May 12, 2011 - Outdoor Residential Options

[DaveK]

What a title??

Translation = a place to sleep in the outdoors. This weeks net will cover several different options including the most obvious one, tents. We will also discuss trailers, roof top tents, trailers with fold out tents on top, fold out campers mounted on pickups and the Oz tent.

Listed below are some descriptions and links for these different options. If you have one of these items, want to buy one or have a different option, join us.

1. Springbar Canvas Tents.
We will discuss a traditional type of tent which has been around for many years and which is experiencing a bit of a resurgence in popularity. One of the more popular makers of this tent is the Kirkham Outdoor Products Company, out of Utah, makers of the well known Springbar series of canvas tents. The tents are easy and quick to set up, made of very rugged canvas, capable of handling all types of weather, and made in the USA. See http://www.kirkhams.com/springbar_tents/.

2. The Oz Tent
The Oz tent is somewhat new to the US, having originated in Australia, but it has been around since 1993. It is advertised as the 30 second tent, an obvious reference to how long it takes to set up. There is a good video on their website showing what is involved in set up, see http://au.oztent.com/.

3. Roof Top Tents
Roof top tents got their start in Africa as a means of avoiding slithering and creeping critters who were all too often uninvited guests in ground tents. The idea has caught on here and it offers an alternative to the traditional tent. There are several makers of these tents, each offering different advantages, see http://www.equipt1.com/companies/Series ... es-3-tents

4. Trailers
Over the last decade or so there has been a significant increase in interest in trailers that are capable of traveling the same roads that a 4WD vehicle can manage. These trailers are very well made, rugged, packed with the essentials that make back-country living comfortable and are small enough to manage most trails. The Adventure Trailer Company, out of Arizona makes a tear drop trailer that is fully self contained, complete with sleeping quarters, see http://www.adventuretrailers.com/page/t ... /teardrop/.

5. More Trailers
There is another category of trailers that take a slightly different approach in that they are more designed to contain all of the essentials needed for back country survival, usually without the inclusion of sleeping quarters (although some do have tents mounted on top of the trailer). See the Desert Wolf website, http://www.desert-wolf.com/, the Adventure Trailer website,http://www.adventuretrailers.com/page/trailers/horizon/ and the Campa website, http://www.campausa.com/. Some of these trailers are a bit pricey, but for the dedicated outback traveler, they offer some of the very finest accommodations.

6. Vehicle mounted fold outs.
There are several options available that can be mounted to the bed of a pick up that can offer very comfortable sleeping accommodations. The Flip Pack Camper is one such example and is currently being built by our very own Notamog (Bruce), see viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2602.

7. Regular tents.
What can I say? See Cabelas http://www.cabelas.com/catalog/search.c ... l+Products