Help me figure out a way to bring my 2 second tent!

A

akthor

Joined
Jan 23, 2010
Messages
1,940
Ok I have seven tents. Used to car camping and actually bring pickup trucks full of gear. Tired of all the packing and lugging and organizing so I am trying to be more minimilist when it's just me and the dog.

Been looking at all sorts of gear from tarps to hammocks. The goal is everything is on my person including tent so weight and size is an issue. So I have been looking. But being laid off, money is also an issue. And I keep thinking to myself, dude you have seven tents already!

Then I was thinking I have a 100lb lab maybe HE can carry some stuff. I don't plan on hiking more than say five miles to a campsite.

What would be most awesome is if I could find a way to bring my Quechua 2 second tent. I got it last spring because I go on a lot of "man" outings that are one or two nights with the fellas and there is frequently a lot of beer involved and seeting up tents drunk or in the dark sucks and spending time setting up a tent while sober interferes with time that could be spent drinking beer ;)

This tent allows me to set up in literally 2 seconds and seeing the looks on my friends faces as they thread poles and pound stakes is priceless as I stroll back to the fire to drink beer. Takedown takes a little practice but once it's mastered its 15 seconds to pack it up. I love it so much I bought a bigger one for when I go with the girlfriend right when I got back from using the 2 man version. Eventually I would like to get the Base too but it will have to wait till I get a job.

Drawback is that it packs into a disc, while pretty flat it's about as big around as a tire. It is also pretty heavy probably around 8.5 lbs. Has pack straps on it so you can wear it on your back but if I am backpacking I will have my pack on.

So I was wondering if there is a way to rig it so that the dog could hump it up the trail? My mother is a quilter so she has a lot of sewing skill.

This is a link to a video of what I am talking about: (you actually dont have to use tiedowns on it unless it's like 30mph gusts or more)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUW3vs41K0k

Any ideas?
 

Attachments

  • 24994-1.jpg
    24994-1.jpg
    31.5 KB · Views: 52
  • 19-12.jpg
    19-12.jpg
    16.2 KB · Views: 43
  • 18-9.jpg
    18-9.jpg
    36 KB · Views: 51
strap it to your pack and get a doggy pack so your dog can bring other things like food ect.
 
I think it's too big and heavy to strap to my pack, my packis a Camelbak Motherlode. Strapping it onto that would put the load far out from my back.
 
As big and heavy as it may be it will be worse for the dog. You can compensate for the extra width on the trail but your dog is unused to being wider and will probably end up being more of a headache for you in the long run.
 
Yeah the more I look at it the more I realize that. It's just too big of a circle I can't think of a way to make it work.
 
Wear it like a coolie hat!
Not really. Where do you get those? I tried to find them a few years ago but they were not available in the U.S. because they did not meet fire safety standards. There was some info that they were going to be rereleased after meeting the standards, but I never followed up.

Seriously though, is it possible to twist it one more time into a smaller circle?
 
Boy, carrying that thing sounds like a lot of work just to... save a little work.

In the economy of laziness (in which I am a certified financial planner), that seems like a bad investment.

;- )

(and definitely don't put it on the dog)
 
I remember that tent from Congo. While I wouldn't pack it unless car or canoe camping, it is FABULOUS for car camping, especially when you are like me and roll in at 2am and the weather isn't good for sleeping out. As far as packing it, maybe you can modify it so it will fold one more time, in half. Other than that, I would say go hammock. Even a beagle can carry a Hennesey.
 
Ebay, and I looked today and they are about $50 cheaper than I got mine.

Noooo way it can be rolled into a smaller circle.

Smersh it was never bought for carrying it was bought for what I guess people call car camping, If I even camp within say two miles of my car I will make two trips and hump that tent if I have to, and it is a fabulous tent for that. Like Joe said rolling into camp when it's dark and raining (or you are too drunk to pound stakes and thread poles and guy lines ;) ) it's just the bees knees.

It literally takes 2 seconds to set up, takes longer puller it out of the case it comes in than to set it up. Dual walls. Completely and utterly waterproof. I slept in it last summer in NH when we went to the NASCAR race at Louden and the campground we stayed at was on a hill. We were at the bottom of the hill and there was a massive rainstorm that started just as the race ended and it downpoured for the rest of the day and all night and was still pouring when we packed up, the water rolled downhill and my tent was sitting in an inch or two of water the whole time. Inside completely dry and stayed that way.

I know that if my girlfriend comes along on one of these minimilist hikes I will fit her gear in my pack and she will be hauling the 3 man verson ;)


Bumppo said:
Wear it like a coolie hat!
Not really. Where do you get those? I tried to find them a few years ago but they were not available in the U.S. because they did not meet fire safety standards. There was some info that they were going to be rereleased after meeting the standards, but I never followed up.

Seriously though, is it possible to twist it one more time into a smaller circle?
Click to expand...
 
That is kinda like my popup hunting blind. The blind also folds into a circle shape like your tent. Is their any way you can rig it to carry it in front of you on your chest? I actually looked at getting one of those a while back but being difficult to carry while backpacking was what turned me off of it. It looks like a great car camping tent though.
 
I have a couple of things that pack into a disk like that and I can never get them back in the bag :mad:
 
That is a cool tent, now I want one. Would you suggest getting the 3 man to sleep 2 people comfortably? Looks like most of them on ebay have really high shipping fees.
 
Yeah I got a two man and I think it fits me comfortably but I am big and like to have at least a couple feet of space on one side of me to fit my gear, have room to get changed ect. two skinny people who are used to camping right next to each other could make do but I definetely recommend a 2 person for one person and the 3 person for two.

I couldn't get it back in the bag looking at the directions on the bag Ihad to go on youtube and watch a vid of someone doing it to get the hang of it. The first couple times its a struggle but after that you can do it lickity split.

I paid like $160 for the 2 and $180 for the 3 shipped for mine I think. Worth every penny IMHO. Seems they are all shipped from UK or China. Mine came direct from China, super fast shipping it was weird I got them faster that I get stuff shipped UPS CONUS.

They work super well when it's chilly being double walled my buddy used one in VT in Oct. my GF and I were in a big cabin tent. We froze all night it was so cold, We were on a double thick air matress too, think they said it got down in the 20's overnight. Woke up to frost covering everything including the tents. My buddy came out of the Quechua and proclaimed he was warm as a bug in a rug just in a crappy $17 wally world sleeping bag. No pad nothing.
 
I had a popup blind like Garrett that seems to be similar to your tent. This is what I would do with my blind that may work for your tent. I'd pack my blind in it's bag and then I would open my backpack and squeeze the sides of my blind so it was oblong instead of round and stick it down in the backpack. Now I didn't have a motherload so I don't know how big it is but some of my blind would stick out the top of my pack, however, the poles in the blind served as a sort of frame for the pack and made it easier to pack my other gear into it.

I looked up the motherload pack and it seems to have an extra pouch for the hydration bladder...maybe you could squeeze the tent into that pouch?

Hope this helps
David
 
The pack will be here by Fri or Sat and I will see but I doubt I can do that. Being a double wall tent with a full floor it's alot of material I got a feeling if I could crush it into my pack thats all thats going in there.
 
That looks cool but putting up a tent while drunk or doing a few mushrooms is an important part of wilderness skills I wouldn't want to miss out on;)
 
Next time into a hunting store see if you can find a duck decy bag.They are fairly inexpensive and will carry a huge load.Basically a huge mesh (light wieght) sack with shoulder straps.Not very comfortable by any means but I know you could shove a huge amount of gear in one.I use one for caoeing for packing all the loose gear in the canoe paddles (yep large enough for them)PFD tackle box anything that needs go in there.
A couple miles toting a load like that wont kill you
Dan'l
 
I prefer to work on my drinking skillz instead sometimes ;)

That is the real drawback to this lightweight camping - beer is heavy :)

hollowdweller said:
That looks cool but putting up a tent while drunk or doing a few mushrooms is an important part of wilderness skills I wouldn't want to miss out on;)
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top