Cycling UK Forum

With time on my hands, I got this old Coleman Viper 1 person tent, down from the loft. It was my son’s old tent from about 2002 and whilst it had been put away dry, it was nevertheless quite grubby and had mud on the door and adjacent panels. It was a bit smelly!

First job was to wash the fly using a soft brush and clean cloth in a bath of warm water with a small amount of mild soap flakes. This got the mud and general gunge off it. The inner was put in the washing machine with a tiny bit of ecover and washed on delicates with a gentle spin.

All were thoroughly dried and the outer and underside of the inner were re-proofed with graingers fabsil. I then hung both on the line and left them to have a good blow for 2 days!!

The original pitch required 15 fairly hefty pegs, however I reconfigured it so that 12 would suffice. DD tarpaulins supplied me with 12 lightweight pegs and new lightweight guys. The old shock-cording was replaced and the old stuff pack was tatty and smelly, so I replaced it with a lightweight lomo dry pack which I already had.

I’m really impressed with how well this tent pitches - it feels very solid and there’s loads of space for 1 and a good porch for storage.

Considering it had quite a hard life with my son, it has come out really well. The smells have gone and it has passed the ‘watering can’ test!

The final thing I have done is to make an inner footprint from some Tyvek breathable roof felt, which we had left over from building work.

When I weighed it at the start, it weighed just over 2kg in its original format. With the new pegs, guys and dry pack it is just over 1.75kg. If using the additional footprint, it comes out at 1.95kg. I’m very pleased and my daughter slept in it the other night! The last time she slept in it was with her brother cycling the outer Hebrides in 2005, albeit they were both very small at the time!

Looks like a nice tent. Pitched right with wind direction. I wouldn't close the door unless it rains.. I often camp like that. You've inspired me to clean my old tent.shall give it a go.

To my mind that’s a very tidy looking small tent and that simple single pole style has always appealed to me. It’s not got much of a footprint so I’d have thought that normally you could pitch it virtually anywhere. In poor weather it might be important to pitch with wind direction in mind, and if the weather worsens then maybe it’s time to think about seeking more shelter - if it’s cold and/or really wet and windy who wants to be camping anyway?

Personally, rather then buy new, I wish that more people would properly value and restore good used items. Things that worked well in the past can often do so again and there is usually no good reason to not to keep using them, however we’re often distracted by marketing, small changes, fashion and fad. Environmentally it’s better to reuse an item but economics and logistics mean we often don’t (buying new is an expense but our ‘free’ time has a value too and not everyone has the necessary skills).

Congratulations on your tent restoration, I hope that it gives you and your family members many additional years of good service and pleasure.

Thanks both!

Congratulations. Always nice to keep stuff going, and it's in tune with what I like about cycling - simplicity.

And saved money can be spent on beer.

I was waiting for the punchline that after you'd done all the work your son wanted his tent back...
Looks a decent tent and I hope you get plenty more use out of it. I'm with Sweep, stuff should be used.

Ha ha...I checked with him first that it can be donated to the household tent ‘pool’. I suspect daughter’s going to be the main benefactor!

Looks similar to the (still available) Budget Berghaus Peak 3.1 but minus the dubious zip: the Peaks 3.1 zip is along the fly seam which places its teeth under a lot of strain (especially if you mistakenly put the pole in the inner hole thinking a tighter pitch is better... my zip then lost teeth requiring a new zip....)

Not suggesting for a moment that you shouldn't have fixed it hoppy (see my congratulations above) but is that tent of yours by chance similar to this?

https://www.blacks.co.uk/equipment/3516 ... green.html

Ha! It’s very very similar. I think my inner has slightly more mesh and the bottom of the fly is higher off the ground with a scalloped cut (better ventilation, but arguably more draughty!). Other than that the basic design is the same. Looks good value that.

Edit-just noticed this is an outer first pitch whereas mine is inner first

hoppy58 wrote:Ha! It’s very very similar. I think my inner has slightly more mesh and the bottom of the fly is higher off the ground with a scalloped cut (better ventilation, but arguably more draughty!). Other than that the basic design is the same. Looks good value that.

Edit-just noticed this is an outer first pitch whereas mine is inner first

I think OEX stuff has a decent reputation, though I had had the idea that it was only sold by Go Outdoors.

Sweep wrote:Congratulations. Always nice to keep stuff going, and it's in tune with what I like about cycling - simplicity.

And saved money can be spent on beer.

or just saved

Despite the online dimension diagrams for Peak 3.1 and OEX Bobcat showing more or less same dimensions*, this guy reckons the Bobcat is smaller....


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSJF4kQpwrM

Although the peak 3,1 allows you to sleep diagonally for more length, I am 5ft8 and pitch the peak 3.1 inner to only use half the internal size (ie I trade inner space for more bell space) and just about fit lengthwise,,,,

Does the video just make the OEX look smaller overall do you think; is it slightly unfair: if you can sleep similarly in a peak 3.1 I presume you can cope in the OEX (according to diagram it should be a slight improvement due to the lack of taper at head and foot end of that perpendicular sleeping position?

*https://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/15980942/15980942-oex-bobcat-1-person-tent-olive vs https://www.blacks.co.uk/equipment/164992-berghaus-peak-3-1-1-man-tent-red.html

I do sometimes look at this design of tent and am tempted for those fast camps where the tent is thrown up, sleep, down again and go. But either the weight saving over my nice two man tent is insignificant, or it's a lot of money. But for anyone who didn't already have a tent, there's some excellent value stuff around.