Recommend a big tent that can withstand wind

[Biospace]

OK, I am starting to like the like the idea of these bell tents but how does yours cope with rain? Does it leak? Does the fabric get sodden and heavy so a right pain to strike on a wet day? I know conventional/synthetic tents also get wet but it is relatively easy to roll them up, put them in a bag and stuff it in the car then dry it out when one gets home.

No leaks, although some have reported them where the /\ frame locates through the ridge of the entrance. I've never struck camp in the rain with this tent, but never known the fabric to become sodden even in the heaviest rain. Packing when the tent was damp after rain and without sun or wind to dry things, it was barely heavier, I get the impression that as wet as it would get would not be much of a problem - it seems to offer the benefits of both cotton and synthetic without the worst drawbacks.

Perhaps the most challenging aspect of these is packing away the central pole, which is in five or six sections, each goes inside the other. There are many possibilities, but only one way it works so that it packs properly.

about 20-25 minutes if there's just one of you.

That matches my experience. Not tried it with a little stove but bet its proper cosy ! Almost makes me want to go out in winter again !!

It's a great experience with the stove keeping you toasty, it's also great for drying out damp clothes hung from the hooks provided on the centre pole, if you can remember to slide the fitting on when pitching. We cook all our food and heat most our water on it, a lamb tagine tasted glorious sitting in the tent with the door open and snow gently falling!

The lightweight construction of a tent stove doesn't hold the heat well and the flues are small diameter. A bed of ash helps insulate the fire to a higher temperature, kindling-sized fuel and careful air management is needed until thoroughly ablaze, when the air can be all but shut off and the glow enjoyed for up to three quarters of an hour. Otherwise it's excess smoke and you make charcoal. I've taken some firebricks and scavenged for suitable stones to place under and on the stove to store heat, the difference is considerable.

Here are a couple of YouTube links to pitching the Klondike model which continues to give good service, and a great picture of winter camping I found online,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EV15-7Rv1Cg (speeded up)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLQEEIPPFn4 (real time)

[horizon]

A tunnel moves around a lot more in the wind than a dome if all else is equal, but moving around isn't failure.

The devil tends to be in the detail

Pete.

You are right. The OP's tent didn't AFAIK disintegrate. Pegs came out and this may have allowed the tent to collapse on itself and bend the poles to breaking point. Of course tents differ, but Vango is a good make and I still reckon that the OP's misfortune was, as you say, in the detail. Pegs coming out hasn't much to do with the tent.

[horizon]

One bit of advice I was given by my dear old dad was use very long guylines. Short lines only pull the tent down which doesn't help if wind is building up under the tent and leads to pegs being pulled out.
I can't say for sure, but I link to think that advice is one reason why I've never lost a tent and I've pitched in some seriously bad weather.

(Is the truth slowly coming out ... )

Thank you Vantage, that's advice I hadn't heard before (it's a bit counter-intuitive) and I intend to put it into practice.

[Vantage]

Looking at the ops post again, I'm not entirely sure why I recommended a huge family tent. Away with the fairies I'm afraid.
Anyhoo, whilst I don't have experience of any of the tents rotavator listed, I do happen to own 2 alternatives to the decathlon and Vango he/she asked about.
I own and have used in very horrible weather https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/dome-trek ... mc=8556629.
It isn't the warmest tent in the world as the cool and black part keeps out heat but it does do a good job of that in the warmer months when most tents turn into ovens. I would advise anyone purchasing this tent to shorten the very top pole by an inch or so as in my experience and that of another user I know, it's too long and as a result tight as hell and risks tearing the tent. That actually happened to the other user I know.
On the upside, it is a veeeeeeery roomy tent with lots of storage space inside including a clothes line! Doors open on both sides with generous ish space for panniers, backpacks, out of control stoves etc. There's also little storage areas (these are also vents)at the front and rear of the tent which are handy for shoes/beer. The side doors have a clever zip that when zipped open, the door folds out of the way. Condensation isn't the worst I've seen but isn't the best either. The vents aren't exactly huge. It is to all extents a dome tent. However, only the living space is free standing. The door areas need to be pegged.

I also have a Vango Hydra 200. Bought because whilst I love the little decathlon, it is anything but stealthy on the off chance that I grow a pair and actually try wild camping.
It's a semi geodesic tent. Just as roomy as the decathlon and from reviews I've seen, just as if not more bombproof which from what I've read, most geodesics are.
I've only camped in it once on a failed tour in Wales and whilst it was wet, it was calm. It did survive my pressure washer test.

[Vantage]

One bit of advice I was given by my dear old dad was use very long guylines. Short lines only pull the tent down which doesn't help if wind is building up under the tent and leads to pegs being pulled out.
I can't say for sure, but I link to think that advice is one reason why I've never lost a tent and I've pitched in some seriously bad weather.

(Is the truth slowly coming out ... )

Thank you Vantage, that's advice I hadn't heard before (it's a bit counter-intuitive) and I intend to put it into practice.

Think of it this way, if you drive a peg into the ground at 45 Deg, tie a bit of string onto and pull vertically, chances are it'll come out. Do the same thing and pull horizontally in the same direction the peg has gone in and what happens?

[Nearholmer]

Aha! The lighter and easier tent we bought for family camping is an air-beam version of the one vantage recommends and, as I said before, that has survived some very blustery thunderstorms, even though we bought it as a fair weather job.

[simonineaston]

There's quite a good summary of bell tents here on Alpkit's website. I didn't know they made one, 'till just now.

[andrew_s]

British Antarctic Survey tents certainly used to be Ventile pyramid tents, don't know if they still are but another pal was a BAS General Assistant in the 80s and said they were great (the weight wasn't an issue with a skidoo or dogs doing the pulling)

Pete.

I had an acquaintance (BC, Base F, 1983) who said he'd spent 2 days at 150+ mph in one of those. The skidoos blew away, and the Twotters got trashed after trying to take off despite being tied to the ground.
About 70 lb, with single section 10 ft aluminium scaffold poles.

(Lydden ice rise, aka Christmas Box Hill)
We really should have weighed down the valance with snow blocks, but the weather was nice.

[Biospace]

Think of it this way, if you drive a peg into the ground at 45 Deg, tie a bit of string onto and pull vertically, chances are it'll come out. Do the same thing and pull horizontally in the same direction the peg has gone in and what happens?

Good quality pegs correctly used, together with longer lines improve any tent's performance in windy conditions. I've seen advice to only use pegs perpendicular or nearly so, presumably because that way they're deeper in the ground, but I've always used them at a greater angle.

Cheap pegs and a tarp in windy conditions gives a rapid lesson in how best to make use of pegs! Reducing the amount of force pulling up is the goal, with a long enough line, good ground and longer pegs you can create a resultant force which tries to pull the peg deeper into the ground.

Longer lines mean that with an angle to minimise the peg uprooting forces, the peg is located deeper into the ground. Something less considered is that in a longer line there is slightly more elasticity, which in blustery conditions reduces the shock loadings on the pegs and tent.

[simonineaston]

...wish I'd known about the Alpkit bell tent before I bought the Nordisk... it's the same floor area, quite a bit lighter, cheaper, and slightly taller than the Nordisk... Hey Ho.

[rotavator]

Thank you everyone for your advice and comments. I will start hunting for a bell tent and may be a stove too.