gregnash
Anal Retentive Analyst
Figured that I would start a new tent instead of resurrecting something that was a couple years old. I have gone through most of the tent/camp lighting threads and looked at the information but figured I would start a more updated one.
Backstory:
Wife and I have been tent campers for years, go through a "nylon" tent about every two years (been camping together for 14yrs now) so it has started getting expensive. This year was another upgrade year so instead of just purchasing another nylon I started looking at more expensive ones, like the big agnes and Kodiak/Springbar. We decided that since we have no plans on purchasing a small camper in the near future (of course that could change with the right deal) that we would spend a decent amount on a nice tent, budgeting around $500-$700. It just so happened that when I went down to CA to see my dad one weekend we were talking about camping and I told him how we were in the market for a new tent, which was looking to be canvas as this point (going with the larger Springbar).
Well low and behold my dad still had their canvas tent from the 70s when my parents lived in Australia and I had grown up camping in until I was about 13yrs old. When we pulled it out it was actually in very good condition aside from a few overly dry spots in the canvas that were starting to dryrot (not bad for sitting in the humidity of the central valley for 20+yrs). Well after $300 to completely replace the floor of the tent with new canvas, which the company made the excess into a nice carrying bag for the tent for us, we are back in action!
This thing is huge for the two of us, 9'x16' and is quite nice. The main problem we have is that it is so thick with the canvas that it can get pretty dark inside.
Question:
So with all that being said, we need some interior lighting for this bad boy. I am thinking battery powered LED lights, no propane or fuel based lanterns just because the main light will be hanging in the middle of the tent to provide overall lighting for the interior.
- What lights do you guys recommend?
- And for that matter what Lumen should I be looking at? I was at Sierra Trading Post yesterday and they have these cool little Black Diamond Orbit lights that are super small and runs on 3 AAA batteries. However, it only puts out 45lumens which doesn't seem like a lot for our huge tent, and at $20/ea it would kinda be a waste.
- Do you have any "string" lighting that could help? With the holidays here I am going to keep my eyes out for stuff at Target/Lowe's/Home Depot and probably grab a few things.
- The other one was that my BIL just bought me a Milwaukee M12 driver/drill kit for my bday (he is a master plumber and swears by them). Looking on their site I saw they have a little lantern and light that use the batteries and was just thinking of getting one of those to run off my M12 batteries but at $80/ea I was wondering if there might be something cheaper? But with these it would serve a dual purpose for working on the cruiser and for camping.
Just to make it so that this is not a wall of text here is the tent on its first trip in over 20yrs....
#camping #oldschoolcanvas #canvastent So we got the family heirloom tent out after a 20+yr hiatus. Thanks to Eikelberger canvas for repairing the bottom she did phenomenal and has many more years of use!! by renofizz, on Flickr
Dad and I setting it up in his backyard...
Fizzy Canvas Tent by renofizz, on Flickr
And here is the little Milwaukee light I am talking about...
Backstory:
Wife and I have been tent campers for years, go through a "nylon" tent about every two years (been camping together for 14yrs now) so it has started getting expensive. This year was another upgrade year so instead of just purchasing another nylon I started looking at more expensive ones, like the big agnes and Kodiak/Springbar. We decided that since we have no plans on purchasing a small camper in the near future (of course that could change with the right deal) that we would spend a decent amount on a nice tent, budgeting around $500-$700. It just so happened that when I went down to CA to see my dad one weekend we were talking about camping and I told him how we were in the market for a new tent, which was looking to be canvas as this point (going with the larger Springbar).
Well low and behold my dad still had their canvas tent from the 70s when my parents lived in Australia and I had grown up camping in until I was about 13yrs old. When we pulled it out it was actually in very good condition aside from a few overly dry spots in the canvas that were starting to dryrot (not bad for sitting in the humidity of the central valley for 20+yrs). Well after $300 to completely replace the floor of the tent with new canvas, which the company made the excess into a nice carrying bag for the tent for us, we are back in action!
This thing is huge for the two of us, 9'x16' and is quite nice. The main problem we have is that it is so thick with the canvas that it can get pretty dark inside.
Question:
So with all that being said, we need some interior lighting for this bad boy. I am thinking battery powered LED lights, no propane or fuel based lanterns just because the main light will be hanging in the middle of the tent to provide overall lighting for the interior.
- What lights do you guys recommend?
- And for that matter what Lumen should I be looking at? I was at Sierra Trading Post yesterday and they have these cool little Black Diamond Orbit lights that are super small and runs on 3 AAA batteries. However, it only puts out 45lumens which doesn't seem like a lot for our huge tent, and at $20/ea it would kinda be a waste.
- Do you have any "string" lighting that could help? With the holidays here I am going to keep my eyes out for stuff at Target/Lowe's/Home Depot and probably grab a few things.
- The other one was that my BIL just bought me a Milwaukee M12 driver/drill kit for my bday (he is a master plumber and swears by them). Looking on their site I saw they have a little lantern and light that use the batteries and was just thinking of getting one of those to run off my M12 batteries but at $80/ea I was wondering if there might be something cheaper? But with these it would serve a dual purpose for working on the cruiser and for camping.
Just to make it so that this is not a wall of text here is the tent on its first trip in over 20yrs....
#camping #oldschoolcanvas #canvastent So we got the family heirloom tent out after a 20+yr hiatus. Thanks to Eikelberger canvas for repairing the bottom she did phenomenal and has many more years of use!! by renofizz, on Flickr
Dad and I setting it up in his backyard...
Fizzy Canvas Tent by renofizz, on Flickr
And here is the little Milwaukee light I am talking about...