|
Latest
gear reviews (hint:
clicking the link will take you right to the review)
©
Outdoor Adventure Canada
Eureka!
Outside Inn Tent
Eureka! Backpacker VCS Tarp with Mesh
Room
Eureka! Outside
Inn
I have many fond memories of family camping with
my parents. We would drag the old canvas tent out of the garage
and haul it to the campground. After a laborious setup we would
position our sleeping bags around the center pole taking care
not to touch the outside walls for fear the canvas would spring
a leak during the rain storms that always seemed to start in the
middle of the night.
Family camping
tents have recently been the center of attention with outdoor
gear manufacturers. Eureka has come out with a very innovative
design combining size and convenience with performance.
Traditionally
family tents would have a center pole or be a dome style with
the fly draped over it. The Outside Inn's sleeping area is hung
by clips from the freestanding fly.
With the tent
suspended in the back section the front serves as a protected
screened sitting area with three doors. Standing at over 7feet
this tent is perfect for even the tallest outdoor adventurer.
If the weather turns foul seal up the windows and doors put the
kids to bed and settle into your chair with a good book and relax.
While we were
testing the Outside Inn we were unfortunate enough to have both
rain and biting insects. It was quite pleasant having the large
sitting area for ourselves, recalling old stories and not having
to be concerned with the bugs and rain outside.
The Outside
Inn sets up quite easily considering the size and provides ample
ventilation with its many doors and widows. Take down was a snap.
I loved being able to pack the tent portion while remaining completely
dry. Since the fly is free standing you could actually use the
entire structure as a protected sitting area for those family
reunion weekends.
I was definitely
impressed with the design and construction. This family tent has
all the performance features as a high quality backpacker tent,
with taped seams and a 1500mm polyurethane coating on the fly
and 5000mm on the floor you can camp worry free when it comes
to the wet weather. I definitely rate this tent a 2 thumbs up!!
For more
information about other Eureka models, please go to: www.eurekatentscanada.com.
top
of page
Eureka!
Backpacker VCS Tarp with Mesh Room
Two things
that can turn a perfectly good trip into a nightmare are rain
and bugs or both. Through the years we have made some pretty crafty
tarp riggings to keep us dry at camp. While working fairly well
and managing to keep us dry there were always flaws in our system.
Pooling water on the tarps, bulky, noisy and heavy plastic to
deal with and a tailor made system for every camp had to be made
up. This left us always searching for sites with the trees in
the right spot and ropes running everywhere. Eureka offered us
a VCS tarp with a mesh room to test. I jumped at the opportunity
to compare a scientifically designed tarp system to my previous
attempts at tarp-ology.
The tarp is
made of 75 Denier rip stop nylon, with a 3000 mm coating that
works extremely well, even the heaviest rain. The VCS is roughly
12 feet by 16 feet and can be erected with or without poles. The
tarp is constructed with a Para-wing design which defies water
pooling and remains taught in the wind.
I absolutely
loved the clip in bug shelter. I can't count how many times the
biting insects have chased us into our tents after supper. When
the screen room is clipped in there is about 8ft 6" x 8ft
6" of floor space and 6 ft of head room which made my tall
wife happy.
The components
of this system are all sold separately and can be packed separately
to reduce weight. The 2 pound frame consists of 4 poles which
work great if there aren't any trees or you are pitching the shelter
on beach sites. The tarp weighs a modest 4 pounds 8 ounces and
the screen room is 3 pounds.
I also found
the tarp useful as a sun shelter where I found myself dozing off
under it while reading a book on the lay over days. I highly recommend
taking the VCS Tarp along.
For more information
about other Eureka models, please go to: www.eurekatentscanada.com.
For more articles
and gear reviews please view the archives.
|
