Dome Tent Advice

Are dome tents good for camping in areas with heavy winds because of their aerodynamic design? If that's true, suggest me a camping tent.

 

There's a whole thread already dedicated to this topic, you might find what you are looking for there.

Welcome to the group -- I see this is your first post. Are you CI owners?

Lots of opinions on Canopies

 

Do you really mean just a camping tent, for sleeping in? A lot of us here have moved from tents to teardrops, so we may have some ideas… but I suspect many of us here, including me, haven’t solely tent camped in a while.

When I last tent camped it was 9+ years ago, and it was car camping style, in non windy locations. Just as a general rule, if you really will be just sleeping in it, then it should be as low as you can handle, have lots of tie down points, and if possible, in an oblong shape so you pitch that tent where the narrowest end is facing the wind to reduce the area affected by direct wind.

But I’m guessing you know all that and were hoping for a specific brand or model…I have no advice on that.

if you mean a canopy to either go over part of your teardrop or near the teardrop, then go read through the thread mentioned by Sweeney, it’s years of comments on the topic.

 

Like this?

 

Two tips:
1: If you are camping in wind, get a tent that is fully enclosed with fabric, not partially screen or with windows that can't be closed. The wife-unit and I have an REI half-dome-something-or-other for two people that we use when backpacking. It is fine for calm weather, but the weight-reduction screen they used on the tent walls lets a lot of dirt in when it is windy. It comes up right under the rain fly.

2: If you plan to only car camp, go big. We have a 6-person dome tent for car camping and it is extremely comfortable for two. We can stand, spread out, bowl, etc. Of course, as another person suggested, we've pretty much moved on to the glorious Camp-Inn life-style.

Cheers,
--Ken

 

We had a 10x10 Coleman shock corded pole dome tent with about a 7 ft center height, up until we got our Camp-Inn. It had a rain fly, and we used a queen size 6 inch thick air mattress in it. It had a floor, and if well staked, would stand up to quite a bit of wind...especially if you were in it. I remember riding out a storm at Oshkosh during one summers AirVenture convention, where the shock corded poles were nearly lying flat on top of me from the wind trying to flatten the tent. I'm not sure the tent would have stayed there if I hadn't been in it, but it did survive that storm without damage. However,in my experience, the Camp-Inn has been a lot nicer place to ride out a storm in.

 

Sorry for a bit of a terse response....

I personally use 2 different covers for my galley...the Coleman event shelter or a Kamp King SUV tent depending my my 'mission' and weather.

The Event Shelter (I had it set up at the campinn campout) is a little heavy to transport but provides a larger outdoor sitting area. I like this for longer trips, or trips that I know will be a bit blustery. The SUV Tent is better for quick trips, or just where I want to keep a light load. I'll be using it this weekend.

The only downside to the Coleman event shelter is that Amazon is the only place I've seen it, and it comes from overseas...they don't sell ti in the US. Also, the poles are steel not shock cord and fiberglass. The first thing I did when I got it was to spray it down with a rust-preventative spray.

The spray is a posting in itself. An aeronautical engineer told me bout it years ago. I only re-discovered it recently, and I have to say that so far I'm pretty impressed. Boeshield, made by the Boeing company for use on their planes. Works great on campers too