so bonus point for that.

Overall, a good effort.

An actual campervan is basically a metal tent with an engine anyway. At least that’s what our T5 was like.

Will stick with the motorhome though I think, unless you’ve got a shower, toilet, fridge freezer, 4 burner hob, grill and oven in your tent. Oh, and heating/lighting.

Having been away in mid winter and sat warm and dry after a days cold biking, waiting for the full roast dinner to finish cooking while relaxing on a 6’ long sofa, I think I’ll save the tent style stuff for the odd bike-bivvy trip...

Do you live in Scotland?

I do.

If I want to see folk strolling around in dressing gowns just before lunchtime I just go to Tesco.

Don't see many campervans though.

Don’t see many campervans though.

Well, they don't sell them in Tesco (do they?)

they don’t sell them in Tesco (do they?)

Of course they do.

The Tesco Value Basics Campervan. Ideal for festivals.

One word Grass.

My wife has crappy hayfever grass particularly affects her. So the concept of sleeping on the grass, surrounded by grass doesn't go down well.

I own neither a camper, nor a shed on wheels (caravan) though, I'm with footflaps on the hotel/B&B. I love the idea of camping, but it's never lived up to the hype for me.

Overall, a good effort.

ha ha ha. Thanks.

I'm actually reading with interest at everyone's views. It was a genuine question as we looked at a campervan a while back as Mrs Blackflag was keen. I was deeply sceptical of her view that we would "use it all the time" as whenever i suggest going away at the weekend she always has good reasons to stay at home and do some more cleaning or gardening. So we ended up getting a big airbeam tent with a view that if it got used regularly (in summer, when not raining) then we would consider a camper further down the line.

No one's mentioned sexytime yet? I mean, you can in a tent, but it's only socially acceptable at festivals.

don’t buy a shit sleeping bag, don’t buy a shit tent, don’t buy a shit tent, don’t buy a shit tent (or just practice), don’t go to a shit campsite, earplugs, air mattress

think that’s everything that’s wrong with your post covered 😂

Sounds like hard work, just buy a camper van.

I don't own a camper van, I don't get any on camping Holliday's 😂

No one’s mentioned sexytime yet?

looks pretty painful in the Tesco Value Basics Campervan............

Just back from a camping holiday with the family in The Netherlands and Belgium. What I like about the tent is the flexibility, being able to travel lighter, and the freedom of not having to drive. Pack up the tent on the trailer and just roll off down the cycle path. We were also able to stay on some nice mini-camping sites where you can't motor camp.

Tents do a job - they provide somewhere really cheap for you to stay almost anywhere you like for a short period of time. But they ARE cold, can be uncomfortable and they're not a relaxing place to sit if the weather is bad. But it means that I can go away for a weekend and have it cost me practically nothing.

My experience of something like a VW Transporter van is that they let you do the same thing, in more comfort, and are easier to pack up but at 150 times the price. That's a price I can't justify for ten weekends a year. And, regardless of what the fans say, living with a van as your only vehicle has so many downsides to having a smaller, more comfortable, more economical car for the 320 days you don't need a van for.

My experience of a proper motorhome is great - they're comfortable, you can go just about anywhere in them and touring areas is very easy. You're self sufficient, there's room for everyone and the beds are properly comfortable, not just "comfortable for a tent/van". When the weather is bad they're nice to be in. You could genuinely have most of your European holidays in one. The downsides are that you'd have to have one as an extra vehicle, they take up loads of space and they're very expensive. And you can only go on holiday in driving distance. They're expensive enough that you could go on actual holidays staying in a rented house or hotel or B&B or gite. Which is even more comfortable.

So, for quick weekends away I'm happy with my £100 tent and for holidays I'm happy with my rental place. Although I'd consider hiring a motorhome for the odd local week's holiday.

I carry a tent in our VW Caravelle so I get niche points from both camps 😀

Find caravans and motorhomes a bit oppressive and stuffy .. though to be fair my long camps now are in the south of France so being outdoors 24/7 isn't such an issue, and the nights are pleasant.

Biggest issue though is the bed. Still not found anything thats good enough, been though multiple airbeds of all price ranges and sleeping mats up to 7.5cm (they get to ridiculous pack sizes after that) but still not solved it. Age probably, the kids care not.

Yep, just thinking back to my childhood, we have so much more disposable income now.

Me too. My pocket money allowance was pitiful.

“lifestyle bus”

That's the conclusion i come to every time i look into it. I'm guessing even the best of them must lose 1 or 2k a year in depreciation (they still have a finite life which is getting shorter with emission standards changing) plus servicing/insurance. Add in some extra fuel costs over a smaller vehicle and you've got to be close to £3k a year. 10 nights away at weekends and a 3 week trip in summer and it's costing you £100 a night. Most of those aren't going to be wild camping - it's usually at least £10 pp/pn on a campsite (more with hook up). So actually it's at least £120 a night for a couple.

It's a lifestyle choice. There are few times each year when I'd love one but for longer holidays booking an cottage/B&B/hotel looks better value and more comfortable.

When it's just me and Mrs S camping she find it too intense.

I have a theory that will probably get totally shot down but I reckon camper vans are the new mid-life crisis vehicles.

there's a grain of truth here. Camper Lifestyle (handsome parents, cute kids, beach at sunset, organic food, vintage-looking clothes) has totally overtaken Sports Car Man in popular culture/adverts/lifestyle magazines as a signifier of success/aspirational goals.

e.g. https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/van-life-instagram/index.html

Probably because it's more inclusive - Sports Car Man these days has a whiff of 'sad bloke trying to shag his secretary'. Camper Lifestyle can be marketed to the whole family.

Anyway, to the OP, what's wrong with tents is that you get to a certain age - probably varies by couple - and whenever you suggest a weekend camping, your wife groans and complains about the cold/uncomfortable airbeds/spiders/having to get dressed and walk across a field to go for a piss/etc, and suddenly it's August and you still haven't been camping yet this year.

Then you have the following conversation.

- what about a camper? They look fun

- they're not cheap. Could we afford it? Would we use it enough?

- Maybe we should rent one for a weekend and see how we get on.

- Yes, I'll....HOW MUCH?? YOU COULD HAVE A WEEK IN SPAIN FOR THAT

- Fancy a week in Spain?

and sleeping mats up to 7.5cm

Exped Megamat 7.5 is more comfortable than most cheap hotel beds. It's tempting to over inflate it - i find best to run it as soft as possible before you hit the ground when lying on your side.

I don't think there's quite a direct comparison with holliday cottages and B&b's.

Camper van let's you drive to the seaside and have a beach hut one weekend, a rental cottage in the peak district the next, a premier inn at bpw, and your own shower, bike wash and warm bed in the pits at races, then somehwere for the in-laws to sleep at Christmas's when you've got a house full. Only a fraction of that is possible with either a tent or hotel.

It might be more expensive than a weeks holliday rental each year, but not as convenient and probably full of uses the other 48 weekends too.

I’m so hard with my flappy canvas pulled taut and erect over tensioned alloy pole

Exactly! The new forest dogging association would just not allow such a thing. They take too long to pitch in the hard gravel car parks, have too few a windows, are awful to clean the gulling off of and don't even have headlights! Tents are just not practical.

Sports Car Man these days has a whiff of ‘sad bloke trying to shag his secretary’.

Plus we don't have many secretaries anymore and trying to get it on with a copy of Office 365 just isn't the same...

Naturally my kids love camping, and I feel an obligation to let them enjoy this simple pleasure, especially as it is so cheap. Days and evenings on campsites are hugely enjoyable, camp fires, finding new friends and interacting with Nature.. However there is nothing good about spending the night in a tent when you have a house. Church bells, other peoples voices, farm vehicles, cold, uncomfortable sleeping surface all make the overnight frankly almost unbearable. I have never had a good nights sleep in a tent that I can remember.

We tried a camping pod this weekend, and it was great, all the benefits of camping with almost non of the drawbacks mentioned above. I got 8.5 hours sleep in the thing.

Plus we don’t have many secretaries anymore and trying to get it on with a copy of Office 365 just isn’t the same…

get your macros out for the lads, eh?

What's wrong with you? No sense of humour??

No one’s mentioned sexytime yet? I mean, you can in a tent, but it’s only socially acceptable at festivals.

It's actually better in tents I reckon. Even the most stable caravans and camper vans will rock a bit, which could wake up other occupants. And having a hard floor is an advantage there.

Sex whilst camping is my favourite. It's f***ing in tents.

Cool breeze I over the buttocks!

In these parts sex in a tent is definitely preferable to sex in a camper van. You don't want to be mistaken for a professional and end up like this:

https://www.leprogres.fr/ain/2016/02/03/deux-camionnettes-de-prostituees-incendiees-a-ambronay

I grew up camping most weekends in the summer. Mum & Dad had an old ridge tent then upgraded to a frame tent (Dad mustv'e had a payrise) We went to the Lakes a LOT & stayed at High Bridge End Farm near Thirlmere, I absolutely loved it & think every child should be shown the great outdoors by tent! It gave me my love & respect for the countryside that's for sure.
Nowadays I've still got my Thermarest, sleeping bag & cooking gear but theyr'e just for bothy trips because......wev'e got a caravan. I couldn't even face putting a tent up & taking it down now, plus crawling around with these knees, no hope.
Iv'e got 4 tents for sale. For details, email in profile.

nowt wrong with tents! for me the main advantage is being able to get miles away from everyone else! ( apartr from you mates if they are invited 😉 You cannot do this in a caravan or camper van!

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Indeed but try pitching your tent outside a music venue to save you driving 159 miles home in the middle of the night.

Or outside your mates house.

Or when the campsite you didn't boom and arrived at at 2 in the morning because of traffic hold ups on xyZ road. Or if the weather was shit and your confined to soggy wet quarters with your soggy wet clothes in November

Tbh the main things I like about my van are the heating and the lavvy

What grinds my gears is the dub crew(mostly) thinking toilets are overrated and pooping all over the place.

And since I didn't trade my tent in for the van. If I want to go the places you have pictured. I can.

Also if my van loses 3 k a year well it's worthless already.

You find it loses less than most rep mobiles year on year even if it's. Not a VW.....provided it's not just some old shitty leaky caravan that's been thrown into the van by someone towing a van and braked hard......although those still get a couple of k even when rotten as a peach

🙂 ~done most of those with a tent Trailrat 🙂 I like camper vans as well - its horses for courses

My tents rock.

Halfway up a mountain or down a river while adventuring.

I'm not convinced for a week, 10' from neighbours, lack of sleep from daylight, creeping damp or belting overheating etc...

I do think the whole VW T5 / California thing is a lifestyle choice and "lifestyle bus" certainly hits the nail on the head.

Expensive Rab down jacket? Check. Traildog spaniel? Check. Meticulously clean Santa Cruz Nomad or Heckler dripping with Kashima strapped to the back? Check. Welcome to the club.

https://twitter.com/TheFastShow1/status/1130723002935644161?s=20

nowt wrong with tents! for me the main advantage is being able to get miles away from everyone else! ( apartr from you mates if they are invited 😉 You cannot do this in a caravan or camper van!

Course not, but I have a choice of comfy accomodation on a site or wild camping in a tent, they aren't exclusive!

I haven't wild camped in far too long, because I have a family that isn't that interested in it....

TBH tents and VW ‘campers’ have more in common than folk think, build quality for one although in most cases the tent edges it 😁
You also can’t impress middle aged men in animal t shirts as much in a tent as you can in a VW....

We've got a roof top tent and we use it quite a bit. Easy to set-up, away from the majority of insects, not on the floor so doesn't get as damp as a ground pitched tent. It's going on top of the Mercedes Vito van that I'm currently converting into a camper, to provide extra accommodation for my teenage daughter. She needs her space!!

Tent and a camper, hated by both 'sides'?

We're just not comfortable sleeping on the ground anymore (it's old age!) though I used to do around 30 days a year. What's certainly the case living in Scotland is that, if you're camping in the highlands and it rains for 36 hours then you just pack up and go home (which means I go back to work as I'm self employed); that's if the midges haven't done the job first. Wet weather things to do are not in great abundance generally.
In the motorhome we have a sofa each to sprawl out on and read a book; you just get sore in a tent.
I wasn't allowed to have my first girlfriend stay over as an 18 year old, but I was allowed to borrow my folk's T2 Shaggin-Wagon for weekends away. Have had a soft spot for campervans ever since!

If you are not comfy sleeping in a tent then you have the wrong kit. Ever so comfy and cosy in mine.

Don't agree Teej. Used to be comfortable but no longer am. Equipment I use is fine.

Tents only here, we have several. I did float the idea of a small teardrop trailer a few days ago, she liked the look of it so one might appear in the future.

Every time I’ve done the sums its just much more comfortable to stay in an upmarket B&B / Hotel

Last time I went down to South Hams in Devon, I camped for nine days, at £10/night.
The pub in the village, where I stayed for a week, B&B, was roughly £75/night.
Now, I’m no economist, but I’d be prepared to say that, with difference in cost of £60/night, the tent perhaps just edges it...
I will happily admit that I ate in said pub every evening, but my bill for food and a couple of pints still came to around £40, which I would have added to the B&B cost, so roughly £50/night for camping, against roughly £115.
I still think the tent edges it, and my Decathlon inflatable, which takes less than thirty minutes to put up, from unpacking the car to sitting outside looking at the view, makes it a doddle. And with my 10cm self inflating double mattress, and a warm sleeping bag, and seven foot headroom with room for four, the only advantage the pub has is being able to go from the bar straight upstairs to bed.

I have a theory that will probably get totally shot down but I reckon camper vans are the new mid-life crisis vehicles. In our parents’ day age mattered more in society so you would demonstrate your continued youth to your peers by buying a sports car to let them know you were still active and virile. Now we work longer and are active later in life but spare time is at a premium more than ever. Therefore, you demonstrate your success by buying a camper van to show others you’re successful enough to have abundant free time.

Meh. My parents bought a campervan when I was about 10. That was 50 years ago. And we were officially poor 🙂

I have a choice of comfy accomodation on a site or wild camping in a tent, they aren’t exclusive!

This. I wild camp more than almost everyone on this forum. I also have a campervan.

I paid £10 a night for the site we stayed in last week, in the caravan.

Okay my tuppenceworth. Though I have to say up front I’m typing this sitting outside a camper van with a nice glass of red part way through a month long trip round France.

I don’t think it’s a case of either or. We love our camper van but also still own several tents ranging from a big one with bedrooms down to my one man backpacking tent.

Van is great but if, for example, we were going down to the Lake District for a week I’d take our big tent as the van is a pain to drive round the narrow roads there. However on a trip where we are moving on every couple of days the van is great. Less hassle to set up or pack away.

Cost wasn’t really the main issue with us. It was getting to a point in life where we realised time is more precious than money. Okay so we aren’t staying in fancy hotels and eating out every night we’re away but holidays are far more chilled and relaxed.

Oh and there’s also the fact the van is more comfortable than the tent but that is maybe just us getting older. Tent or van though it’s a grand way of getting around.

which takes less than thirty minutes to put up, from unpacking the car to sitting outside op at the view, makes it a doddle. And with my 10cm self inflating double mattress, and a warm sleeping bag, and seven foot headroom with room for four,

You listed pretty much all the reasons I have a van- nothing quite landing in a memory foam bed in a solid roof vehicle I can stand up in that's heated to what ever temp I wish with an on board toile after 10-12-24 hrs on a bike. I could make do with a tent but I'm comfier in a van. It makes spontaneous weekends and even nights away happen. Most of our nights away are within 30-1hr of home- and usually in the shoulder seasons as it's when we are not at events. Usually means we are at the trail head for an early start the next day and home for lunch.

I catagorically can say I wouldn't do that jn a Tent -mainly as the tent lives in the cupboard up the stairs. The van lives ready to go

But I do love nights in the tent and the bivvy ...they just take more planning and involve a bike or a run to my bed.

Strathpuffer was sodding miserable in a tent the 6times I did it that way.

Re Strathpuffer......I get where you’re coming from but the Puffer is meant to be miserable. I’ve done six too and still can’t decide if I love it or hate it. Both probably. Doing it in a tent and being cold wet and miserable all weekend just makes the Sunday night hot bath and cold beer all the sweeter.

You might get a kicking and pissed on though – but swings and roundabouts!

Serves you right for camping in a kids' park.

At our advanced age (mid 60s) we are starting to find more than 3 nights in a tent a bit of a chore but you can get to much nicer places without booking. Although Airbnb gets you to nice places without a lot of booking too. Also, as it's windsurfing that takes us away strong winds and extreme temperatures (hot & cold) can be a bit of a bugger in a tent.

I've been at all bar 1 -when I was in New Zealand.

If you want to be miserable between laps or want your support crew to be miserable fairplay.

I certainly wouldn't expect my wife to support me from a tent in -14 (as was 2 years ago when the vans external waterpipes froze)

chickenman - I am older than you by a long way and still nice and comfy. Mind you I have always slept on a very hard bed. I actually find my camping mattress more comfy than most hotel beds

If I had enough money I'd have a tent, a small motorhome and a caravan too.

And I'm even older than TJ 🙂

TJ swears by his hessian sleeping bag. Mind you he did grow up as one of 160 living in a small shoebox in the middle of the road

😉