Tents II

So, last time we discussed how 'waterproof' a tent should be. Today we'll take a look at how much your tent should weigh.

We're talking good quality backpacking tents here, not what you might pick up in Walmart or Canadian Tire (these have their places as we shall see later). We should also note that we mean three season tents, not winter tents, which are a whole different kettle of fish and generally much heavier.

For a solo tent we would be looking in the order of 1 kg to 1.5 kg (2.2 to 3.3 lbs). Any heavier than that and you really ought to be thinking whether you should be spending more money and getting a lighter weight tent.

For a two person tent somewhere in the region of 1.75 kg to 2.5 kg (3.85 to 5.5 lbs) is easily achievable today. You can get lighter than this of course but I would personally not go heavier unless there was a specific reason such as needing greater waterproofing or more space (not all two person tents are the same size).

Three person tents can be had that weigh somewhere between 2 and 3 kg (4.4 to 6.6 lbs). These days if you're carrying more than a kilo (2.2 lbs) each when you've split you tent you might want a re-think about your gear.

What about those Walmart/Canadian Tire tents? These can be very good for car camping, sling a tarp over them or string one up and you'll get a very cheap shelter that will be pretty close to waterproof. Everything has its place.

Next time we'll look at a few of the options out there in the marketplace that meet our requirements in terms of waterproofing and weight.