A camping trip is great for the whole family, as you gather the whole family on a trip that is full of fun, happiness and relaxation. And if you go to the camp with all your family members, you must bring a tent that meets all the needs of your family, so you should check these tips and special considerations in buying a family tent.
If you go on a camping trip in the summer, you may need to bring a TV and bring game controls for the kids. Camping gives you a great opportunity to spend quality time together.
You also have to prepare for the camping trip and do good research in order to create memories that remain with you and your family while you are in the great outdoors.
Camping depends on providing the appropriate shelter for you and your family. It must be large and suitable for you and your family, and the weather must be practical for the camping trip to be ideal with your family.
How To Choose A Family Camping Tent
Tent Size
Size is an essential factor that you should take into consideration while going on a camping trip, especially if your family is with you.
It can lead to frustration that detracts from the camping experience in general when bringing a double tent. I think you will not need to sleep on your equipment or fall on someone next to you while you wake up.
The minimum tent size should be 20 square feet for each person who will sleep in the tent.
If you want to store equipment indoors and use air mattresses instead of sleeping bags, you will need a lot of space. Most experienced campers recommend a 40-square-foot tent per person, although a 30-square-foot tent is fine.
It is clear that young children may not need a lot of space, but with time they will grow and therefore, you will need to make use of more space. For this, you must bring a tent that is multi-room and has removable partitions between the spaces. These matters must be prepared in advance and must be within the pre-planning stage.
If your children are young, you can put them in the closed sections, and when they grow up, you can add some other sections in order to provide them with privacy. You must also bring a multi-room tent and have separate entrances to each room without the need to skip anyone else.
Tent Shape
There are many types of family tents with their advantages and disadvantages, and we will mention 4 different types of family tents:
Dome or igloo
This type of tent is considered self-supporting, that is, it stands on its own without the need to do the planning, and it is considered easy to install and stable.
Tunnel
This type of tent is very spacious, and it is very high and provides you with a comfortable interior space with large towers in order to store equipment with one or more rooms.
Hybrid
The characteristics of this type of tent are that they are a mixture of the dome and the tunnel tents. Both consist of two arches that form a Dome extended with a canopy, and this combines the advantages of both types of tents.
Teepee
This tent has a pyramidal shape and central pillar with a unique charm. The tent is characterized by a large area where you can stand in the middle. It is considered easy to use and is compatible with a wood stove.
Tent weight
The tent weight depends on the extent to which you and your family use the tent because its weight may shift from secondary to primary.
There are heavy and gigantic tents. Sometimes, they may be very heavy. They weigh from 44 to 66 pounds or 20 to 30 kilograms for some of them.
You should bring a light family tent if you want to do a long walk, hiking or if you want to ride a bike.
There are lightweight family tents that can accommodate 4 people and weigh 6 pounds, or 3 kilograms, as they are considered easy to transport.
There are lightweight family tents weighing between 8 to 13 pounds, or 4 to 6 kilograms, which are among the interesting options.
And if you go on a camping trip using the car and stay in the same place for a few days, you should use a lightweight tent at the expense of other comfort standards.
While you are folding the tent, you should think about the size of the tent with space to carry it in the trunk of the car and store it at home.
You can use a compression bag while you fold the tent in order to save a lot of space.
Read More: The Perfect Guide To Camping For Beginners
Ease Of Setup
There are some tents that are made in a simple way in order to be prepared easily and there are many options as they are difficult to deal with.
There are some companies that advise campers to use tents that accommodate three to four people, as these are ideal tents and they may be more than you have.
You should also read the manufacturer’s instructions, and you can search for a place that provides customer opinions, as you will find a specific design that is easy to set up. You may find another design that is difficult to prepare.
Living Space
There are two ways to categorize camping tents. They are the number of people they are designed for and the dimensions of the floor.
Many campers purchase the tent based on the number of people listed in the tent name as their guide. You should consider the number of people before you buy a tent. There are some factors that you must take into consideration:
- Choose the space you need, as this depends on the number of family members, whether they need a large space or not.
- Bring pets and children. If you do bring them you will need to use as much space as their size might suggest.
- Find out the weather in the camp and know how much time the family will spend in the tent together.
These factors will inspire you to measure and if you want to go on a camping trip with two people, you should bring a larger tent in order to get a suitable space for you.
The volume packed in your tent should be proportional to the size of your vehicle’s storage compartment. If you want to divide the weight of the tent and carry it in backpacks, you must make sure that you can divide the weight as you wish.
Organizational Features
Vestibules:
They are areas for external storage protected by a rain flyer. They consist of small equipment to large areas that are covered, as they protect you from weather factors without entering the tent.
Some tents have entire rooms that have been checked and have floors or without floors and they serve as living areas and they are considered very suitable in bad weather and in the event of insects with your experience in the open air.
The presence of an extra room increases the cost of the tent and can reduce the size of the sleeping place.
Gear lofts:
They are usually hammocks or nylon in the ceiling or in the sides and allow you to store equipment and valuables. You can use it to choose what you don’t want to put in the mix of sleeping bags, shoes and pillows on the tent floor.
Tent dividers:
It is a panel that is pressed with nylon in the interior walls and divides the space. It also works to provide privacy while changing clothes but does not present any obstacle to sound.
Weather resistance
While you are buying a tent, you should take into consideration that this tent is weather resistant, as this factor is considered one of the main factors when choosing a tent.
In order for you to take into account this factor, there are three criteria that you must know:
- That the tent is waterproof:
You should choose a family tent that is water-resistant, as it should be resistant to light rain as a minimum, and to be resistant in rainy areas.
The water resistance rating of the tent is measured based on the quality of the tent fabric as the water column, expressed as milliliters of water that the tent will receive before the water passes over the fabric.
The European standard for fabrics determines the water resistance based on a measurement of 1500 mm as a minimum. You should also read customer reviews regarding the assessment of the water resistance of the fabric and the seams in order to avoid unpleasant surprises.
You must also provide a floor that prevents water from entering in order to avoid flooding and in order to provide good insulation and reduce condensation, you must choose double roof tents.
- The tent must be windproof:
You must make sure of this criterion by checking the customer reviews section, where you must put your tent in the correct and appropriate form that can resist strong winds, and you must tighten the tension lines well.
- Provides protection from ultraviolet rays:
In order to protect yourself from ultraviolet rays, use an anti-ultraviolet cloth, as this cloth will protect you from the sun’s rays and you will be able to sleep comfortably.
Price and quality
The prices of family tents vary. These prices start from tens of dollars and reach hundreds of dollars. This is due to the quality of the tents you want to buy.
If you are a fan of camping and go out periodically, you can invest and buy tents with slightly higher prices, in order to make sure that your tent will last for many years.
In order to determine the budget for buying a family tent, conduct a market study and set some of your criteria in order to determine the appropriate option for you. And if you want to go out for a long time in camping, do not skimp on quality, but if you want a tent for a few weekend getaways, you can go with the lowest price and quality option.
Durability
Durability is one of the most important things that must be available in family tents, and the quality of the materials manufactured for the tents will make them resistant to damage and give the tent a longer life.
Tent poles
The tent poles must be strong, durable and withstand high pressure. It is preferable that the tent poles are made of pressure-resistant aluminum. You can buy fiberglass poles, which are lighter in weight and less expensive than aluminum poles, but fiberglass poles are breakable unlike aluminum poles, which makes the maintenance cost higher.
Tent floor
When the tent floor is made of bad materials, it makes it spoil faster and spoils the camping trip. We will give you some tips to keep the tent floor dry:
- Look for a strong material: You can search for some materials that manufacture the tent floor, and it is preferable to buy some materials that protect the floor better. Examples of these materials are Oxford nylon and 70-denier nylon taffeta, which gives protection to the tent floor.
- Welded floor layers from the manufacturer: which means that you will not work on welding the floor yourself. It saves time, effort and quality in manufacturing the floor.
- Look for reinforced corners: These corners are bad points for water entering the tent.
Footprint
The forest is full of some pebbles and rocks, and these things grandly affect the tent floor and cause it to rupture and water to enter the tent, and for that, you can use nylon or polyester sheets designed for the bottom of the tent, which works to protect the tent and prolong its life.
Conclusion
You will find many family tents with varying prices and different materials and features from tent to tent. To make the tent an extraordinary and ideal place for family, friends and even pets, you must choose tents with a large area and multiple doors make of the best materials.
All you have to do is follow our instructions for getting the best options.
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