I used a Eureka Caddis for many years, until a pack or crazed chipmunks chewed through it on one trip to get at some food we forgot about and left in the tent. (This is actually true.) I replaced it with a Marmot that has only had a brief shakedown trip, but which seems to be a pretty sturdy affair. I've seen lightweight, unguyed tents carwheeling across Lake Michigan in a storm so I always guy tents and I always buy solid tents. When I went shopping last time the point I put at the top of my list were (1) Polyester fly. Nylon weakens from UV in sunlight; I had a nylon tent literally *dissolve* around me near Fransonia Notch in 1976. (2) Taped seams. This is getting near-universal as more makers buy the machinery needed. (3) Aluminum poles. Bought a tent with glass poles *once* and soon gave it away. (4) Continuous pole sleeves. Some tents have these interrupted sleeves that make assembly a nightmare. Get a tent that has a combination of continuous sleeves and clips for where poles cross. (5) Long tents. It's amazing how few tents let a 6'2" guy stretch out! --mike ---------------------------------------- Michael J Edelman mje_at_mich.com http://www.mich.com/~mje http://www.mich.com/~mje/kayak.html http://www.mich.com/~mje/scope.html *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net ***************************************************************************Received on Mon Feb 16 1998 - 12:45:48 PST
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:29:53 PDT