canvas tents

[mercalia]

Just wondering anyone stll use/have an old fashioned canvas/cotton type ridge tent, maybe if they are camping with their car?
I will be visiting the YHA at Welsh Bicknor/Ross-on-Wye this august. WIll probably go on my m/c so use my old Conquest polycotton ridge tent. A bit of luxury.

[Mike Sales]

Just wondering anyone stll here an old fashioned canvas/cotton type ridge tent, maybe if they are camping with their car?

I remember the Black's Icelandics we used in the Scouts. Fine tents but you might need a biggish car.
I used to use a Tinker, also by Blacks. An idiosyncratic shape, a little like a coffin, and a good tent as long as you didn't touch the sides in rain. Unfortunately I lent it to someone with little training in camping.

[horizon]

I still have all my cotton and cotton inner/nylon flysheet tents. The reason I don't use them is that they are no longer functional. I also have a working Vango Mark 2 which has been rudely pushed aside by my Robens due to its porch area. Ideally I would like a cotton inner Robens - now that's luxury!

[Mike Sales]

I still have all my cotton and cotton inner/nylon flysheet tents. The reason I don't use them is that they are no longer functional. I also have a working Vango Mark 2 which has been rudely pushed aside by my Robens due to its porch area. Ideally I would like a cotton inner Robens - now that's luxury!

My Saunders Fellpine has a cotton inner.

[iandriver]

I'm sure I've seen Ray Mears using one in the arctic that had a stove inside. I think there is still a nice market for them. If I was going to go retro, it would probably some form of jousting tent.

[PH]

Ideally I would like a cotton inner Robens - now that's luxury!

Make an inner, you have the pattern, if it's the sort that hangs off the poles, you can afford a little inaccuracy, if it's sleeved then those need to be pretty precise. Materials are about £20 - £30 plus zips, the time and effort are in getting the cut right, then it's no more than an hours work for anyone competent on a sewing machine.
I don't see the attraction myself, I like the breathability, quick drying and weight of modern materials.

[Barks]

In my experience cotton tents are cooler in warmer climes and as they are more fire resistant can accommodate wood stoves and their chimneys in winter temperatures, well below freezing if you have appropriate other gear and sufficient expertise. Heavy though so only really suitable for when vehicle or pack animal is used for travel.

[phil parker]

I still have a little two-man Cabanon Chic Choc for quick (not-so-lightweight) camping from the boot of the car!

[horizon]

I still have all my cotton and cotton inner/nylon flysheet tents. The reason I don't use them is that they are no longer functional. I also have a working Vango Mark 2 which has been rudely pushed aside by my Robens due to its porch area. Ideally I would like a cotton inner Robens - now that's luxury!

My Saunders Fellpine has a cotton inner.

Are you sure it isn't polycotton - I haven't checked the brochure. My Fellpacker is polycotton.

[Mike Sales]

My Saunders Fellpine has a cotton inner.

Are you sure it isn't polycotton - I haven't checked the brochure. My Fellpacker is polycotton.

Yes, I am. The tent is quite old. The fly is synthetic.

[horizon]

In my experience cotton tents are cooler in warmer climes and as they are more fire resistant can accommodate wood stoves and their chimneys in winter temperatures, well below freezing if you have appropriate other gear and sufficient expertise. Heavy though so only really suitable for when vehicle or pack animal is used for travel.

I think we have to stick with cycle-carried tents here (maybe the OP could clarify). As soon as you go by car, cotton/canvas is completely feasible if you want it (which I certainly would). For backpacking, synthetics are de rigeur - the weight is over-riding IMV (and that of all backpackers i would have thought). Which leaves cycling. And cotton tents are borderline. Hence really the discussion.

[horizon]

My Saunders Fellpine has a cotton inner.

Are you sure it isn't polycotton - I haven't checked the brochure. My Fellpacker is polycotton.

Yes, I am. The tent is quite old. The fly is synthetic.

I saw Fellpine - I'm just interested as to whether Saunders ever made any cotton tents at all.

[Mike Sales]

Are you sure it isn't polycotton - I haven't checked the brochure. My Fellpacker is polycotton.

Yes, I am. The tent is quite old. The fly is synthetic.

I saw Fellpine - I'm just interested as to whether Saunders ever made any cotton tents at all.

I'm fairly sure the name is Fellpine. It has two vertical poles, the one at the foot much shorter than the head, and the tent similarly narrows.
The fly is green, synthetic, as I said, and the inner pale yellow cotton. The groundsheet is greyish.
I was keen to have a cotton inner, for better ventilation.

[Slowroad]

We've got a 50-year-old Igloo inflatable tent - still in good nick but very heavy! Have been looking to re-home it for the last couple of years but have not as yet found someone who wants it...

[horizon]

Ideally I would like a cotton inner Robens - now that's luxury!

Make an inner, you have the pattern, if it's the sort that hangs off the poles, you can afford a little inaccuracy, if it's sleeved then those need to be pretty precise. Materials are about £20 - £30 plus zips, the time and effort are in getting the cut right, then it's no more than an hours work for anyone competent on a sewing machine.
I don't see the attraction myself, I like the breathability, quick drying and weight of modern materials.

I once asked a tent repairer (a big firm up North) whether they could make me a new flysheet for my Force Ten. I had the old one and offered to send it to them as the model - I just wanted a copy in the whatever/current material. They turned it down flat on the basis that it was just too difficult to make, especially given the exactness required. I never did quite understand what the problem was. And then you see all sorts of articles in old magazines about making your own tents from old bedsheets.

The inner on my Robens is suspended in the usual tunnel way from the fly. I presume then you would need to make and join a new groundsheet as well but everything else like the door is just how you want it.

So basically I'm not sure what it really involves.