Tent Choices

Martina

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What are best 4-person tents that have good ventilation in light wind and strength for 50 mph winds?
 
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Hello, I am using Coleman Instant 4-Person Tent, it's made from polyester, which helps it withstand UV exposure. It has inverted seams and welded floors which help to keep water out. It holds up very well in extremely windy or rainy conditions.

Hope it helps,
Barry.
 
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ppine

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Mountaineering tents are the only ones really made for high winds. The North Face has a famous one called the VE-21 or something like that.
 

ppine

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Coleman tents are not designed for severe conditions.
I was on a canoe trip on the lower Colorado River a few years ago in February. We stopped over at an old fish camp. There were a few trees around. The wind started up and had to be over 60. I was in an old Sierra Designs backpacking tent. The poles started to bend and deform. It felt like the tent was about take off with me and the dog in it. Finally I removed all the poles and slept in the tent while it was flattened. This worked surpisingly well and kept the blowing sand off.
 

ponderosa

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No tent with fiberglass poles is suited to withstand 50 mph winds, especially one big enough for 4 people. They will bend & bow until they split vertically. I would not consider Coleman for that sort of weather. You need strong aluminum alloy poles and two opposing guyout lines from each pole. You need a strong pole configuration (not just a typical dome with two poles crossing in the center). If you truly anticipate 50 mph winds on a regular basis, you need a tent rated for 4 season use. Consider Marmot, MSR, or the higher end options from Kelty, REI, or The North Face.
 
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MacGyver

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A tent strong enough to handle wind like that and still offering good ventilation in light wind is a tough request. Like others have mentioned, severe storm worthy tents means mountaineering tents and they're somewhat known for being rather stuffy in anything less than cold weather. Look around at enough forums and discussions about four season tents and you'll eventually see them referred to as one season tents - Winter.

If you really think you'll be encountering 50 mph winds, I don't think I'd have anything much to recommend because of the ventilation issue. But if you want a 20 mph wind beater that still ventilates well, I'll tell you to look at the Kodiak Canvas VX models. Plenty of mesh for warm weather, plenty of zip ups to cover that mesh for cold/bad weather.

 

ppine

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I have an old canvas wall tent that is 40 years old. It has been through some hellaceous storms over the years with no problems. Canvas tents are heavy around 60 pounds. When they get wet they weight even more. In a blizzard they freeze up and get heavier. Assuming they are not rotten and staked properly they are like a fortress in a storm.

Most recent storm in the wall tent was elk hunting near Jarbidge, Nevada at 8,600 feet. We had severe thunder and lightning with heavy rain for about 8 hours and sustained winds around 40 with gusts to 60. No problems. Having a tent frame made out of 1 inch EMT makes them almost bulletproof. The Kodiak above looks good but needs a heavier frame for high winds.
 

MacGyver

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I have an old canvas wall tent that is 40 years old. It has been through some hellaceous storms over the years with no problems. Canvas tents are heavy around 60 pounds. When they get wet they weight even more. In a blizzard they freeze up and get heavier. Assuming they are not rotten and staked properly they are like a fortress in a storm.
That reminds me of the Coleman Oasis I had years ago. There was one trip in particular that we thought was going to turn us into a Wizard of Oz remake. Woke up the next morning with water literally running under the tent - with no groundsheet - and we were high (back then probably literally) and dry. Lost that tent to the maintenance people at the apartment complex where we were living. Dumbasses stole the tent from the "security locker" and left the poles. Wish I had noticed that the hinges on the doors were simply screwed to the outside of the lockers. Could've easily remedied that with some security bolts of my own.
The Kodiak above looks good but needs a heavier frame for high winds.
I can't say whether or not they'd survive 50 mph winds, but the flexing in "Flexbow" does very well to stand up to some pretty nasty wind. I was on a trip with sideways rain in my 10x10 and it held up just fine. The side poles are a good bit thicker than conduit, almost EMT thick.
 
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ppine

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Flapping of a tent in the wind is very irritating. Above about 25 mph most tents flap a lot. It is important to find a sheltered spot in a forest, rock outcrop, behind vehicles or behind a building. Stake them down and use all the tie outs. Most tents will come apart much past about 40.

I am heading out to Yosemite in late October with the old wall tent. With the wood stove going it is one of the great places on Earth to be in the fall.
 

Roybrew

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Coleman does pretty good. They are affordable and serves casual campers, such as myself. My brother and I were camping on Dale Hollow Lake a couple of springs ago. We had a 4 man Coleman tent that we setup on an island peninsula. The wind was ripping all night. We had to rig a couple of extra guy lines on the rain fly to hold it down. I don't know what wind speed was, but it had my brother concerned. The side would cave in when ever the wind would gust.
 

Grandpa

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We have a Coleman that has held up well in wind and rain. It has 8 guy lines and if they are well staked the tent will stay up as well as our canvas walk tent.
 

Roybrew

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I pretty sure it didn't gust over 25mph when I was out there, but it might have pushed it a little. We did extra guy lines to hold it together. I've been in some cheap tents, well about every tent I have is cheap, I've had the rain flys leak, but I've never lost one to the wind. I normally don't setup in open areas that are prone to the extreme spots.
 
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