PDA

View Full Version : Coleman hooligan



The_RD_Less_Trvld
03-05-2009, 14:43
I'm new to backpacking and I currently have a Coleman hooligan 8' x 4' tent and I was wondering if anyone has carried this tent and how well it ha worked for them?

Manwich
03-05-2009, 14:51
Egad No! 8lbs? That weighs more than a lot of people's Pack+Tent+Sleeping Bag+Sleeping Pad on here!

JAK
03-05-2009, 14:58
I got a 8 pound LLBean dome tent and it is strictly for backyard and car camping now.
But I would lug it if my wife ever decides to join us in the woods. Hell I'd lug a hot tub.

The_RD_Less_Trvld
03-05-2009, 15:01
I'm a college student with a very strict budget... can you recommend any inexpensive quality tents?

Manwich
03-05-2009, 15:03
Peruse the Selling Gear forums here.

Personally, I roll with a Sierra Designs ultra Light Year 2 that I got for $120

mlkelley
03-05-2009, 15:04
Sierra Designs Lightning, usually on sale somewhere. I/2 the weight of your Coleman.

MOWGLI
03-05-2009, 15:08
Look for a tent no heavier than 4 pounds. Carrying a 4 pound tent would horrify many here at Whiteblaze, but you're young, and that's better than 8 pounds. Sierra Designs does make some nice lightweight tents.

Good luck, and :welcome to Whiteblaze.

PS: I was married atop Hook Mountain in Upper Nyack. I love and miss Nyack. What a great little town!

JAK
03-05-2009, 15:11
Good name though. Most of the hooligans I've run into use coleman gear. lol

Manwich
03-05-2009, 15:12
Good name though. Most of the hooligans I've run into use coleman gear. lol

I was going to go with that but I figured be easy because he's new.

JAK
03-05-2009, 15:13
I'm a college student with a very strict budget... can you recommend any inexpensive quality tents?How tall are you? I use a poncho/tarp, as rain shell and shelter, but when I hike with my daughter we use her $20 6'x3' kids tent from Ozark Trails at Walmart. I'm 6'. I wouldn't recommend that route unless your under 5'10", or a dad.

The_RD_Less_Trvld
03-05-2009, 15:19
PS: I was married atop Hook Mountain in Upper Nyack. I love and miss Nyack. What a great little town!

Really? thats actually where im going to spend my spring break... i love camping up there!

Im 5' 8" but im not too sure about tarp tents yet... I want to get a few miles under my belt before I start getting too hardcore...

BTW... what 21 year old guy isn't a hooligan...:banana

Manwich
03-05-2009, 15:21
I was a distinguished scholar at 21. Now I'm a hooligan.

JAK
03-05-2009, 15:26
Blue foam pad and poncho-tarp is a great way to get started. You might need a sheet of tyvek or sylnylon as extra protection for your sleeping bag. Clothing can be cheap also. One set of good fleece, on sale, and a $20 merino sweater, and a thin and thick pair of wool socks, and you probably have the rest already. The only thing you might need to spend $100 on is a sleeping bag, or perhaps a light but big pack, and even those you could make yourself. Nothing else needs to be over $20, and small stuff much less or diy. Dirtbagging it adds to the experience in my opinion. All the best.

JAK
03-05-2009, 15:34
Really? thats actually where im going to spend my spring break... i love camping up there!

Im 5' 8" but im not too sure about tarp tents yet... I want to get a few miles under my belt before I start getting too hardcore...

BTW... what 21 year old guy isn't a hooligan...:bananaWhen you're 21, a blue foam pad and poncho tarp isn't hardcore, unless in winter maybe. When and where are you interested in doing your next few hikes?

At 5'8" one of those $20 is good for Summer. You might still want a poncho/tarp for a better rain fly, but they keep the bugs out. Poncho/tarp is a nice piece of kit. I've gotten alot of use out of mine. Great for day hikes as well as regular hikes. I use a army surplus bivy with it in winter.

Don't worry about being too hard core, at least not in summer.
It's only water and dirt and bugs, and $1000 of gear doesn't make it all go away.

The_RD_Less_Trvld
03-05-2009, 15:36
Right now I have a MSR PR, k-way 75 liter internal frame, Slumberjack 20 degree bag, plenty of clothes, and random stuff I've made myself thanks to this forum...

JAK
03-05-2009, 15:38
Clothes are the most critical thing I think. They can be cheap also, but need to be adequate. If you have one set of layered clothing for the worst conditions for the time of year you are going, then that gives you alot more confidence and wiggle room when it comes to shelter and sleeping gear. Always include a blue foam pad though. Big one for $10. You can always trim it later. Mine is 72"x28"x3/8".

The_RD_Less_Trvld
03-05-2009, 15:39
I'll be hiking in the Rockland, NY area during spring break 1 week from now... I'm originally from WI so I'm not going home for a week...

JAK
03-05-2009, 15:40
Right now I have a MSR PR, k-way 75 liter internal frame, Slumberjack 20 degree bag, plenty of clothes, and random stuff I've made myself thanks to this forum...You're all set then. Some of that stuff is heavy, but if you are 21, no biggy.

Do you have that tent already, or still looking?
Also, when and what State do you think your next hike might be?
Do you have a local place for testing stuff out on weekends?

JAK
03-05-2009, 15:42
OK. New York, and you're from Wisconsin so you know what wet and cold is.

Do you have the tent yet. If so, it will slow you down, but so what.
If not, maybe something different, but maybe not a poncho/tarp in March either.

The_RD_Less_Trvld
03-05-2009, 15:44
I have the tent, and ill be camping upstate near Saratoga this summer... yes when it warms up i have a place right off campus...

The_RD_Less_Trvld
03-05-2009, 15:46
OK. New York, and you're from Wisconsin so you know what wet and cold is.

Do you have the tent yet. If so, it will slow you down, but so what.
If not, maybe something different, but maybe not a poncho/tarp in March either.

Yes i know wet and cold... I thought i would be able to escape it by coming out here for school... its not as bad but still... i hate snow!:mad:

JAK
03-05-2009, 15:48
I read that book on the kid in the Catskills when I was in elementary school.
I already had the bug by then, but it really got me fired up. Great story.

I think I'll get it from the Library, and read it to my daughter tonight, or maybe rent the movie.

Thanks for the inspiration.

You might get a kick out of this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKAAZpUENBw

JAK
03-05-2009, 15:57
I liked a tent starting out mostly because I had a lot of extra stuff and when the weather was bad it was easier to get my **** back together and my head back straight inside the tent, but now that I have less stuff it is just as easy to try and keep my **** together under a small tarp under a spruce tree. Tents a good idea though. If your stuff is heavy just don't go as far. In winter with snow on the ground, you don't have to go very far to have fun anyway. Just far enough to get some solitude, and then mess around with your gear and stuff, to see what works. You can still get some good exercise in, just trudging a mile or 2 in a foot of snow can be a full day. Its hard to predict how far you might get in winter so its best to stay within a mile or 2 of a way out.

JAK
03-05-2009, 16:02
Do you know how cold it might get there Mid March? I normally use climate data rather than a weather forecast and be prepared for the worst. In the Catskills in March I understand -20F is still possible. It might not be practical to be totally prepared for that, so again you might stay handy to a trailhead and keep an eye on the weather.

http://www.catskill.net/purple/weather.htm#mar
March is a jade, a fickle thing
With the winter's wind and the sun of spring
The sun writes ``Come!'' and the wind says ``Go!''
The sun writes ``Rain!'' and the wind says ``Snow!''
The sun keeps writing, the wind erasing,
And March never knows which way she's facing.
—-The Old Farmers Almanac

The_RD_Less_Trvld
03-05-2009, 16:08
-20!!!:eek: oh man, this east coast weather is so confusing... at least in WI it just stays cold till may... lol:p

flemdawg1
03-05-2009, 16:08
I've used a 5.4lb SwissGear Elite Hiker 2-man tent on afew BPing trips the last year and have been very satisfied with it. Pretty easy to find on eBay for cheap.

http://cgi.ebay.com/SwissGear-Elite-Aluminum-Hiker-Tent--NEW-10-yr-Warranty_W0QQitemZ130263774535QQcmdZViewItem

JAK
03-05-2009, 16:08
I gotta ask though, if you hate snow, why the Catskills in March?

MOWGLI
03-05-2009, 16:12
Really? thats actually where im going to spend my spring break... i love camping up there!

Im 5' 8" but im not too sure about tarp tents yet... I want to get a few miles under my belt before I start getting too hardcore...

BTW... what 21 year old guy isn't a hooligan...:banana

Campmor on RTE 17 in Paramus often has returned gear on sale cheap. Check that out. It's only a 30 minute drive.

JAK
03-05-2009, 16:18
What I would do with you gear is look forward to a nice long slow miserable trudge. Trudge in, camp, trudge around, camp, hang around, camp, trudge out. Don't worry so much about all the weight, just lugg it in and lugg it out, but stay within a days trudge out. Make sure you don't go really far the first day with no snow and find it takes 2 or 3 days to trudge back out. Also, if you bag is not rated all that low, bring 2 blue foam pads, and a thick enough set of winter clothes, so you are too dependant on your sleeping bag. Weight can be a liability, but for this sort of an exercise it isn't because it will keep you from going to far, and keep things fun in a way. Maybe an extra wool blanket for over or inside the sleeping bag. Chances are you won't get -20F in the Catskills in March, or 2 feet of snow, but it happens.

The_RD_Less_Trvld
03-05-2009, 16:21
i want to go camping... and i dont have a car so im going where i can...

optimator
03-05-2009, 16:22
i want to go camping... and i dont have a car so im going where i can...

There you go, just get out there :banana

MOWGLI
03-05-2009, 16:23
i want to go camping... and i dont have a car so im going where i can...

The Long Path!!! It passes right through your community.

The_RD_Less_Trvld
03-05-2009, 16:25
The Long Path!!! It passes right through your community.

do you know what color blaze The Long Path is? the one i was going to follow has a teal blaze...

MOWGLI
03-05-2009, 16:26
do you know what color blaze The Long Path is? the one i was going to follow has a teal blaze...

That's it!
http://www.nynjtc.org/trails/longpath/index.html

mister krabs
03-05-2009, 16:27
Definitely go to campmor, you may find some incredible deal. I'd be poorer than I am if campmor was only 30 minutes away.

If you don't find anything, here's 97.96 shipped for an alps zephyr 1 (http://www.backcountryoutlet.com/outlet/ALM0046/ALPS-Mountaineering-Zephyr-10-1-Person-3-Season-Tent.html?CMP_ID=SH_FRO002&CMP_SKU=ALM0046&mv_pc=r126). I have an alps tent, but not this one, and think they're an excellent value for quality, if a few ounces heavier than something similar like a Big Agnes seedhouse 1.

The_RD_Less_Trvld
03-05-2009, 16:34
oh! thats cool! that trail literally runs 200yds away from my dorm...

i didnt know there was a campmor by me... oh dear i may be even more broke soon... LOL

JAK
03-05-2009, 16:45
Don't forget a couple of blue foam pads. ;)