Anyone out there ever used a high campbed (41cm) in a 2-3-4 man tent?

Right, I have this steel legged camp bed from Argos, and I'm wondering if I can find a tent that it'll fit in that I don't need to break the bank for. I have a Eurohike Tamar that I've used for years, but this year A: it's being lent to a friend B: my brother's camping with me, and C: We're camping with Civil Defence doing medic cover at Oxegen (Also looking ahead to mountain training courses in the UK), so we've bagloads of equipment along with our clothes. My thinking was using under the bed as storage while getting a decent night's sleep in the bargain.

I've been looking at the Eurohike Avon 3 manand similar kinds of tents, as a big porch would be just as useful with mountain rescue (No steel bed, too heavy to carry long distances)

The only problem is that I've found that while on paper a dome tent might have the floor area to take the bed, the tapering sides mean that you get the corners poking into the back of the tent!

So my basic question is: How big of a tent am I going to need to get to fit my camp bed, and what kind of price range am I looking at?

Esel

I would say that a camp-bed is more suited to a family-size tent, which presumably the Civil Defence ones are?

It would create a lot of dead space in a smaller tent - when getting out of the bed, you would have to step into the personal space of your tent mate(s), as well as it possibly compromising the waterproofing by bringing the inner and outer tents into contact.

For use with a smaller tent, I would get a self-inflating mat (Thermarest or clones) or an airbed. The Thermarest type is lighter and smaller to carry, but less comfortable (main purpose is insulation). Airbed - heavier, harder to inflate, but more comfortable unless over-inflated. Even an airbed can compromise the waterproofing if you are sharing a cramped space though.

Esel

Esel wrote: »

I would say that a camp-bed is more suited to a family-size tent, which presumably the Civil Defence ones are?

It would create a lot of dead space in a smaller tent - when getting out of the bed, you would have to step into the personal space of your tent mate(s), as well as it possibly compromising the waterproofing by bringing the inner and outer tents into contact.

For use with a smaller tent, I would get a self-inflating mat (Thermarest or clones) or an airbed. The Thermarest type is lighter and smaller to carry, but less comfortable (main purpose is insulation). Airbed - heavier, harder to inflate, but more comfortable unless over-inflated. Even an airbed can compromise the waterproofing if you are sharing a cramped space though.

I'm not so sure dead space is such a bad thing. All dead space can be used as storage space for something, and with a decent porch, impact on my brother (on the floor ) would be minimal. In fact, if both our gear goes under the bed he's got more room underneath for himself.

Thanks for the buy advice, but fact is I already have it, and I'm not getting another one.

I was just wondering if anyone else out there had tried to use one of these in a 2-4 man tent. Obviously 2 man would be pushing it, but crunching the numbers there are some 3-4 man tents it might be able to squeeze into, even taking slope of the tent into account.

So you think I should leave it at home/ in the bag then?

Esel

I just did some very rough calculations using a piece of paper as a rule on the screen image of the inner tent profile, and I reckon you will lose a minimum 35cm of the tent width. That should leave enough room for both of you in the tent though. Bring some form of base material for under each leg to protect the groundsheet - something that will spread the load - otherwise you run the risk of damaging the groundsheet.

If you get lucky, you will have to pack the bed away - max load is 110 kg...

Heh, If I get lucky, my brother can have the bed....but he's sleeping under he feckin' stars!!! :D:D

Anyways, after a look into Halfords, I came across this at half-price of E89.99, and I really like those dimensions.

Looks like I've found a winner. Seeing as I might be the first boardsie to try the high campbed in a small tent option, I might write up a report on how I get on!

Esel

Looks pretty good, but at 7.9 Kg is a fair bit heavier than the first one you linked (5.6 Kg). Not a problem if you don't have to carry it too far.