Cabelas XPG Tent Questions - I just bought one

[gdawg]

so after months of struggling with which tent to buy, i finally made my purchase, and received my tent (cabelas xpg 3p) this week. http://www.cabelas.com/p-0031780.shtml

question one: it claims to have a bathtub floor. but yet it isn't as thick or doesn't look like the same material as the coleman montana bathtub floor. i was expecting not to need to use a footprint. so although the material is lightweight and should keep the rain out, should i be thinking of getting a footprint?

question two: this tent came with seam sealer, is that so i can seal the seams every once in a while, or because i need to do it right now?


btw, i am quite happy with what i received with this tent, although i still think one should be able to buy a tent with a full fly that works to keep the rain out for much less money. i am a large fella, and i am glad i got the 3 person, extra height, and plenty of room, and still about 6 lbs

[Trekker]

A bathtub floor means the floor seams are not at the intersection of the side & floor at ground level, usually up the side a few inches or so.

A footprint is great at protecting the tent material and providing extra water proofing. Be sure it does not stick out beyond the edge of the tent.

You should seal the seems now & at least once per year (that's what I do). More if you use the tent a lot in a season.

[Mellow]

A bathtub floor means the floor seams are not at the intersection of the side & floor at ground level, usually up the side a few inches or so.

A footprint is great at protecting the tent material and providing extra water proofing. Be sure it does not stick out beyond the edge of the tent.

You should seal the seems now & at least once per year (that's what I do). More if you use the tent a lot in a season.

+1.....

[gdawg]

ok, i didn't know that......

[VStromTom]

ALWAYS use a ground cloth/foot print or whatever else they call it, and remove things from you selected pitch site before setting up the tent. Seam sealer should be used every so often applied to a dry tent along all the seams that are exposed should it rain. Interesting that they send you seam sealer with a supposedly water proof tent. I have a $25 Coleman bought on sale at Wally's that is waterproof and I have never used seam sealer on it during 5 yrs of use. It did not come with sealer and the tent is guaranteed waterproof. The pan extends about 2-3 inches up the side. Good luck with your new tent. (have a son living in Lexington)

[hardwire]

I bought the same brand, just the 2 person one... I put it up in the back yard and we got 2 days of heavy rains.... I did not seam seal it first... not a drop inside... I did get the ground cloth...

[gdawg]

looks like they'll get another $25 bucks from me

[Mellow]

looks like they'll get another $25 bucks from me

You could just go to walmart, or anywhere, and get a general purpose tarp. They're usually cheaper and tougher than the custom foot prints that tent manufacturers try to sell you.

[gdawg]

i have a ton of general tarps, i was thinking weight and pack size..... i would suspect the $25 footprints will pack light and pack small?

[Trailace]

i have a ton of general tarps, i was thinking weight and pack size..... i would suspect the $25 footprints will pack light and pack small?
The footprints pack a lot smaller than most tarps and can be hooked right to the bottom of the tent. I have one for both my tents and to me it money well spent.

[Mellow]

i have a ton of general tarps, i was thinking weight and pack size..... i would suspect the $25 footprints will pack light and pack small?

The weave poly tarps are pretty light... they pack just a bit larger than a thin foot print but the reason for a foot print is to protect the tent's floor so the tarps are better for that. The poly tarps are also noisy when setting up or breaking down camp.

[gdawg]

i'll have to pull out one of my small tarps to see what kind of pack size i can get out of it...

[VStromTom]

I usually either attach the ground cloth/tarp cut to size to the bottom of the tent, or roll the tent up in it, or fold the tarp and lay stuff on it on the tail rack. Hate to take up bag space with a tent/tarp and first thing I do is set up the tent, last thing is to take down the tent after everything else is packed/loaded. I see zero reason to spend $25 on a gcloth. Big lots has some super cheap tarps that when cut to fit the footprint of the tent will roll up very small anyway and the wt is nil. IMO of course.

[VFR]

You might try a sheet of tyvek for a ground cloth. They pack really thin but are on the noisy side when setting up or taking down. I used one for awhile, then got an emergency space blanket when it got colder. I got a footprint with my new tent but got the other one used so it didn't have one.

[rbertalotto]

The best tent on the planet for moto-camping. I have a two man that I've been using for five years and without a ground cloth, still like new. I've never had a drop of water inside and I've never sealed the seams. This tent has been in 60mph winds, all the way to Alaska and back, set up every night for five weeks.

I have a basement full of TIT (Tents I've Tried), most costing two or three times as much. They all pale to this simple Cabelas XPT..........

I'm thinking I might up size to the three man this year just to have a bit more room if I'm staying in one place a bit longer than normal.

[Motocentaur]

That tent looks identical to my Kelty Gunnison 2 (except for the color). I wonder if they come out of the same factory and are just rebranded for different retailers?

I've used mine for two years now with great results. I use one of those cheap-o blue poly tarps for a ground cloth. It is disposable and easy to replace if necessary and can be used for other things.

[JFlame]

I've had my eye on the Cabelas Ultralight XPG 3 person for a few weeks now.

Can anybody comment on how small it packs up?

[gdawg]

it should be on cabelas website....try the compare feature

[JFlame]

it should be on cabelas website....try the compare feature

For whatever reason the 3 person tent doesn't show up in the compare, only the 1 and 2 man tents.

[gdawg]

i'm sure my packing is not the best, where are you trying to fit it?

i want to say it's less than 24" long, like maybe 22".....maybe by 6" in dia

[JFlame]

i'm sure my packing is not the best, where are you trying to fit it?

i want to say it's less than 24" long, like maybe 22".....maybe by 6" in dia

The Tiger 1050's OEM bags (which is what I have) are rather small (look good though!) so anything larger than a 1 man tent won't really fit due to the poles. 22" is great though, it'll fit in my dry stack and get strapped across the pinion seat.

Have you used the tent much since you bought it? If so, any updated opinion?

[gdawg]

i haven't..... it's only been used for two nights and it wasn't by me i am sad to say.

i was trying to convence a buddy to moto camp with me this year instead of using motels... so we load up the bikes and hit myrtle beach and my wife and her daughter came later that night (after we setup everything) so, me the wife and her daughter stayed in the big 8man tent with huge queen mattress and one twin mattress..... my buddy said, that to be able to really tell if he could do it would to use all my equipment for the two nights......

so he stayed in my tent and used my twin mattress for two nights.... it didn't rain except a few drops when we were packing up on sunday, but the reviews on cabelas site seem good about rain.

i did put a poly tarp under it because i didn't buy the footprint, just to help make the floor last longer....

it does have lots of vents, and if you close the rain fly, it holds much of the air out....

on a hot night, i would open the top vents in the rain fly, leave the vestible tied back, or take the rain fly off....

i think it got down to around 39 that night, only a couple weeks ago, and so we gave him one of our heaters to keep him warm....

i plan on doing all my camping on the scooter during warm months, so i was most worried about it having enough vents...

i have a dry sack too, not sure which size it is.....but it fits easy in there..... it's a yellow one, if size goes with color....

end of next month i should be able to really give some good opinions on it....but i have set it up quite a few times, and it goes up really quick....like 3.5 mins quick
take down would be much quicker with second person, but it's still quick, and if you stuff the rain fly instead of trying to fold it proper, it would go twice as fast.....i plan to stuff the rain fly from now on....

if i think about it tonight, i will try to measure my packed skill and that will give you a sloppy idea of pack size....

[gdawg]

My shotty pack size is 19x7

i pulled the two poles out, which is what really limits things and they measure 16" while broken down. So with some clever folding, you really could get the pack size down.

[rosalka09]

That is a nice tent I have ever seen. A large gear loft keeps clothes and supplies up and out of the way. Plus, a large vestibule lets you store your pack and boots out of the weather without having to bring them in the tent. Clips are color coded for easy setup. Single-door design with vents on the fly. Includes compression stuff sack.