TENTS GUIDE

At Springfield Camping, we stock a wide and diverse range of tents including products suitable for family camping holidays, right the way through to mountain tents. Deciding which tent is suitable for you can be a difficult decision to make. This guide offers a brief introduction to the differant types of tent available.

Tents are designed with many differant variations in pole configurations. A particular pole configuration usually has both advantages and disadvantages. Broadly speaking, mountain tents are usually of either geodesic, semi-geodesic or tunnel design.

In a geodesic design, poles will cross multiple times creating curved surfaces. Curved surfaces are physically stronger then flat surfaces. This increases the tents ability to withstand forces such as strong winds. A pole configuration must usually have 5 or more cross-over points for it to be considered fully geodesic. Configurations with between 2 and 4 cross-over points are usually considered only semi-geodesic.

Tunnel tents contain one or more poles in series that generally do not cross. This creates a tunnel like structure. Tunnel designs are generally considered to not be as strong as geodesic designs, but this is certainly debated. For example, it is fair to say that geodesic tents are very good for withstanding a dumping of snow on the tent roof. However, it is also fair to say that in high winds, a well pitched tunnel tent can absorb more force than a geodesic tent because it tends to move around a little more. Tunnel tents are often lighter than geodesic tents and many tents designed for family camping feature tunnel pole configurations. Tunnel designs are also generally easier to pitch.

The majority of tents manufactured for the UK market these days incorporate double skin designs. A double skin design features an outer shell flysheet for waterproofing and a seperate internal inner tent. The major advantage of double skin designs is that they reduce the amount of condensation in the sleeping area of the tent. This is very important in the UK because we have a predominantly damp climate.

When a tent is occupied, warm water vapour from the occupants rises upwards towards the roof of the tent. Upon contact with the roof, which is colder because of the cooler air temperature outside the tent, the water vapour condenses, turning back into liquid water. In a single skin tent, this liquid water will then drip back down towards the ground, potentially dampening the occupants! Because of this problem, it is very important for single skin tents to be well ventilated. The major advantage of single skin tents is that they can potentially be much lighter and easier to erect.

When water vapour rises upwards towards the roof in a double skin tent, the water vapour first has to pass through the breathable inner tent. Having passed through the inner tent and then having condensed upon contact with the outer shell of the tent (the flysheet), the liquid water droplets will fall towards the ground but will be either absorbed by the inner tent or trapped between the inner tent and the flysheet, therefore allowing the tents occupants to remain dry.