Sparky and I have several tents, but for extended rafting trips, the tent we used to use was pretty crappy. It was something cheap we found on Sierra Trading Post, and it had two really good things going for it: 1) no sleeves to run the poles through (all clips), and 2) it was quite roomy (10'x10') and tall enough for either of us to comfortably stand up in. However, you get what you pay for, and after several uses, it developed a large hole in the seam where the floor connected to the wall.
So we've been looking for something to replace it that shared many of the good qualities of the old tent but was made of higher quality materials (and with a better warrantee). The tent we settled on is a little smaller (9'x9') but still has the attributes we like: the Eureka Tetragon 9.
Here is what it looks like:
(image from website)Aside from the sleeveless design and adequate headroom, this tent has a more robust rainfly than the old tent, a two pole design which makes it much quicker to erect, a built in organizer to keep your small stuff off the floor (glasses, flashlight, book, etc.), plus it has a lifetime warrantee on materials and workmanship if a defect develops down the line.
It took me under 10 minutes to get it put up by myself without the instructions, from the time I opened the box because it is so simple with just the two poles and the Eureka "pin and clip" system of attaching the poles to the tent. They even color coded one of the attachments of the fly to the tent body so it is difficult to put the fly on wrong. Overall, I think this is going to be a really good tent for us.
My one reservation is that this tent (and the old crappy one too) uses fiberglass poles, which I have had splinter in high winds. I personally prefer aluminum poles (like in one of our other tents) and though I've heard of them kinking in high winds, I've never had it happen myself.
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