Author Topic: How Old Is Your Tent  (Read 5068 times)

Innominate Man

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Re: How Old Is Your Tent
« Reply #15 on: 11:56:22, 18/06/19 »
Nostalgia indeed   O0
.......Nut runners and other home made kit, the feel took me back. I found some giant beautifully shaped aircraft wheel nuts in a scrapyard, as soon as one was spotted on one of my slings in the pub in LLanberis I had to grab a load to take up the next weekend.
Possibly collectors items these days - it would be interesting to know what they came off.


Apologies OP - we are going way off topic now.
Only a hill but all of life to me, up there between the sunset and the sea. 
Geoffrey Winthrop Young

mananddog

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Re: How Old Is Your Tent
« Reply #16 on: 08:41:34, 19/06/19 »

I still have a wild country tent that I bought when we got married in 1984 (not used much now as the UV has damaged the fly because it was used so much in the high deserts and at altitude).


I have a Mountain Equipment redline sleeping bag which I still use regularly bought in 1983. I have a set of camping pans which I probably bought in the mid 1970s used for car camping but superceeded by titanium pans for backpacking.


My "new" tent, a  Laser Comp I bought in 2009 and still going strong and it has had some hammer.


I still use on almost a daily basis my Swiss Army penknife I got for my 21st birthday over 41 years ago and it has been on every walking/camping trip I have done.

Litehiker

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Re: How Old Is Your Tent
« Reply #17 on: 02:27:54, 20/06/19 »
1. Tarptent Moment DW (solo) 6 yers old


2. Tarptent Scarp 2 (2 person) 5 years old


3. The North Face Tadpole (2 consenting adults) 20 years old


4. Eureka! Wind River (3 person tent) 25 years old


Mostly I use the Moment DW year around B/C I've modified it for 4 season use, running the optional Crossing Pole under the fly for greater wind and snow load strength.


Eric B.

Bartinney

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Re: How Old Is Your Tent
« Reply #18 on: 22:02:49, 20/07/19 »
I have a Blacks Mountain Tent from 1970 in Ventile that I have had from new. From eBay, I have a Blacks Tinker And an Arctic Guinea which I used last week.
From my backpacking years I have a Field and Trek Trailmaker and a Phoenix Phreak. I use a Trangia but still have 2 Primus Paraffin stoves probably No 96.

fernman

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Re: How Old Is Your Tent
« Reply #19 on: 22:32:40, 20/07/19 »
Somehow I missed this thread, I was on holiday when it started.
Round about 1953 or 4 my father obtained a 1 gallon plastic jerrycan from his brother, my uncle, who was at the time developing polymers and plastics for ICI. He got it to take on a family camping trip to Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, when about seven of us all slept together in a square frame tent.
When my father passed away in the 70s I acquired the water container, which I used on countless camping trips until May this year when I got it out of the loft to find that the top had shattered into several little pieces.
So it had something like 65 years of use!   

fernman

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Re: How Old Is Your Tent
« Reply #20 on: 22:53:27, 20/07/19 »
Mention must be made of my Karrimor Jaguar 6 rucksack, I bought it around 1985 and still use it regularly; it shows no signs of giving up yet. What is more, it is much lighter in weight than many modern-day equivalents.

A special award ought to go to my Ultimate Tramp 1 tent which I bought from Taunton Leisure (I believe they're still going) in 1983 and used till 2013.
The original groundsheet was replaced twice in the tent's life, but the latest one was letting water in again in 2013, at which time the flysheet was deteriorating, with numerous tiny "pinholes" in it through which water dripped in heavy rain. The whole tent was also becoming increasingly saggy, no matter how taught I pegged it out. The tent went in the bin while I left the aluminium poles and pegs on the edge of the pavement, where they were snapped up almost immediately by a passing scrap metal merchant.
« Last Edit: 22:58:07, 20/07/19 by fernman »

zuludog

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Re: How Old Is Your Tent
« Reply #21 on: 11:13:54, 21/07/19 »
During my last year at school I got a Saturday job, plus there were birthday and Christmas presents; I bought a lot of hiking gear in that period, some of which I kept for a long time

 Black's tents dominated the market, but In 1968 I bought one of the new Vango tents, a Force 10 Mk 3 for £16 - 19 - 6d.  To keep the price down it came with steel poles & pegs but I saved up and soon replaced those with alloy, including Bulldog nesting poles

It's been proofed & patched several times, but I still use it for car borne camping

richardh1905

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Re: How Old Is Your Tent
« Reply #22 on: 20:27:20, 22/07/19 »
The poles from my 1984 Vango MK4 Force Ten have just been repurposed as kingpoles to turn the door of our Coleman family tunnel tent, what I call the "Mosedale Whale", into an awning.
WildAboutWalking - Join me on my walks through the wilder parts of Britain

scotty45

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Re: How Old Is Your Tent
« Reply #23 on: 13:11:59, 14/02/20 »
Hi, bought my Vango Zyphr in 1983 for my second trek along the Pennine way which was successful. Great little tent and have just got it out of the garage to clean up as I am thinking of another PW this summer. My very first tent was a Saunders Fellpine which got me from Edale to Kirk Yetholm in the early 70's. Todays tents have more headroom granted, but the slide through poles are so fragile. I would never buy one. I know from  D of E work with students all the problems they have encountered with the poles. People are going back to vinyl music, lets get back to ridge tents. I know mine will see me out.

gunwharfman

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Re: How Old Is Your Tent
« Reply #24 on: 15:58:41, 14/02/20 »
My tents are all 'new' all bought in the last 10 years.

Tame Camper

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Re: How Old Is Your Tent
« Reply #25 on: 18:59:07, 14/02/20 »
I've got a bivy bag bought in New Zealand somewhere around 1982. Not used for the last 35 years...I've got a Blacks Streamline tent from 1983, replaced by
a tent from Perry Sports bought in 1988 which was only replaced by a Vango Soul 200 in 2017, which was replaced by a
Vango Banshee 200.
Besides those I have an assortment of tents for family camping with the wife and two daughters.

Birdman

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Re: How Old Is Your Tent
« Reply #26 on: 17:21:26, 20/02/20 »
A Vango Tempest 300 for car camping (2017), a Terra Nova Superlite (2015) and a Tarptent Double Rainbow (2017).

None of the tents that I use at the moment is old, but some of them have seen a lot of use.

The newest tent (Double Rainbow) is the most used one though. I have slept a total of 10-11 months in it. The Terra Nova has probably seen a total of 4 months actual camping and the Vango 2 months or so.
My travel and walking reports: https://www.hikingbirdman.com/

SteamyTea

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Re: How Old Is Your Tent
« Reply #27 on: 22:50:20, 20/02/20 »
Still using my Caravan Hermit tent I got in 1984.
Only had to repair the seam and patch the groundsheet once.
Here is its last outing in December, was -3°C.
https://ibb.co/mRRq4j4

I don't use emojis, irony is better, you decide

leslie h

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Re: How Old Is Your Tent
« Reply #28 on: 20:13:38, 15/02/22 »
old tents, I have vango hurricaine delta, vango f10 mk 4  fjallraven camp iv alu ,lichfield challenger 5,sherpa apex
sherpa peapod,terra nova quasar,all about 40 yrs old nothing on the market can equal these old tents.all still in use.
I am 74 an not impressed by any new tents. 

scotsmist

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Re: How Old Is Your Tent
« Reply #29 on: 22:07:08, 15/02/22 »
My tents don't keep for long, I can use one for around 200 nights a year. I've had 4 in the past 10 years, including my current one a Terra Nova Compact 2 I've had since September 2021. Its seen around 30 nights so far and might last long enough that I'll get complacent and start looking at other tents again before its worn out.
Two of my holiday camping / family tents are decades old, and another is almost 10. They don't see any use now, take up space and have possibly started to de-laminate since they've been folded up in their bags a long time. (Might get them out in spring and check them over then possibly give them away if they are still okay). They're not valuable though, cheap Vango and Eurohike models.
My really old "carrying" tents from the 80s are long in the bin, its usually black mold spots that got the better of them, then that moldy smell that won't go away, even using odour eliminator.

 

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