Vapor_Trails
Yucaipa, CA
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Joined: 09/29/2004
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johnvan wrote:I just started tent camping this summer and had the same concern about size as you. I bought the Eureka Copper Canyon 12 x 15 which is also quite huge. I camped twice, no problem at the first campground, second was a little tight but it worked fine.
All that space was great, 2 playpens, 2 X-large cots and a portable toilet and still plenty of room.
I definately recommend the cot over an air mattress. Good call going with cots. They are so much nicer than air mattresses. We found out the hard way. You started out right. Also a good call on the Copper Canyon. We have the 10x10; nice tents.
68 Me & DW
93 DD
03 DD
06 F150 Screw 6.5' Bed, 4x4, 5.4, 3.73
04 Tahoe 23RB-GL
Honda EU2000 Parallel Cables
"I hope you like Guinness, Sir. I find it a refreshing substitute for...food." Col. Jack O'Neill, Stargate SG-1.
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skills4lou
Dover, DE
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Joined: 06/18/2004
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Vapor_Trails wrote:Can't help you with your potential tent pad issue. Every CG (campground) I've been to here in So Cal. (Baja Norte) doesn't have designated pads; just relatively level clearings to set up tents.
But, the reason I'm responding to you is that you need to be careful with the camping thing. Pretty soon your wife will be wanting all the comforts of a RV and you will become a Winnebago Warrior. Then the real Jello will make fun of you... 
I can't help but respond to this. We just sold our TC this Saturday, going back to tenting. In the last 6 yrs we've had (in order): Tents, popup tent trailer, small class A, old TC, newer TC, and now we are back to tents. The decision to go back to tents was and is entirely supported by my wife. By far the least leaky thing we've ever had is our tents! The hassles of RV's just made it less fun.
Enjoy your tent trip, and for sure bring a notebook for a journal/to remind you of things needed and not needed.
I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet 
"Never drive faster than your guardian angel can fly"
98 Chevy 3500 CC 4X4
Back to tent camping, and looking forward to no RV related issues. (Take that RV industry!)
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Mike Up
NW Indiana section of Chicagoland
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Joined: 05/29/2005
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skills4lou wrote:
going back to tenting. The decision to go back to tents was and is entirely supported by my wife. The hassles of RV's just made it less fun.
I totally agree. The problems are usually minor, it's the hassles of getting them repaired. If repairs on RVs were delt with as vehicles are, there would be no hassles.
On the last trip, my campers Shurflo water pump kept cycling (no leak) and shut off from thermo overload. Then my air conditioner went out.
The dealer wouldn't fix the pump under warranty so Shurflo sent me the part. Took me 1/2 hour to fix and all is well. Unfortunately, they couldn't fix the AC because they refused to diagnoise the problem. Simply, they wouldn't fix it. Now today I just spent 3 hours driving to the Starcaft factory, dropping it off, and driving back home for another 3 hours. The worst part was I was looking forward to eating at Amish Acres and the place was just gross. Every dish was dirty, even the new replacements! Then the water glass had food floating in it. Left, got my money back and went to McDonalds. So I drove 6 continuous hours today and didn't even a good Amish meal.
If I continue to have issues with the AC, I'm selling the camper. I'm just not going to play games to get it working correctly when it still has a 1 year warranty left on it.
I just purchased a Eureka Copper Canyon 1312 (156 sq.ft.) and it's huge. It will be the main camping facility if I get rid of the camper. The camper just gets to hot and just can't be moved into the shade like a tent can be.
I still like to tent plus it will be used for cub scouts, so it was the right decision to go with this size.
I have an Eureka Apollo 4 (Exclusive Dick's Sporting Good Model) and it is leaking on a taped seam on the fly and the corners are leaking. I sealed with permanent McNett seam grip so I don't know why the corners are leaking. It's got that cheaper tarp polyethlene floor and none of the seam sealers like to stick to them. So I'm guessing it's the cheaper floor that's causing corner leaks. The fly is leaking at the velcro inside pole tiedown. I could seal this. Eureka gave me the option of getting a Copper Canyon at reduced price instead of sending the Apollo in for repairs.
Have a good one.
2008 Eureka Copper Canyon 1312
13'x12' Tent
2007 Starcraft 2406 Exterior
2007 Starcraft 2406 Interior
2008 Ford Explorer Sport Trac 4.6L V8 4X4
292 Hp, 300 lbs torque, 7000 lbs towing, 730 lbs hitch
Tow-N-See Convex Mirrors
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jtbeck
Kentucky
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Joined: 04/23/2008
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Mike Up,
I hear you on the Eureka tent. I had an Apex that leaked like a sieve. Nothing sucks like waking up in a puddle with a drenched sleeping bag. I don't know what happened in that Apex, either. I was blaming the floor at first, but I think the too small rain fly held some of the responsibility. It looked really cool, just didn't work worth a hoot.
Now I've got a 3 man Columbia Hawk Ridge tent for solo or 2 person trips. This tent also has that thin feeling floor, but the rainfly is AWESOME. It totally covers the tent and offers three storage vestibules. I don't think I'll ever get another tent that doesn't come with a total coverage fly again. So far this tent hasn't leaked a drop.
Sorry to hear about your issues with the PUP. Hope we don't run into that sort of trouble with ours. Right now we're just enjoying the heck out of it.
As to whether or not the tent in the OP is too big for tent pads, it just depends on where you're camping. Most of the CG's around here dont' have pads for the tents anyway. Just grassy areas which are WAY better than setting up on a pad or gravel.
My family tent is a Guide Series Condor 10 tent from Gander Mountain. It's 17' x 15' so it takes up some room. I've had some close calls with having enough space a couple of times because the tent is so huge. But so far we've always managed to squeeze it in. Takes some creative angles sometimes, but we don't mind.
But even at that size, once you get 5 people and all their junk inside, it's still a little tight. It's big enough that we can fit a queen air mattress in the "front" room and 3 twin sized air mattresses in the "back". We hardly ever use the divider to turn the back room into two smaller rooms. Shoot, we don't even zip up the divider between the front and the back rooms.
Me (69), DW (69), DD (95), DS (00), DS (01) and 1 camping toy fox terrier (08)
95 Fleetwood Utah, 02 Ford Explorer Limited (V8)
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FordDiesel250
I.P. Texas
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Joined: 01/31/2007
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I think that the tent you have will work just fine. I also believe that the campground is more than adequate for your tent and all of your gear.
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Vapor_Trails
Yucaipa, CA
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Joined: 09/29/2004
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Slow down traffic climbing hills
Thirty gallons to the mile
Honey, quick, the Polaroid...
Sorry Jeff, I just can't get it out of my head. I guess I can pretty much count on that everytime I see one of your posts. 
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jtbeck
Kentucky
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Joined: 04/23/2008
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Wow! A Dead Kennedys reference!
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Vapor_Trails
Yucaipa, CA
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Joined: 09/29/2004
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jtbeck wrote:Wow! A Dead Kennedys reference! You must have missed OP's screen name...
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jtbeck
Kentucky
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I completely missed that. I hadn't thought about them in FOREVER.
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Vapor_Trails
Yucaipa, CA
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Joined: 09/29/2004
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Oh I get, You're Jeff Beck. OP is Jeff Guelcher. Sorry for the confusion. Whenever I see one of Jeff Guelcher's posts I'm gonna be humming 'Funland at the Beach' or some other such DK tune...
I saw them a couple times decades ago during the brief, but intense, So Cal Hardcore scene. Too much fun. In fact, for retrospective's sake I think I'll play Fresh Fruit at lunch today.
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