My New Tent

[david gossett]

I just got my new tent by UPS today. I can't wait to set it up. It was just a cheap one, but I think it will make a good starter tent for the 5 of us. It is a Ozark Trail 8 man. For 79.00 on sale at Walmart. Thanks let me know what you think. David
http://www.walmart.com/msharbor/ip/O...eps-8/20531615

[frank6160]

Re: My New Tent

OH NO IT'S NOTT A 1000 DOLLAR TENT.... Nice lookinhg tent. Enjoy!( Many here will put down your choice of gear.)

[CMPR1966]

Re: My New Tent

Getting out in any tent is better then not at all. Hope you enjoy your new tent. You said it's a good starter tent, I agree, that way you can tell what you may want different next time. You should get some good trips out of it.

[NYCgrrl]

Re: My New Tent

What a coup, David! You got a fantastic price on it and it includes a vestibule as well.....marked down a bit over 30%- yippy and woohooo! I like the photo a reviewer took of the tent w/ the rain fly fully opened. Ya done did good and may you have many seasons of fun out there w/ your boys!

I remember the excitement (and expense) of my very first tent. It was an orange pup prolly rated for 2 people although I distinctly recall sleeping in it w/2 rugrats and their dad at least once. O and we had no rain fly at all, LOL.

[05Kingquad700]

Re: My New Tent

Don't matter what anyone thinks, just what you think. Get out, have fun and enjoy.

[James.]

Re: My New Tent

Set it up in the back yard and give it a trial run so you know how to set it up and take it down. Nice tent.

[Shortpants]

Re: My New Tent

I have an Ozark Trail too, and no complaints so far. We picked it up last year as we needed a big tent for the whole family, and it was cheap. LOL! It was a test run to see if my non-camping hubby liked camping. We are in our second year of pretty heavy use and I still love our OT tent.

I like yours, super nice!

[James.]

Re: My New Tent

I have an Ozark Trail too, and no complaints so far. We picked it up last year as we needed a big tent for the whole family, and it was cheap. LOL! It was a test run to see if my non-camping hubby liked camping. We are in our second year of pretty heavy use and I still love our OT tent.

I like yours, super nice!

I am curious as to what tent you got.

[gmann]

Re: My New Tent

Good stuff.

You and your family will have a blast! Enjoy!

[yogiyoda]

Re: My New Tent

Make sure you seam seal the tent if you think it might rain. The one Ozark Trail I used leaked bad under rain. But if you carefully seam seal the tent, it should be a great value. Also, consider upgrading the stakes. Good stakes are pretty cheap and will really save the day if you get hit by hard winds. Have fun camping.

[James.]

Re: My New Tent

Make sure you seam seal the tent if you think it might rain. The one Ozark Trail I used leaked bad under rain. But if you carefully seam seal the tent, it should be a great value. Also, consider upgrading the stakes. Good stakes are pretty cheap and will really save the day if you get hit by hard winds. Have fun camping.

No, don't consider changing the steaks. CHANGE the steaks. You can buy real steaks just about anywhere...including walmart. I don't know any camper that feels good about using the steaks that come with the tent.

Well, except for MacGyver. But he uses them as stir sticks for his coffee and twist ties for his bread.

[Shortpants]

Re: My New Tent

I am curious as to what tent you got.

It was the Ozark Trail model # W234.1. It looks like this:


It doesn't seem to be available anymore, well they have changed it actually. Now it's sold as a screen tent with a clip in sleeping tent. This is a great tent for us since hubby is 6'5" and he can stand up in the whole tent, plus we needed the room for two rambunctious kiddos. I like the screen room in the front of the tent that can be divided from the sleeping area in the back, or you can zip it all up for a full 12'x16' enclosed tent. We call it our "Taj Mahal" tent because it's so huge. LOL!

Make sure you seam seal the tent if you think it might rain. The one Ozark Trail I used leaked bad under rain. But if you carefully seam seal the tent, it should be a great value. Also, consider upgrading the stakes. Good stakes are pretty cheap and will really save the day if you get hit by hard winds. Have fun camping.

No, don't consider changing the steaks. CHANGE the steaks. You can buy real steaks just about anywhere...including walmart. I don't know any camper that feels good about using the steaks that come with the tent.

Well, except for MacGyver. But he uses them as stir sticks for his coffee and twist ties for his bread.

Ditto to these two posts! Seam seal and waterproof spray the tent for sure. I set it ours up in the backyard and treated the whole thing before we went for our first trip, and it's been bone dry so far. I also picked up a set of heavy duty stakes to swap for the cheapy ones that come with the tent, what a difference!

Even though I'd LOVE to run out a buy a Kodiak, the Ozark Trail tents are a good cheap option for folks that can't drop hundreds (or thousands!) of dollars on camping gear. I don't expect the OT tent to last forever, but we have already gotten our money's worth out of it in one summer, and it's still in great condition, so I'm happy.

[NYCgrrl]

Re: My New Tent

Most stakes that are included in the tent box are the "J" all aluminum style. I use em until lost or bent beyond repair and think I've found the proper style for my mostly warm weather most any kind of soil use:tri or "V" shaped aluminum stakes. You can't hammer em into the ground with your boot yet you won't bend them w/ that implement either, LOL. I tried using the plastic stakes(had great hopes for the glow in the dark version) but found they get brittle in a short time and the hook breaks off with ease. As for the ones that look like an oversized nail with a plastic head all is well until the plastic head starts moving down, sigh.

Hope the above allows others to save some money and frustration.

[david gossett]

Re: My New Tent

Thanks for all the great pointers. When I seal the seams just spray them on the outside? And what is the best sealer to get? Thanks fro the help.
David

[Shortpants]

Re: My New Tent

For seam sealer, I used this Coleman seam sealer:
http://www.amazon.com/Coleman-200001.../dp/B000PZZ258

on the INSIDE, right on all the seams. There are vids on Youtube on how best to do this.

Then I used this Kiwi waterproofing spray:
http://shoestores.com/shoe/HDWATERREPEL/Kiwi

on the OUTSIDE and on the rainfly.

Just put the tent up in your backyard, seal the seams inside with the Coleman type stuff, then spray the outside and/or rainfly. I left ours up overnight on a clear night to let it completely dry/air out. Not a drop of water in the tent yet!