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Main Boards => Gear => Topic started by: myxpyr on 19:48:44, 16/06/19

Title: How Old Is Your Tent
Post by: myxpyr on 19:48:44, 16/06/19
In 1983 I purchased a one man Vango Zephyr tent. Admittedly it hasn't been used excessively but, at last look it was still very serviceable. I forget how much it weighs but it compares quite favourably with the advertised weights of more "modern" tents. I see no need to "update" and I think thirty six years is pretty good.

What's your oldest bit of kit? Do you feel an urge to replace it?
Title: Re: How Old Is Your Tent
Post by: Ridge on 20:14:10, 16/06/19
I posted this pic a long time ago, it is my Dad's first rucksack bought in the early 1950s. I used it when I started walking and will never get rid of it but it doesn't get many outings anymore, it has probably not been out for 3 or 4 years. Even the boot lace which replaced the original drawstring must be about 25 years old.
(https://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn129/Birkhouse/WP_20150320_001_zpszn9wdj53.jpg)


E2A Oops, that's a huge picture, not sure what I've done there
Title: Re: How Old Is Your Tent
Post by: myxpyr on 20:46:55, 16/06/19
I still wear a fleece of an uncertain vintage. All I remember is that my late sister in law bought it for me and it may have be circa 2004-2005.
Incredibly it was not specifically an item of mountain clothing but it has travelled and served well in the Pyrenees, the Himalaya, Morocco and the Alps, not to mention hills of the UK.
(How do I insert an image?)
Title: Re: How Old Is Your Tent
Post by: dank86 on 20:49:55, 16/06/19
ive got one thats getting to the better part of 10 years old (a eurohike), still use it for festivals and a basecamp type tent, I retired one last year that was at least 15 years old (another eurohike). My OEX is 1 any my alpkit if nearly 2 months
Title: Re: How Old Is Your Tent
Post by: PeterDevon on 20:57:09, 16/06/19
I have a Blacks and Edington 2 man Alpine we still use occasionally when it doesn’t need carrying far, must be 45 years old!
Title: Re: How Old Is Your Tent
Post by: richardh1905 on 09:53:05, 17/06/19
I have a Wild Country Trisar from the very early 1990's, excellent condition - except that I have just snapped a pole. Awaiting an email from Terra Nova about obtaining a spare; I can't just use any old alloy pole cut to length as it has some radiused sections.

I also have a Robert Saunders Jetpacker, very lightly used, given to me by a dear friend whose hiking days are sadly over.

But the prize for longevity must go to my Vango Force 10 Mk 4, only recently scrapped after over 3 decades of faithful service.
Title: Re: How Old Is Your Tent
Post by: barewirewalker on 10:22:48, 17/06/19
Ice axe bought in the original Arvon's shop in Capel Curig, when the Bethesda shop was still a shoe shop, in 1962. Though climbing guide to Tryfan and Idwal may be a tad older.

There is a small mountain tent somewhere, of the same vintage, but that has not been used for many years, I think I let my daughter sleep out in the garden in it when she was condition herself for her first DoE experiences.
Title: Re: How Old Is Your Tent
Post by: Owen on 13:59:11, 17/06/19
Just retired my Macpac ultra lite dates from 1990, the nylon was beginning to sag and I couldn't get it taught anymore. I still have a Snowdon mouldings curver ice axe from sometime around 1975 and a set of pterodactyls but they've not been out for a very long time.
Title: Re: How Old Is Your Tent
Post by: vizzavona on 14:32:05, 17/06/19
Our only tent now is a Saunders Spacepacker ( used since 2007) and that replaced a Field and Trek copy of a sloping ridge...An 'A' pole at the front and a wee pole at the rear used on our first trip to Corse.
I only wish that I had phoned Mr. Saunders for an extra Flysheet before the business stop trading after his death.  Seemed a very pleasant man...although having a website at the time...all was very simple.  You selected from the site then phoned him to order up the tent.
The Spacepacker is still just about 'hanging in' after four Corsican trips and A Vanoise trip followed by a Mercantour trek.
This year used a couple of times on campsites in the NE of Scotland  for access to the fine hills up there.
Title: Re: How Old Is Your Tent
Post by: ninthace on 14:45:11, 17/06/19
I gave up camping a long time ago so I can’t compete but I do have an aircrew whistle that comes with me on every trip.  It was issued to my father in 1940.
Title: Re: How Old Is Your Tent
Post by: zuludog on 19:31:06, 17/06/19
I left school in 1968 and spent most of my early wages on hiking gear -

Ellis Brigham mountain boots
Moleskin breeches
Tartan wool shirt
Norwegian wool jersey
Dachstein mitts
Karrimor New Alaskan rucsac
Fairy Down Everest Mummy sleeping bag

My Dad smoked Embassy cigarettes and got me a Camping Gaz S200 pierce-cartridge stove with the coupons
Pans were ex-WD aluminium pans, the rectangular ones

I got one of the first Vango Force 10 Mk3 tents, either in late 1968 or early 1969. I think it was about £17
I still have it, and use it when car-borne camping; patched, and reproofed a few times
Title: Re: How Old Is Your Tent
Post by: Owen on 20:07:19, 17/06/19
Just retired my Macpac ultra lite dates from 1990, the nylon was beginning to sag and I couldn't get it taught anymore. I still have a Snowdon mouldings curver ice axe from sometime around 1975 and a set of pterodactyls but they've not been out for a very long time.


One thing I forgot to mention, I have just found my old fjallraven breaches not sure what waist they are but I can just about do them up. I was 20 when I got them so 1977. When I first got them I needed a belt or they fell down. The challenge is can I slim down so they fit, not that I'm planning on wearing them again.
Title: Re: How Old Is Your Tent
Post by: mow1701 on 22:12:59, 17/06/19
I’ve still got a serviceable Ultimate Equipment Phazer Dome backpacker version. I pitched this at 10000ft by the Gouter Hut on Mont Blanc(has snow Valances). My go to base camp/ car camping is a Force 10 mk5 with an extension. It’s on the second fly sheet although I’ve kept the original fly sheet for summer use.
Like most people on this site I’ve got some modern ones but get misty eyed when I see tent of my youth coming up on eBay- Blacks good companion, other ultimate tents, Phoenix tents, Saunders tents.


Final footnote, in my teens I had a Saturday jobs at a Pindisports- wonder how many of you remember there shops?
Title: Re: How Old Is Your Tent
Post by: Innominate Man on 01:10:07, 18/06/19
I posted this pic a long time ago, it is my Dad's first rucksack bought in the early 1950s. I used it when I started walking and will never get rid of it but it doesn't get many outings anymore, it has probably not been out for 3 or 4 years. Even the boot lace which replaced the original drawstring must be about 25 years old.



I remember your post well  O0




My oldest item is a Karrimor Totem 40 rucksack which I bought for my first 10 day trip to the Lakes in the 1970s. It still smells (not in an offensive way) exactly how it did when I first used it. If I open up the sack and stick my hooter in - the smell instantly takes me back to that trip. Ah nostalgia  ::)

Title: Re: How Old Is Your Tent
Post by: barewirewalker on 10:29:56, 18/06/19
Nostalgia indeed   O0

I found my selection of slings and carabiners, it was after watching my daughter and granddaughter on a climbing wall. I was amazed at all that expensive kit being lugged up a plastic wall by some of the other climbers.


 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.
Title: Re: How Old Is Your Tent
Post by: Innominate Man 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.
Title: Re: How Old Is Your Tent
Post by: mananddog 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.
Title: Re: How Old Is Your Tent
Post by: Litehiker 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.
Title: Re: How Old Is Your Tent
Post by: Bartinney 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.
Title: Re: How Old Is Your Tent
Post by: fernman 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!   
Title: Re: How Old Is Your Tent
Post by: fernman 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.
Title: Re: How Old Is Your Tent
Post by: zuludog 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
Title: Re: How Old Is Your Tent
Post by: richardh1905 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.
Title: Re: How Old Is Your Tent
Post by: scotty45 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.
Title: Re: How Old Is Your Tent
Post by: gunwharfman on 15:58:41, 14/02/20
My tents are all 'new' all bought in the last 10 years.
Title: Re: How Old Is Your Tent
Post by: Tame Camper 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.
Title: Re: How Old Is Your Tent
Post by: Birdman 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.
Title: Re: How Old Is Your Tent
Post by: SteamyTea 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

Title: Re: How Old Is Your Tent
Post by: leslie h 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. 
Title: Re: How Old Is Your Tent
Post by: scotsmist 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.
Title: Re: How Old Is Your Tent
Post by: MountainMike on 08:22:15, 16/02/22
My tents don't keep for long, I can use one for around 200 nights a year.
200 nights a year? That's quite a lot of time - seven months. Are you saying that you spend more time "tenting" than you do in your "regular" abode?
Title: Re: How Old Is Your Tent
Post by: scotsmist on 16:47:28, 16/02/22
200 nights a year? That's quite a lot of time - seven months. Are you saying that you spend more time "tenting" than you do in your "regular" abode?
Certainly didn't this past two years however as they where unprecedented. I've lived outdoors more since I separated. I camp all year. I don't own a home or rent one. I have a base setup at one of my parents, saves cash. I also do not work due to past health.
Yeah when you put it like that 'seven months' - maybe 6 months :)
Title: Re: How Old Is Your Tent
Post by: andybr on 12:19:13, 17/02/22
All of my tents are fairly old. Back in around 2006/7 Argos were selling off their popular Hike Lite tents for something ridiculous like 15.00 a go. I got three and have been perfectly happy with them ever since. I still have one which is unopened so I will not be buying anything else for the foreseeable future. I also got a Coleman Blackrock 2 man tent at about the same time for the odd times my wife comes along on multi day trips. We last used this one last summer and it is absolutely fine if a tiny bit heavier than I would like.