Tent for Oshkosh storms

[Kyle Boatright]

No doubt you can ship stuff to Oshkosh, but I’d be leery of shipping tents and sleeping bags. You absolutely need those things on day 1 (and night 1). Camping chairs, extra clothes, and other convenience items are the things to ship.

[MikeyDale]

Been using this one I got at Walmart for 7 years now. Went to buy the 4 person but they were out so got the 6. Been thru lots of bad storms at Osh! Weighs 14 lbs. Room enough for our two cots and a small table with both our chairs during rainstorms! I do seal the seams and waterproof it every couple years or so!

[PandaCub]

You can't go wrong with the Black Diamond Eldorado or Ahwahnee. They're a little pricier than some others, but either one costs less than a week at standard motel prices and they'll last 20 years if properly cared for.

I fly with my Eldorado, but the Ahwahnee is a bit nicer for two people.

Easy setup - I've even done it in a heavy hailstorm, as the internal poles let you set up from inside the tent. Highly recommended.

[swjohnsey]

Gotta a bunch of tents being an ultra-lite backpacker, Big Agnes, Hubba, etc. Used the Hubba for airplane camping but recently switched to Eureka Suma 3. Half-domes like the one pictured above work best in bad weather. Aluminum poles work better than fiberglass. Clips work better than sleeves. You can spend a buncha money but you are mainly buying lightness which is not a huge factor in airplane camping. Eureka is a quality company and contracts with the military for their tents. Th Eureka Suma 3 weighs in around 6 pounds and I got this one slightly used on ebay for around a hundred bucks. You can get a Big Agnes one man one pound carbon fiber for around $1000. Ebay is a good source for high end camping equipment.

[Steve]

I favor the 4-man Coleman Sundome tent. My current one has been to 2 Oshkoshes, a Copperstate, and 2 Smiley Creeks.
You can't stand up in it, but it's well made and won't break the bank. I think a lightweight tent with a 7 foot peak and the ability to remain standing in a storm similar to last year's big storm is the stuff of dreams.

[DanH]

Looking toward stand up types, any experience with one-pole tents in the wind? This one is rather big, but the specs say it packs and weights roughly the same as the Cabella Alaska Guide 4-place....

https://dodoutdoors.com/products/ich...gn=sag_organic

Among other desires, I'm also interested in tents which don't require guy strings. They're not a big deal in a campground, but can be a real PITA when the tent is slotted in among airplanes. Yeah, I know, the above has 'em.

[Roadjunkie1]

Originally Posted by Roadjunkie1

I volunteer for the Vintage Division and, if you go over to where we live onfield, under The Trees, you will find a place we affectionately call Camp Cabela as nearly EVERYone who volunteers for us has a Cabela tent!

Camp Cabela in the Vintage area at OSH....

[Doc356]

Originally Posted by uk_figs

After 3 Oshkosh storms in the last 3 years my Kelty tent gave up the ghost for good last year and was retired to the dumpster after a short service

It is now time to find a replacement for this years event. The Kelty was a trail Ridge 6 which is a great tent that you can stand up in, but its size (height) was a problem with the straight winds we have seen at Osh in recent years and the aluminum poles just bent and the rain tended to drive up under the flysheet.

As I am too old to be rolling around on the floor trying to get my jeans on in the morning in a pup tent, I am looking for some suggestions/recommendations for a decent size tent (I am 6' 3") that is robust enough to withstand the typical Osh annual storm. The Kelty weighed 18lbs which was not bad.

Before someone suggests the dorms etc. I enjoy the camaraderie of my flying buddies and fellow campers and cooking out in the pavilion.

Appreciate any inputs.
Figs

After two tent collapses over the years at OSH I walked the airplane campgrounds to survey survivors. Cabelas’ Alaskan Guide series was highly recommended by the majority. The tents are tall for a 6 footer like me to change standing up. Mine has withstood the OSH 2019 and 2021 TRW’s standing up.

[Ironflight]

I’ll second the idea of checking out REI (or EMS if they still exist). The bottom line is that if you’re talking storm-worthiness, why not go where folks whose lives literally depend on their tent surviving (think high mountaineering such as Everest) go and see what they are using?

We’ve got about ten tents in our joint (married) inventory, accumulated over the decades - all are mountaineering tents, which have the benefit of being relatively lightweight (when you’re traveling in an RV-3, that makes a difference).

Paul

[David Paule]

Paul's right about the lightness and robustness of mountaineering tents. Mine is a Kelty that's no longer available. The model was tested using the propwash of a 300 hp Cessna 185, and one was used on an Antarctic hiking expedition. I chose it because I could set it up in a blizzard using mittens. It's not extremely light, a trade-off.

The downside to this sort of tent is that usually they don't have standing headroom, and often not even room for a person plus a decent cot.

There are other tents in the ultralightweight backpacking category that are lighter but less capable, and some get down below two pounds. They won't handle propwash unless you get lucky. You'll have to make your own choices where on the weight versus capability you want to have.

swjohnsey pointed out that clips are easier to set up than sleeves. I have both and he's right, but the rugged Kelty has sleeves. I have an ultralightweight single-pole tent that's a bit of a pain to set up because it doesn't have an integrated floor and the stakes need to be positioned just right. Not hard, just inconvenient.

Dave