Tents for South America

[Fritz]

Being used to travel in Europe in the main we're used to a tent without too much ventilation. For South America I was considering a highly vented inner tent - say the Hubba Hubba from MSR to cope with the higher temps, and as stand alone mossie pro. I know there is plenty of cold and severe weather down there too so wondered what people that have been thought ? Good strong mountain type tent, or 2/3 season highly vented tent ? Spending 6 months expecting to camp plenty - but not always, varying from patagonia & atacama to the Amazon basin so huge temperature changes. Any thought welcome. PS going to make and take a tarp and para cord to create a larger awning / work area / cover when req'd. Thanks, Fritz

[greynomads]

Hi Fritz,
We used a MSR Phantom on our last trip through Morocco and Mauritania to Mali. Excellent whether it was hot or cold. When really hot we just used the inner on its own with just the mesh doors closed - to keep out mossies. Will be using the same tent on our next trip, also to South America.
Peter

[mcluretaylor]

Hi,
Have just done exactly what you are planing (In fact i am still in Peru) and i used a North Face Roadrunner2, which is highly vented inner, 3 season. It stood up well to terrible winds in Torres del Paine but this was in the valley. Perfect for me in all areas of hot, cold and great for moto camping, but if you go hiking in the mountains and camp up there consider a proper 3 or 4 season trek tent.

All depends on what you plan to do really

Cheers

Dave

[Fritz]

Cheers folks, allways had Terra Nova tents to date, but concerned not enough venting for really hot temps + can't use as stand alone mossie tent say in a room. Those choices look interesting. Finding a light, large, vented tent insn't so easy ! A Hubba Hubba for three at 4 season and weight of 3kg would be the ticket ! Cheers, Fritz

[Grant Johnson]

See http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/tri...ment/tents.php for some ideas on tents.

An interesting one to add is the Merlin 33from North Face.

Grant

[Fritz]

Thanks Grant, good info there, the Merlin is one I've just started eyeing up ;-)

[Bill Shockley]

Amigos,
Just made the classic ride from the USA to the Arctic Circle to Tierra del Fuego and back. The tent I used was a Bibler Ahwahnee.
I have been camping for 40 years. My last tent was a Sierra Designs Omega CD. That was a good tent but the Bibler stands above any tents I have ever used. It is single wall. It is strong, warm and cool as necessary. Self standing. It is easy to get in and out of. It is light for its size but...it is expensive. The Benz and Caddy of tents. $600usd available from Aerostitch and others. Once you camp in this tent you will not want others. Two doors, huge ventilation. Bone dry. None better. You need nail type tent pegs for hard ground but no tents provide them. The light it makes inside is so soothing. Buy a big compression sack to make it small to pack. Buy the correct ground cloth, put elastic at the corners of the ground cloth and stake all four corners down first but not too tightly, then push the poles in for easy setup especially in the wind.
Oh ya, in S. America you wont camp as much as you think cause rooms are too cheap plus security is always an issue. Refugios are available and free in Chili parks and other places. Stayed in 2 in Torrre del Paines. Ratlike animals at night so I took the top bunk. Heard they like to chew. Wonderful campgrounds in Argentina with barbeques. You meet the nicest people. Bill

[Jake Dury]

Black Diamond recently bought out Bibler and started making their own version of the Awahanee, the BD Lighthouse. It has the same deminsions of the Awahanee except it just has one door. The door is huge though and I think the ventilation is very good. The tent is very strong, yet is the lightest and most packable tent I have ever owned (I have onwed a lot of high quality tents). My girlfriend and I used it a lot in Argentina, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil and Chile and it held up fine. There was plenty of room for 2 people but since there is no vestibule (you can buy one seperately) you don't have a lot of storage room.

They kept the Bibler brand going and still sell the Awahanee but it costs $600. The Lighthouse is $360. It was one of the best purchases for the trip and I'm not sure where the extra $240 goes. I would buy the groundcloth and do a good job seamsealing and it will hold up well for you. The only downside is that since it is singlewall you can experience more condensation problems than with a 2 wall tent. I never found it to be too bad though. My down bag never got wet enough to cause any kind of problem even in very damp conditions. In Brazil the rain was unreal but it held up. I can't say enough good things about this tent.

[ultimatejourney]

We used our Bibler tent on our 4-yr trip, and it has some terrific features: Single wall, huge doors, great space, easy to put up, free standing, and packs small.

PROBLEM: When it rains, the corners fill up with puddles of water. We even had MacPac instal a new floor in NZ, but that didn't help.

As long as it doesn't rain, the Bibler was a great $1,000 tent.

Would suggest a tent that is free-standing, so you can set up on any surface (concrete, rock, etc.)


------------------
Ride safe, ride far, ride often!
Chris & Erin Ratay
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
www.UltimateJourney.com - 50 countries, 6 continents, 4 years, 2 bikes, 1 couple, and a Guinness World Record® for Longest Motorcycle Ride (Team).

[Matt Cartney]

As a general rule US tents have far more netting in the inners than european manufacturers. The North Face tend to do backpacking tents with loads of ventilation. They are good too. If you are going to cold places though an inner of light nylon is FAR warmer than one of netting. Mountain Hardwear make tents where you have netting panels which can be zipped over with nylon which is the best of both worlds although you have the extra weight of course.
matt

[burnout1]

Hello evrybody,
just came back from a trip through south america and I had a North Face VE25 with me. It s big and all seasons tent. Just recommendable if your doing your trip with a second person. It also worked very well on 5100m (Chachani in Peru). It worked in heavy rain too as well as in stormy winds.

But as I wrote, its is too big for a single person.
Have a nice trip
Burnout1

[Gipper]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by ultimatejourney:

As long as it doesn't rain, the Bibler was a great $1,000 tent

Sorry, but for $1000 id expect a tent to work in the rain....

Fritz,
Been using a North Face Pebble for a couple of years, in everything from Central America to wind and snow in Canada at Altitude, its been very good, the equivilant now is probably the Rock 22, though this is a little heavier it has a double door/vestibule system which looks good. They are a good price and they dont leak...

Also take a look at Big Agnes tents:

http://www.bigagnes.com/str_tent_series.php?id=shsl

They do a few different styles, though a friend has a Seedhouse SL - 2 person and it is very good - and only 1.5 Kg !
It is rated as a 3.5 season.

The MSR Hubba Hubba is also a very good tent, feels very stable in the wind for a fairly lightweight tent.

Cheers
Grif