Tents with limited mobility

[SnowDiva]

I’m looking to do a bit of camping, mostly just overnight (but hope to build up to 2 or 3 nights), with my partner and not far from the car but I have a spinal cord injury which means I need at least 1 crutch to walk so trying to find a lightweight tent that is easy to set up (could do myself if I wanted to) but wondering if I should look for something with a vestibule, which doesn’t seem to come on lightweight tents??

[Gadgetgeek]

There are quite a lot of light tents that have at least boot space, if not a full vestibule. The main thing would be space, I'm just hazarding a guess, but you probably are not into doing a whole bunch of yoga to get in and out of a sleeping bag and back into your boots? Yes, I would go with at least a small vestibule, the cost in weight is just not that big compared to what you get if its a little wet out.

I'm pretty impressed with my tarp-tent Notch, its designed well and not too fiddly to set up. I also had a Duomid that was good, just not for me, although it did take a little work to put up, it was an easy one-man job. Nothing that required me to be at both ends of the tent. I would suggest any of the tents where you peg them first then push the poles up inside might be ideal for you, I'm guessing your mobility on hands and knees is fine?

I'm sure you will get suggestions from others as well, were you looking for a one-man or two? Just thinking out loud here, a lot of the lighter tarptent tents use trecking poles, but you said you use a crutch, so you would want that available for use around camp I'm guessing. Your partner could walk with poles, or they do have light weight poles available, depends on what is your pace. For a two person tent look at the mo-trail, and for one look at the notch, but see how the others strike you, as there may be a feature that jumps out at you. A lot of innovation has come from the through-hiker movement, as they are looking for light, but also fast setup, no muss-no fuss sort of things. No one wants to set up an old style two pole army tent by themselves, and even a lot of domes are a pain by yourself.

[Franco]

What sort of weight are you aiming for ?

[Neo]

The Protrail has limited mobility!
I like it a lot but want to go to a 2p dome next. Still undecided which model...

[matagi]

The Black Diamond Mega Light might work. It uses a single central pole, which can be either the one supplied or a couple of trekking poles with joiner. The supplied pole has extension pieces so you can get it to standing headroom but at 165cm, the trekking poles give me enough headroom (just). It comes without an inner, but you can make it insect proof by attaching a "skirt" of mesh at the bottom. A piece of Tyvek works well as a floor, or you can do what we do and use an all weather space blanket (the insulated fabric one, not the thin foil emergency ones).

Weight with the supplied pole is around 1.2kg but if you opt to use your trekking poles, then the weight comes down to around 700g.

[ribuck]

I would suggest a tent with side-entry doors rather than entry at the head end. It doesn't sound like it should make much difference, but it does, especially when one pitches with the head end higher when on a slope.

[davidf]

Mid style tents, larger the better i think fit the bill well.

Cons, if its inclement the weather gets in quick and if you are a slow mover this suck once you are in due to the tidying up and no seperate vestibule to dump stuff.

Pros. Apart from bending for pegs not much fiddly stuff down low. Pole gets put in while you stand up. Once up just drop in on one side of central pole. The high point of entrance is good for a crutch user.

Or forgo a tent and use a simple tarp. Learn to st it up so you have a high narrow enntrance.

I suffer from intermitent problems and have been away on crutches, not a permanent problem for me. Other limited mobility essential is having a good pee system. Good luck have fun

[SnowDiva]

Thanks all.

Sorry, meant to say looking for a larger 2pax or 3pax tent as both partner and I are very tall. We’ll mostly be camping in the VIC high country so don’t think a tarp is suitable as weather can change quickly and get really cold, even in summer.

Weight wise, the lighter the better but up to 6 or 8 kgs for the right tent is fine.

[Warin]

Weight wise, the lighter the better but up to 6 or 8 kgs for the right tent is fine.

I'd hope .. < 3 kgs ..possibly <2 kgs.
8 kg is very heavy for a single tent, most here would try for < 8 kg for tent, sleeping bag and backpack.

[Moondog55]

At 8 kilos you are getting into large tent territory, which is great if mobility impaired.
I would suggest something imported even if you need to transship.
https://www.rei.com/rei-garage/product/ ... ity-6-tent
https://www.rei.com/rei-garage/product/ ... ity-4-tent
https://www.rei.com/product/894015/rei- ... -tent-2018
https://www.rei.com/product/894016/rei- ... -tent-2018
https://www.rei.com/product/136058/rei- ... amp-6-tent
While a bit heavier I looked at all of these tents for my own use as car camping tents. Depending upon the degree on impairment you might need to investigate lightweight cots also, before my hip surgery when I was severely mobility impaired I found using a cot made a huge difference, YMMV naturally