RE: [Philmont]: tents

> From: david richardson
> I am looking for a little advice on tints. do you like the tents that
> they issue at philmont? or would you recommend taking our own tents.
> thanks david richardson
>
Ah, yes, the twice annual tent topic!

Philtents:
Pluses: watertight, keep you dry, free, work well, all look the same, can
use trekking poles for the poles so don't need the extra weight.
Minuses: Have to buy/bring a ton of tent stakes (min 6 to pitch it, but not
well, 12 better for all the places to tie down and get the fly off the
inside), heavy compared to many two man backpacking tents, low roof compared
to many freestanding tents, no vestibule, not freestanding. Don't seem to
pack very small.

Own Tents:
Pluses: used to them, if you have them features such as freestanding,
vestibules, fewer tent stakes, lighter
Minuses: May or may not be watertight, if you don't have the above features,
may not be good. Cost money.

We brought our own. We had some tents that lacked vestibules and the boys
left their boots out to get rained on. To me, the vestibule is very
important at Philmont because of the rain, it gives you a bit more room to
put stuff outside like smelly boots you've been wearing for ten days on the
trail and are covered with mud that you really don't want inside.

I used a two vestibule tent, leaving me and my tent partner lots of room to
put stuff outside. As a freestanding dome tent, we had more head room than
a Philtent and it was easier to set up (we watched the OA trail crew guys
setting up the Philtents and wondered why they would use them). Used two
tent stakes only to pull the fly off the inner tent. We had a pole break on
day 9 that made setting up the tent a bit more complicated (couldn't
repair).

We do lots of backpacking but don't get much rain (like almost never), so we
have some tents that don't have vestibules. We don't have troop tents,
everyone buys/borrows their own.

During our trek (808-K 2005), we saw very few other crews. Other than the
OA trail crew, none of the other crews used Philtents, they all had their
own.

My bottom line suggestion: You need tents for your training hikes, so you
are likely to have your own tents. If you have your own, use them, so long
as you know they will be watertight. If you don't have your own, go ahead
and use the Philtents. I would not recommend giving up your own for a
Philtent mostly for the weight.

I doubt our troop would consider using the Philtents over their own on our
future treks.

Regards
Don Roberts
ASM T1201, CA C1202
fullerton, CA
808-K 2005

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Received on Fri Oct 7 03:06:13 2005