"Ian Meanie" yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:6dd3f8ed-8216-449c-925b-6be16cc0dfe1@a23g2000hsc.googlegroups.com...
On May 11, 10:56 pm, "Stephen Rainsbury" rainsbury.net-
spamnet- -> wrote:

The pole of our lavvu (tipi? cuh!) broke on the third weekend out, due
to an
Explorer slamming into it. It may have been weakened by one climbing
the
pole to try and fit the "top hat" on Friday night, rather than taking
the pole
down. It didn't work. The main problem is the pole, being hollow, digs
itself
into the ground, so if the pole has a sudden force applied from the
side, the
force is taken on the pole rather than just knocking the tent down.
I'm
tending to blame the Explorers rather than the pole, I mean, if it was
like
a patrol tent pole, wooden with metal sleeves, the same sort of thing
could
happen I'd have thought.

They are great tents though, go up really quick - 10 minutes max,
light - considering how many you can fit in there, social - they all
seem
to love being in the same tent together rather than 2-3 man hike
tents.
warm - with 6-7 kids in, and no heating, no complaints in "bloody
cold"
conditions.
They do sound expensive, and with the diving pound v euro, getting
more
so. But at, say,