I like kelty stuff, my bigger tent is the base camp 4 and it’s held up really well to a lot of water. It doesn’t have a vestibule, which I really wish it did but I can always throw a tarp up to make one. Super easy setup, good for the price. My new backpacking tent is likely to be a kelty, I just can’t beat the price and I’m not an ultralighter or a thru hiker so a 4 and a half pound tent is perfectly fine for me. It’s somewhere between Coleman and rei brand in quality.
The only kelty thing I’ve had some trouble with (and really this isn’t a serious issue) is that my 20 degree down sleeping bag is only comfortable to about 40 and then I can really feel the cold. And I think some of that is due to not storing it properly for the first year I had it and not having a high enough r value pad.
Do you backpack? I have a kelty base camp 4 and it’s held up really really well. I like kelty gear a lot, it’s pretty mid range but good for the price imo
I have two tents (both kelty brand) a two person for solo backpacking/short trips where bad weather isn’t forecast and a 4 person for trips where I have another person in the tent with me or I plan on having to spend more time in the tent. Totally a reasonable move and the bigger tents really aren’t usually much harder to set up unless you have some huge 10 person multi room situation
I really love my Kelly base camp 4 when I have someone coming with me. It’s been great to me, budget friendly while being good quality for the price and it’s just an x pole type setup so it’s not any kind of issue at all. Both my tents are kelty as is my sleeping bag and I’ve not had a problem with them yet. My partner has my much nicer REI backpacking tent since she does field work and I’ll say the design of the rei tent is more thoughtful but my kelty gear has never done me wrong.
Just to help you switch to the troop level mindset, at the troop level, parent and scout don't tent together in a typical situation. It can be appropriate if she has special needs.
Getting a 3 or 4 person she can share with a buddy is a good idea. I got my kid a Kelty tent; I think it was the Basecamp. I chose it because it seemed like a good mid weight option that could take a bit of a beating. He has used it on a similar backpacking trip, didn't split it with his tent mate for carrying, for whatever reason, and I heard no complaints. It's fairly cheap, too.
https://preview.redd.it/yqx57nupyazg1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6f8f559fe2f7f23b7eee2fcbc027e9a8aa1cea55
A ShiftPod or an ice fishing tent might be fine if you can afford it, but there are less expensive solutions as well. if you are willing to do some work. I camped for 10 years in the cheapest 3-person dome tent I could find at Big 5 Sporting Goods. It cost me $35, plus labor and materials to harden it for the Playa. That's cheaper than the cheapest insulated ice fishing tent I found on the Internet: $137.90 at Home Depot.
I modified my cheap dome tent by sewing nylon cloth over the mesh windows to block the dust. If I did it again I would probably just glue the nylon fabric over the mesh windows, leaving just one corner to Velcro strips I could pull open to get some top ventilation in times of mild wind.
To make it cooler, I added a Reflectix (aluminized bubble wrap) cover to the top and South facing sides to keep the sun and heat out. This has the added advantage of helping to keep the tent dry when it rains. Covering the tent with an opaque cover undoubtedly reduced UV sun damage that weakens the nylon tent fabric. The Reflectix cost more than the tent itself, but it was worth it for the heat protection.
I set grommets in the Reflectix material so I could secure it to the tent and tent stakes. Some may get a fancy grommet setting kit, but I just bought the grommets and pounded them down with a hammer to set them into the fabric. This was very inexpensive.
Then I got a thin dashboard sun screen to hang across the main door. I also replaced the puny tent stakes with 18" rebar, and the tent felt very secure even in the highest winds on the Playa. I surrounded the tent with some solar lights, and draped more solar lights over the top, hoping that this would prevent anyone from running over my tent at night.
Does it stay cold all day? No, but it stays a lot cooler than the oven-like temperature I experience with no Reflectix cover. I can sleep in there until mid-morning if necessary. Does it stay dark inside? No, but the Reflectix blocks the sun very well, and it would be relatively dark during the day if I added a Reflectix panel to cover the door.
There are some limits to this solution. On the tenth year, one of the corners separated from the rest of the tent. At that point I retired this tent, in favor of a 4-person Kelty dome tent (formerly used for family camping) that also is a good size for one person and all of their gear. After 10 years the Reflectix aluminized coating started dropping off and turning into moop on the Playa, so the next year I replaced it with an aluminet tarp that someone gave to me. When we had high winds during Build Week, some dust was blowing through the tent fabric.
Still, for the price it can't be beat.
j-allen-heineken
