I am looking at making a purchase for the family camping trips and we are wanting a canvas tent. Does anyone have any experience with Dwights tents? They seen a pretty good buy compared to others. I thought I would check to see if anyone has advice/experience before I make the purchase.

Looking at this one:

http://www.dwights.co.nz/product/170/Coastline.html

Cheers

I was checking one of those out in the Wellington CBD store the other day and they look pretty good. We have a Freedom Camping Millbrook with a light poly sunroom and the Dwights one looks to be a copy/made in the same factory, so make sure to check those out too. We got ours at R&R on sale for $1500(plus sunroom).

The Dwights one has a rubberised floor while the Freedom ones have a heavy duty tarpaulin like material. Make sure to compare the thickness of the canvas. Also the Fredoom tents use reflective paracord on the zips instead of the metal tag. Great for finding the zip at night with a torch.

I would also recommend getting the sunroom too. Its great for keeping the flys away from your cooking/providing extra shelter if it rains.

I'm happy to answer any questions about the tent I have if you want.

We are off to look at one in Wellington today. Was planning on the sunroom option too. Cheers for your reply. Interesting to note the floor type.

Put it up and give it a good spray with the hose then let it dry before you go away

First time the canvas gets wet it swells to fill all the stitch holes etc. Fine if its in the back yard at home, STINK if you are on holiday!

MrGavdobaleena wrote:We are off to look at one in Wellington today. Was planning on the sunroom option too. Cheers for your reply. Interesting to note the floor type.

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bugle wrote:Put it up and give it a good spray with the hose then let it dry before you go away

First time the canvas gets wet it swells to fill all the stitch holes etc. Fine if its in the back yard at home, STINK if you are on holiday!

+1

We've had an Oztrail Chateau 10XL for a couple of years. Been very pleased with it. It is MASSIVE and looks very similar to the Dwights one so might be worth checking out, especially as they are often on special with the sunroom thrown in at a much reduced price. Think we paid about $2000 for ours. Only downside is that it is sometimes a bit too big for the smaller sized pitches you tend to get at commercial camping grounds. Never have that problem at DOC sites though.

Worth remembering that canvas weighs a lot and even when it's packed down it is still a big unit. We keep ours in two bags: a huge one for the tent and a smaller (but just as heavy) one for the poles. Not a drama if you plan on using a trailer, but you wouldn't get much else except the tent in a standard sized family car. The weight makes it a bit of a mission to put up, but it's easy enough with the poles mounted on the outside. I start at one end and get one of the kids to help. Healthy tip: don't ask the missus to help, it will end badly, however good your relationship. Only takes about half an hour once you have colour-coded the poles with electrical tape and worked out which side is the front.....

Looking at the photos of the Dwights one, I would be a bit concerned about the two internal poles. It looks as though they put an extra layer of flooring under them, but they will be taking a huge amount of weight (even more when it rains) and I could see them puncturing the tent floor.