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About three years ago. I tent camped for my first time. I bought a Bass Pro Shops cheap 7X7 tent found here: http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/st...001000_325-1-0
, got it home, seam sealed and spray waterproofed the crap out of it, and took it camping. Note that it did NOT have a bathtub bottom, but it did have a tarp type floor. Anyway, in those three years it saw horrible thunderstorms, one of which was during a massive tornado warning type storm. I never had a leak, never had a problem. The tent had it's limitations, however, so I figured I'd get a new one.
I got a Coleman Laurel Creek from Dicks Sports for 69 bucks. It's huge, being 11X9 and six feet high. I know it's coleman and supposedly weather tested and all that business, but I do have some concerns that I wanted to run by you.
First of all, the tent itself has but four stakes. My Bass Pro Shops had 9. Yes, not including the fly, it had 9 stakes. That's one in the middle on each side and two by the door. I am guessing the rain fly on the Coleman is supposed to provide the majority of anchoring during a massive storm, but still, this thing has twice the side area as my little Bass Pro Shops tent and yet has less to hold it down. Is this a problem?
Second, the seam where the bathtub bottom connects to the tent was waterproof with water running down, but if one was to pull the seam a bit, not much, but just a little, and then spray a shower towards the seam, there was leaking. Experience would be a teacher on this so tell me, do I need to seal this or is it ok? Also, anyone else have this tent?
Conventional wisdom would say that the Coleman must be a better tent than my throw away Bass Pro Shops, but I am not convinced. I throw it to you all for comment. Let me have it!
Thanks!
, got it home, seam sealed and spray waterproofed the crap out of it, and took it camping. Note that it did NOT have a bathtub bottom, but it did have a tarp type floor. Anyway, in those three years it saw horrible thunderstorms, one of which was during a massive tornado warning type storm. I never had a leak, never had a problem. The tent had it's limitations, however, so I figured I'd get a new one.
I got a Coleman Laurel Creek from Dicks Sports for 69 bucks. It's huge, being 11X9 and six feet high. I know it's coleman and supposedly weather tested and all that business, but I do have some concerns that I wanted to run by you.
First of all, the tent itself has but four stakes. My Bass Pro Shops had 9. Yes, not including the fly, it had 9 stakes. That's one in the middle on each side and two by the door. I am guessing the rain fly on the Coleman is supposed to provide the majority of anchoring during a massive storm, but still, this thing has twice the side area as my little Bass Pro Shops tent and yet has less to hold it down. Is this a problem?
Second, the seam where the bathtub bottom connects to the tent was waterproof with water running down, but if one was to pull the seam a bit, not much, but just a little, and then spray a shower towards the seam, there was leaking. Experience would be a teacher on this so tell me, do I need to seal this or is it ok? Also, anyone else have this tent?
Conventional wisdom would say that the Coleman must be a better tent than my throw away Bass Pro Shops, but I am not convinced. I throw it to you all for comment. Let me have it!
Thanks!