Campmor Tents
When I took the Black Wolf tent back to Kangaroo Tent City I came across a tent that I had not heard of before. They are a heavy duty canvas tent that look like a good quality tent. Has anyone had any experience with the Campmor tents that are made in South Africa?
Check out these sites:
http://www.kangarootentcity.com.au/welcome/page55.php
http://www.campmoroutdoor.co.za/photogallery.php
Comments
At that price they would want to be pretty good tent!
At those weights, it sounds like they use rhs as to hold them up - that's my kind of tent.
I have owned one of these tents since the early 1990's. It is brilliant. Keeps out the harsh Aussie sun and is very water proof. Camped once at Diamond Head in NSW - rained for 4 days almost non stop. Our tent was probably the only one that could handle the rain and the strong wind. It has not even faded - OK so we really look after it. It was an expensive investment buy it has outlasted a few of the cheaper nylon tents that we purchased for our children. The only draw back - it is a very heavy tent. You could not carry this far. So it is not for hikers. You vitually need to park at your camp site. Putting it up is a handfull too - but once up it is like a tank. I cannot recommend one of these highly enough. Just a great tent and is larger on the inside than it looks.
Hi Gary
We bought one of these tents last year and agree that it is very sturdy and also very heavy. Are you able to repack your tent into the original bag? We've only used ours 3 times since we bought it and ended up with the dome part stuffed into a large striped bag, 2 bags for the poles etc and the verandah part the only thing in the original bag!! Any instructions on how to fold it would be sensational! Other than that we love it.
It is hard work repacking the tent - I often have more than one attempt before getting it right. The bag could do with being a little larger. Often have to sit on top of the tent to compress it before packing it away. You need to two people to fold the tent up too I feel - one person at each end and it is tough and difficult to fold. Sorry but the real answer to your question is that there is no easy way to pack away these tents. If it is raining when you pack up to go home, just throw the tent in the back of your car as is. It has to be dry before packing up as it may be in storage for several months before your next camping trip. If you pack it away "wet" it will get mouldy and rot. PS: I am saving up for a second 3m x 3m Campmor tent for my teenage kids as I'm so impressed with mine.
These tents are expensive but worth every cent. You couldn't damage one of these if you tried! Flexible spring-steel poles that can't be broken, high-quality rip-stop canvas that I think you'd have trouble cutting through with a Stanly-knife, and a floor that actually lives up to the 'heavy-duty' claim that they all make.
We own two of these 3m x 3m tents and I don't find them to be any more difficult to fold away into the bag than any of the other tents I've used. I think the key is to have the entire front face of the tent (where the entrance is) facing up when you un-clip it from the poles and lie it down. If you can get this right, making sure the other sides are folded in underneath properly, the rest should be easy.
From there you just fold it from the sides in, so the two edges meet in the middle of the tent making a 1.5m x 3m rectangle (now the top should have only pvc showing). Then you fold one side over on top of the other, making a .75m x 3m shape, which should now be the perfect width for the bag. All that's left to do then is to fold along the length (or I guess you could roll it as you would with a sleeping bag).
The fly and wind-break are small enough that it probably doesn't matter which way you fold these, as long as they fit the shape of the bag.
I don't have any problem getting my tents into their bags using this method. I've done it by myself on a number of occasions (although it is a bit easier with another person).
Hope this helps.
I have been looking at getting one of these tents but have not be able to see one in the flesh. Is there anyone in Melbourne Victoria that has one and would be happy to show me how great it is ? :)
Cheers,
Brett
Hi. We are heading to Cape York for a 3 month adventure from Sydney. We are wondering if anyone has any experience with sandflies/midges getting through the shade cloth window screens? We want to buy this tent, but are really nervous about getting eaten, as the holes in the shade cloth appear to be large enough for a midge to get through. Hmmm... let us know please. A bit stuck..... Thanks
Not a bad tent - better value than the freedom or black wolf. I have found a few problems with mine - dodgy stitching and one of the eyelets where the pole goes into starting to come away from the webbing after a few uses. I contacted Kangaroo tent city and lets just say the after sales service was second rate basically if you have a problem bring it back and they will SEE what they will do about it - not really what you want when you dont live in sydney. I did ask to inspect the tent prior to purchase but none of the staff would allow this even though they wernt busy - I was guaranteed top quality which did not occour. My advice buy an Oz trail tourer from a local store so if there is problems is can be taken back easily and look to possibly replaice it when it wears out
After living in 2 of these for the past 2 months (5 months to go)I think i am more than qualified to review these tents. We purchased 2 x 3m x 3m Safari Bows and the Double extension, retail price around $4,500.
We erected the tents 2 weeks prior to moving in to ensure they were fully "weathered". the first problem was with the extension that showed 2 doors on each side when ours had just one big opening. When I spoke to parramatta branch, they told me they had never seen one like that. No big deal except that the velcro ties for the extension did not line up properly withy the frame and when the manager came out to have a look, it was decided to cut down 3 of the frame poles by 50mm to meake a better fit.
With temps over 28 degrees every day during the weathering period, we would run a sprinklet over them for an hour at a time twice a day, drying thouroughly in between. Despite this, the seams, particularly in the extension, leaked like a sieve. We applied all the wax that was provided and also used the recommended seam sealer. The main problem was where the canvas met the vinyl flooring in the tents and virtually every seam of the extension. Another major problem appears to be a basic design flaw; the webbing loops that are ued to peg down the tent are sewn into the seam between the floor and canvas of the wall. In heavy rain, the webbing acts as a wick and the water comes in through the stitching, dripping constantly. Given there are 6 of these exposed to the weather on each tent (8 if you aren't using the extensin), it makes a pretty big puddle of water very quickly.
For the past 2 months we have been blessed with good weather and only occassional light rain. We put a tarp across the extension part to waterproof it as we could not stop the leaks (although i was assured by the sales person this was not necessary). The tents have actually been great through the hot nights and stood up to the light rain. This week however some serious rain has started and the water problems have returned. After the first night of rain, all the beeding was soaked wherever it touched the sides. The carpet we had put on the floor was soaked and water was dripping from the windows
Today we have gone and spent another $500 on tarps to ensure it is completely covered. This is not something i think you should need to do when you spend $4500 on a tent!
So, the final word? Great in the heat, very roomy and robust. Withstands strong wind fantastically BUT if you want to stay dry, buy something else or be prepared to spend the addtional money on good quality tarps and poles.
Black Wolf tent is my best camping tent that I used in Sydney. That's why i can really really relate your post. And Many of the outdoors men are using the black wolf tent specially in kangaroo tent city. :)
Thought Id add a few comments to help here. I have extensive experience in tents and used many. I have used Campmor and other brands. Some of the points raised about leaking tents can be clarified. All the top quality materials used in tents on the market in Australia are pre proofed before tents are sewn together. This includes the Campmor tents which uses an exclusive Australian made canvas, one of the best materials in the world in fact and certainly very water tight. The problem occurs after stitching the fabrics.
For polyester dome tents, the seams can be sealed with a heat sealed coating, but for canvas tents, these heat sealed coatings do not stick to the material.
Thicker canvas materials need to be weathered (wet down to swell the seams) and the thicker the material the longer it will take for the fabric to swell up. When canvas is sewn to PVC the PVC seam holes will not swell up. This is why the seams at this point leak. The old adage that a well worn and weathered canvas tent will perform better than a brand new one is true. So a concentrated effort on sealing the seams and weathering the tent before taking these tents away is recommended, particularly for the heavy duty tents.
Have we forgotten what traditional canvas tents are like ? They are very tuff, heavy duty in every way. There is not as many of these quality tents left on the market anynmore and so many people have forgotten or are unaware of how they work and what they will do. Whilst you can take a modern dome tent straight out of the bag and use it in the rain, it is not the best way to use the heavy duty canvas tents. Hope this helps.
I have bought the safari bow with windbreak it took 3 weeks before i took delivery of it from the date of payment which was a bit on the slow side in my book I decided to put the tent up in my back yard to see that all the bits and pieces were there and also because there was rain forecast in the coming days and i wanted to weather it put it up as per the video instructions on the kangaroo tent city website mine didnt go up quite so easily it was quite a struggle but I think it will be easier 2nd time around I think the trick is tie the centre of the tent onto the cross piece then attach 4 of the clips on each support frame then bend your frames and put them in there retaining rings and if by the time you have the 4 frames in position it is still not standing up just stand in the front door and lift the frame up and finish putting the remaining clips on anyway after erecting the tent i found that i was missing the centre verandah pole which is a different length to the 2 other verandah poles I had to call kangaroo tent city on 7 occasions and email them once before someone said that they would be sending me one as for the quality of the tent I couldnt really fault it the floor is as tough as they say i had 3 days of scattered showers with a few heavy showers while the tent was erected and it didnt leak a drop of water not even a wet seam and i havnt put the wax on the seam connecting floor pan to canvas as recommended the tent is pretty much bullet proof the only quality defect i did find was the of the 9 guy ropes that are attached to the tent with a splice on each end of the rope only 4 of the splices had been done properly the other 14 just came apart I told kangaroo tent city this when i phoned about the missing tent pole and basically they didnt want to know about it they said they would keep it in mind all in all a top quality tent worth the money its a pity the after sales service from the seller leaves a bit to be desired.
Also i seen someone saying they had trouble putting the tent back in the back I didnt have a problem folding up is simply a reversal of unfolding the tent simply place the fly on top of the tent fold it in so that it is all inside the tent base perimeter then fold one side to the centre fold the other side to the centre then fold in half and roll up and place the supplied back over the tent on the ground rather than try to lift the tent into the back follow those simple steps you wont have a problem. i am planning on using this tent as a permanent dwelling so i will update you on the performance in a year but i am not expecting any problems this is a tough tent.
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