View Full Version : Car/Beach Camping Tent Recommendations
Hope it is OK to this post here....
My husband is looking for a tent to use on the beach for fishing. He wants a dome type tent for extra room - and also wants room for some fishing type stuff that guys use.
He drives to the beach, so weight is not really too big an issue. Mainly he needs something that will be very good in rainy and windy conditions.
Any recommendations on this ?
Thanks.
RockyBob
11-01-2007, 13:58
When I spend the weekend fishing at the outer banks, i just sleep in the bed of the truck. Put a tarp over yourself if your worried about rain. That way you also don't have to set up and take it down every day.
Thw Eureka models are good tents that are not overly expensive.
Campmor is having a sale on the Tetragon series of tents in different sizes:
http://www.campmor.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?categoryId=200333370&storeId=226&catalogId=40000000226
A bit heavy for backpacking, but great for car camping. Unlike many tents sold for car camping, I suspect these tents are a bit more weather proof! I picked one up myself to use as a car camping tent.
FWIW, the Eureka tents have been used for years by scouts and similar youth groups because they are a good value for the money. The Timberline in particular is a well known "bread and butter" tent.
Blissful
11-01-2007, 14:36
Get a two wall tent (tent with good noseeum - sp? netting for bugs and a rain fly over it), not a single wall so there is good ventilation. It can get hot at the beach.
nicorock2003
11-01-2007, 14:37
FYI: camping on the outer banks, Cape Hatteras, Pea Island etc, is illegal and it will cost you a pretty fine by the local National Park Ranger. However, it is leagal to pitch a tent on the north end of Carolina Beach which is now called Freeman Park for $10.00 per day.
FYI: camping on the outer banks, Cape Hatteras, Pea Island etc, is illegal and it will cost you a pretty fine by the local National Park Ranger. However, it is leagal to pitch a tent on the north end of Carolina Beach which is now called Freeman Park for $10.00 per day.
It's true. You can't legally camp on the beaches of Cape Hatteras National Seashore. But, you can fish on the beach all night. I've seen quite a few fishermen put a line out and then doze off. :p
I live at Cape Hatteras, but I don't know what a good beach tent would be. In the Park Service campgrounds people use pretty much the same car camping tents you see elsewhere. But what ever you decide on, find some extra long tent stakes, 12 to 16 inch. Sand doesn't hold well and normal stakes pop right out when the wind gets up. You should be able to find them at local hardware stores and tackle shops in beach areas.
So you are looking for a tent for your husband? I could make a few recommendations, but I would simply be telling you what kind of tent works for ME...your husband may not be like me.
My recommendation is that you check out this website:
http://www.buzzillions.com/canopies-tents-reviews/n/4294966135/
Whats cool about this site, is that you enter in exactly what type of camper you are and what you are looking for in a tent, and it will match you up to a list of great tents that have been recommended by people just like you! You can take a look at the ones that interest you and read reviews on that particular tent. Once you narrow your results to a few of your favorites, you can look at them side by side, feature for feature and decided which one is the one that will work best.
Hope this helps...let me know if it made your decision any easier! Good luck!
2nd the hefty stakes. They make them for sand. Worth the money.
berninbush
11-01-2007, 18:26
As an alternative to stakes for beach sand...
Bring plastic grocery bags. Fill them with sand, and bury them where you would normally put stakes. Tie the stake loops on the tent to the handles on the bag.
Or just put heavy things in the corners of the tent, inside, to keep it from blowing away.
Back seat of the car, or get a cap for the truck. :)
Motel 6 is like camping, sort of.
As an alternative to stakes for beach sand...
Bring plastic grocery bags. Fill them with sand, and bury them where you would normally put stakes. Tie the stake loops on the tent to the handles on the bag.
If you do this, make sure you dig up the bags when you break camp. They'll become litter if you don't.
Jim Adams
11-01-2007, 23:52
Kelty Gunnison 4, $179, VERY rain proof.
If he wants something that he can stand up in, just look on ebay. I got a new in the box Peak 1 eight person tent for $12.99 last year. It is tall enough to stand in, freestanding and I can set it up myself in about 4-5 minutes. Just make sure that what ever you buy has a decent length fly.
geek
berninbush
11-02-2007, 01:06
If you do this, make sure you dig up the bags when you break camp. They'll become litter if you don't.
Oh, yeah absolutely. Shouldn't be hard to find if they are still tied to your tent. :D
Flush2wice
11-10-2007, 11:57
Get an E-Z Up (http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=5&item=363216). Use weights instead of stakes.
Tipi Walter
11-10-2007, 12:15
FYI: camping on the outer banks, Cape Hatteras, Pea Island etc, is illegal and it will cost you a pretty fine by the local National Park Ranger. However, it is leagal to pitch a tent on the north end of Carolina Beach which is now called Freeman Park for $10.00 per day.
It's great to see another post about the Tent Police. I'm making a collection of all the places that used to be open to free backpacking and camping on god's green wild earth but have now become subject to fees, permits, restrictions and fines. I was just reading the thread and thinking of great dome tents when the word "illegal" popped up. Bummer, another jewel tarnished.
maxNcathy
11-10-2007, 13:17
I would recommend REI basecamp 4 or REI basecamp 6 tent.
If he likes brighter colored tent check out Big Agnes Big House 4 tent.
Sandalwood
Frolicking Dinosaurs
11-10-2007, 13:57
We Dinos have a cheapy 4 man dome tent we use as a two man tent for beach camping and for really hot weather car camping. The extra space allows you to keep your gear inside so it doesn't get cover (well, as covered :D) with sticky salt water spray and sand. I couldn't find the exact tent, but it is similar to this tent (http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=2579729), but slightly smaller and has only one room.
The tent has a no-u-see-um door cover, windows on all sides and top. However, the fly needs to allow air to get underneath and to circulate well - ours has about 4" between the mesh and rainfly - so ventilation is excellent even when it is closed up completely in a downpour. Having plenty of mesh for ventilation is critical because, as Blissful notes, it gets hot and humid at the beach - the sun can be brutal and the bugs can drive you inside the tent at times.
Your husband may want to give some consideration to making himself a beach tarp system - something that will provide shade for eating / lounging and coverage from light sprinkles. This is something we Dinos are working on to make beach camping more pleasant. Not to hijack this thread, but since discussion of beach camping is pretty rare.... any comments about how to get a lean-to to stay up on the beach will be gratefully accepted. I tried all sorts of tricks to get an easily transportable pole to stay up in the sand -- and mother nature (not our beloved Sue... the other one :D) kicked my bum with her highly changeable and strong winds.
What is the issue with the pole? Foot slippage?
Frolicking Dinosaurs
11-10-2007, 18:59
Issues:
Wind catches tarp and pulls pole out of sand (happened even with two grocery bags full of sand as an anchor :eek:). Same issue with 'sand-bag' stake replacements moving around
Wind changes direction suddenly and forcefully and turns tarp inside out with Dinos inside. (Dino tacos anyone :D)
Wind changing direction managed to untie even my best knots and actually managed to generate enough friction to use a gommet to cut two pieces of nylon twine (the small marine rope sold for use with rubber rafts)
Might be a project for Rock. Sounds to me like you need a different tarp shape, or the ability to button it down when the wind brews.
Do you guy out the pole?
I have a truck camping tarp that I thread nylon rope thru the grommets and tie at each grommet with an overhand knot. When it goes up the rope is taut, as is the edge of the tarp. Stress goes to the rope, (like grossgrain) with plenty to tie off to. Drop one corner, and it sheds wind. (folds kind of on the diagonal.)
You could try lowering corners, but I bet the wind you describe would fold up a flat sided tent. Maybe a "beach cabana" windbreak is what you need.
I have seen "sand wedge" and "auger" shaped stakes, but I have no clue where.
Post up after you figure this one out!
It's great to see another post about the Tent Police. I'm making a collection of all the places that used to be open to free backpacking and camping on god's green wild earth but have now become subject to fees, permits, restrictions and fines. I was just reading the thread and thinking of great dome tents when the word "illegal" popped up. Bummer, another jewel tarnished.
Sorry Tipi Walter, but it's not quite like you think... and I know this is off topic, but I can't help it.
Bad choice of words..."legal, illegal, tent police". In this particular case, here on Hatteras, this is a good thing. A very good thing. And there are plenty of places to camp out here.
Cape Hatteras National Seashore is a very rare and fragile place. You have no idea what it would be, if at all, without regulations like "no camping on the beaches". There would be tent cities full of squatters and SUV's year round from Oregon Inlet to the southern end of Ocracoke. That's only part of it.
If it wasn't for the NPS and rules, Cape Hatteras National Seashore would be a just another concrete neon crap trap by the sea. There would be no protection for Sea turtles to lumber their way up the beach to lay the eggs for the next generation of an endangered species. Far less places for rare and endangered sea birds to raise their young. There would be no Tundra Swans over-wintering at Pea Island Wildlife Refuge. There would be "Keep Out, Private" signs where a hundred miles of Mountains to Sea Trail now pass. Of which you can hike on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean for days on your way to to the Clingman's Dome far to the very western edge of North Carolina.
Because of rules and regulations "against" certain activities, this is a place you can still walk by the Sea and not see another single solitary person ahead or behind, for as far as you can see. Today's kids and their kids can walk in sand, marsh and maritime forests that few will ever get to experience. None would if it wasn't for these particular "Tent Police."
(Hey admins, y'all can beam me up to "Politics" if you want...I know I'm getting close to the edge.)
These folks, these so-called "tent police" are our friends, not our enemies. And you know what else, these "tent police" do all this in spite of everything that has been done to get rid of as many good people as possible and cut off as much money as possible to manage these "tarnished jewels."
Tipi Walter
11-11-2007, 08:36
Sorry Tipi Walter, but it's not quite like you think... and I know this is off topic, but I can't help it.
Bad choice of words..."legal, illegal, tent police". In this particular case, here on Hatteras, this is a good thing. A very good thing. And there are plenty of places to camp out here.
Cape Hatteras National Seashore is a very rare and fragile place. You have no idea what it would be, if at all, without regulations like "no camping on the beaches". There would be tent cities full of squatters and SUV's year round from Oregon Inlet to the southern end of Ocracoke. That's only part of it.
If it wasn't for the NPS and rules, Cape Hatteras National Seashore would be a just another concrete neon crap trap by the sea. There would be no protection for Sea turtles to lumber their way up the beach to lay the eggs for the next generation of an endangered species. Far less places for rare and endangered sea birds to raise their young. There would be no Tundra Swans over-wintering at Pea Island Wildlife Refuge. There would be "Keep Out, Private" signs where a hundred miles of Mountains to Sea Trail now pass. Of which you can hike on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean for days on your way to to the Clingman's Dome far to the very western edge of North Carolina.
Because of rules and regulations "against" certain activities, this is a place you can still walk by the Sea and not see another single solitary person ahead or behind, for as far as you can see. Today's kids and their kids can walk in sand, marsh and maritime forests that few will ever get to experience. None would if it wasn't for these particular "Tent Police."
(Hey admins, y'all can beam me up to "Politics" if you want...I know I'm getting close to the edge.)
These folks, these so-called "tent police" are our friends, not our enemies. And you know what else, these "tent police" do all this in spite of everything that has been done to get rid of as many good people as possible and cut off as much money as possible to manage these "tarnished jewels."
First of all, there's a road, Hiway 12, that runs the entire length of Cape Hatteras, with businesses, realty offices, and at least 8 little towns along it's length. I know, I've been studying the maps and the NPS website and it is even worse than you described. According to the NPS, there are only four places to camp(car camp that is), camping is allowed only in these campgrounds, and camping on the beach is prohibited. Fees range from $20 to $23 a night. And yet, there is NO ENTRY FEE for vehicles to access Cape Hatteras or Ocracoke Island.
I hear your points and I know we backpackers need rules and for some reason I thought Hatteras and Ocracoke offered a miniscule amount of backpacking and overnight tenting. Boy, was I wrong. Each one seems to be a big, developed tourist trap. Since the NPS owns this land, I wonder why and how they allow such development.
I know we need rules for the motorized human jackals that feel they must invade the last green places on earth and without these regulations they would park their SUVs on the beach and ruin whatever's left. My befuddlement and quandary though has to do with rules that restrict access on foot to backpacking and camping without first restricting roads and motor access.
If Cape Hatteras National Seashore is such a rare and fragile place, why is it developed like Gatlinburg with a hiway running the length of it? Why can't it be a roadless area, make efforts at this first and then see if foot propelled backpackers start to overcrowd it.