Tent Question

Anyone here have an opinion on the Eureka Tundraline 3 for canoeing and car camping? Thanks

Joe

Gadzooks, ah’ jus’ bought one…

– Last Updated: Aug-22-09 5:45 PM EST –

at CampMor on Wednesday. Wat ah' read about it (Cliffy J. likes it... not dat ah' give a mule turd) wuz good things, so ah' got one. Two sets o' poles an' de fly sheet attached ta tent body so it be quicker an' drier ta set up. Badtub floor an' taped seams. Kind'a heavy (12+ lbs.) but fer a canoo tent wit few portages it's tolerable. It's got two huge vestibules ta boot.

Only set it up in de livin' room so far (rainin' out all day) but damn it be a big tent. Kin' fit me an' me harem inside wit room ta spare. Lets see wat it's like in real conditions.

FE

Great minds etc…
FE, the info says there are 4 mesh panels in the tent. Are the sides mesh and are they including the doors as mesh panels? Wondering about

ventilation.

Joe

One warning on Eureka tents
I sold Eureka and at least 20 other brands of tents during several years in the outfitter business and have also owned 5 different brands of tent so I’ve got pretty good experience with lots of them. We also had Eureka Timberlines (the granddad of the tent you bought) in our gear rental fleet. Excellent tents for the money BUT the one frailty they seemed to have was the coated nylon they used for the bathtub floors and flies. For some reason, they were consistently the only tent models we had trouble with flaking of the coating from the fabric over time and use. It just seemed to separate and wear off with heavy use – the floors particularly would develop dry-looking areas that would leak. The company was always super great about warranty replacements and repairs but it was a shortcoming of what were otherwise good products.



Frankly, the quality of their stitching and detailing was never quite as nice as some other brands, but, again, weighed against overall design and value bang for the buck I would rate Eureka above Coleman and far above any discount store tent. And I admit I have not looked closely at their line for a while and they may well have corrected the peeling problem by now.

Looked at one
It’s not something I would want along where there is portaging to do (since the tent is in my pack). And I’m not sure I would want this tent along on “luxury canoe trips” with a cooler, chairs, table, etc. using up lots of cargo room in the canoe. The tent volume in its carry sack is huge; much bigger than the volume of a timberline 4. I think I’ll wait for the much lighter and far less bulky sil-ny version if they ever come out with one.