mrbortlein said:
After looking at lots of pictures online, my wife is concerned about the size of our new tent. So I would like to ease her mind by asking you all what size wall tents you have and for how many people.
mrbortlein
How big is the one you have? How much extra clothing and gear do you transport and store? How big is your bed? How big are you? Is she afraid it is too big or too small?
My wife and I have a 12x16x8, with 5' walls, we set up at big camps. It holds all our clothing baskets/cheasts, gear (2-3 guns each w/powder horns + bows, spears, atalatal gear, kids game gear and wilderness skills teaching supplies) a full sized 4 poster bed, bedside tables, screened off port-o-let in one corner and still plenty of room to walk around the bed and stand up straight or move a card game inside.
That particular tent is bigger than our bedroom. We use it only when we are staying for a week or more or when the whole clan, complete with in-law parents, husbands, wives and babies, is showing up. That situation usually demands that all tents great and small be present with the big tent as headquarters.
But who wants to stay inside? Tents are for storing gear and sleeping.
For weekend camps we use a medium wedge, 8x8x12. Very cramped but it keeps the rain off. At those camps we have only 2 sets of clothes, food for the weekend and a bed, possibly a gun and a bow. Grub is stored outside in wooden boxes. 3' from the end of the tent you hit the bed and fall in (we are into togetherness, cots would make a walkway). There is just enough room at the end of the shelter to stand and change clothes (that is important).
Remember that during the spring/summer/fall camps you spend most of your time either outside or asleep. Most folk do not hibernate in their tents. It is a place to crash for the night.
You want the best and biggist dining fly you can afford! That is where you spend your time, rain or shine. I normally carry our 14'x20' dining fly with the smaller tent.
I even know some "Red Roof Rangers" that set up a small, empty tent and a big dinning fly. They hang out under the fly all day and go to a motel at night. The tent is just for show, and size is irrelivent. Same thing for diamond shelters. Untralight/ultraprimitive Trekker camps are a lot more fun when you are sleeping in a motel/RV (we are not going to call any names).
Everything depends on your preferances, the amount of gear you need to protect and how long you are staying.