SS23 wrote:Thanks, Biggles. Do you say there will be quite a flap from the tens fly because of the design of this? i.e. the fly and tent are only minimally attached to each other. Would this put you off it?
I've contacted Mont for more info. Still thinking of getting a 'blemished' tarptent as their covered by their full warranty...
Sorry for all the questions - I've slept in a lot of tents in my life but as the market for light hiking tents is so pricey I want to make the right choice!
Yes, tents are pretty exxy nowadays. I won't be buying any other tents when the service life of the existing trio are completed — a comfy campervan will be just fine!
If you happen to have the misfortune of a vigorous wind striking the front or the rear of the Batcave, that wind will have a turbulence affect in the space between the fly and the inner. Tents like dome and tunnel designs have the fly pulled taut close down to ground level, with no wide open spaces between the roof and inner that could cause an intensely irritating buffeting affect— and I do mean truly infuriating when you are tired and trying to sleep! To a great extent, you would have to select your tent site carefully to take advantage of any shelter present, and pay attention to any ominous signs of impending bad weather, especially in summer with wild thunderstorms, furious wind and intense rainfall.
None of the above precludes the problems I have had with extreme weather in the Mont Moondance 1. Exhibit A: At Sealers Cove, Wilsons Promontory in 2009, a warm and balmy day gave way to an eerily calm evening with progressively heavier, threatening clouds. By 10pm that night, the weather broke into violent crashes of thunder, blinding flashes of lightning and a wind that was truly frighening.I was battling to keep myself dry within the Moondance 1 with a problem I had not experienced before: horizontally-driven pelting rain came under the skirt and saturated the inner tent. The howling wind (really spooky!!), despite the shelter afforded by pitching in a gully, lept over the scrub and belted the tent in all directions. By morning, the storm had cleared. The tent had lost 3 pegs somewhere! Long story short, the weather there held out only for 2 hours before another furious storm touched down. Drenched like a pickle, I was annoyed how sunny, warm and dry at was Tidal River!!
The Batcave 'second' is "probably" right for you, taking into account the above observations about where to pitch it, shelter and potential weaknesses caused by wild weather. Don't ask too much of it in the notoriously changeable summer weather, an example of which are are having at this time, with summer a virtual no-show in November!!