Quote:
Originally Posted by J-man
haha, i love it. its soo funny when an entire campground either walks by and stares, or admires from afar then casually walks over to say "thats the coolest thing around" or something like that. The eezi awn is in a class of its own.
Yeah, for packing, it gets easier the more you do it, and being able to climb up on the roof rack is helpful. Here are some tips for what i do:
1. When packing up, i essentially make a burrito of everything inside. I leave the mattress down, i take the sleeping bags and lay them out length wise from side to side on the end of the tent that is stationary - not the part u fold up. I then place the pillows right at the end (near the window), then i fold the novaform mattress over that, then the tent mattress over that.
Then i proceed to clip the overhead bunngee cords inside the tent to bring the sides in, climb out making sure all windows and doors are closed, and fold up.
Here is the key: This is the part where i climb on the roof, sit on the tent to collapse it more, wrap a ratchet strap around teh tent and sinch it down so that it stays flat, then i put the cover on and sinch that tight.
Dont get me wrong, its a full load, and even more so that i have a novaform topper on top of the pad that came with the eezi awn. The key is using a strap to keep the tent folded up so that the cover goes on "eezi" so that the cover isnt the only thing keeping it together.
Hey, and i must say, that eezi awn looks really cool on your rig, like your ready for an african outback expedition. right on.
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And you do all this in "under 4 minutes"?? I'd like to watch.
The fastest tent to stow for travel is the Columbus, followed closely by the Maggiolina, then - quite a ways behind - are the various fabric tents. This by actual test.
Same for set-up. Columbus is under 15 seconds, Maggiolina about 30 to 45 seconds, followed by the various fabric tents.
Not knocking the African tents - they are basic, good quality tents.
If the man has onlt $800 to $1000 to spend, I would suggest that a good quality used tent is the best buy. Warranties and spare parts availability also matter.