Vango Force Ten tent - free!

Lankyman

Lankyman

Well-known member
For a donation to a rescue organisation of your choice. Anyone too young to know what these classics look like, here's a photo of one.
1779288575607.jpeg

Ours was second hand when we got it about 30 years ago and it was used for car camping in Scotland (definitely not backpacking!). It will withstand a hurricane but hasn't been out of the bag for many years and has an eclectic spread of pegs. Currently, it is sitting in Sedbergh but could be brought to somewhere in the western Dales/south Lakes/north Lancashire.
 
I'll second that - when ex-hurricane Charlie struck the GG camp in 1986, many of the tents that stayed up were Vango Force 10s (including mine). It was that experience that convinced me never to upgrade to an aircraft hanger style tent for GG (also known as a "hang glider" for obvious reasons).

That looks like a Mark 4 or a Mark 5. The triangular pole design is rock solid. This is a good opportunity for someone who can use it.
 
I should add that the photo above is NOT the one on offer (I just pulled it randomly off the web for illustration purposes). The one we have is also orange (faded!) but I don't know which particular variant it is. It'll hold two people and a lot of kit easily.
 
I thought that they were horrendous things. I used them a lot in my youth, scouts, DofE, hitch hiking etc and found them really heavy and difficult to dry out. I vividly recall one morning the blasted thing was rigid with frost, we removed the poles and had to jump on it in order to try and fold it up so we could carry it (no way was it going back in its bag). Modern tents were a godsend, OK they might not withstand a force 10 gale but they were lighter, smaller pack size, easy to dry, didn't need reproofing etc.

I'm off camping with the cubs and scouts tomorrow, thankfully we've left the wooden and canvas patrol tents behind and have modern hiking tents, that the youngsters can put up themselves without risk of injury................
 
Tricky Dicky said:
I thought that they were horrendous things. I used them a lot in my youth, scouts, DofE, hitch hiking etc and found them really heavy and difficult to dry out. I vividly recall one morning the blasted thing was rigid with frost, we removed the poles and had to jump on it in order to try and fold it up so we could carry it (no way was it going back in its bag). Modern tents were a godsend, OK they might not withstand a force 10 gale but they were lighter, smaller pack size, easy to dry, didn't need reproofing etc.

I'm off camping with the cubs and scouts tomorrow, thankfully we've left the wooden and canvas patrol tents behind and have modern hiking tents, that the youngsters can put up themselves without risk of injury................
Click to expand...
Yes, they were of their time and tent design and technology moves ever onwards like most kit. I think one of my earliest forays (away from the West Pennine moors) was an arduous trek across the remote and mysterious Howgill Fells carrying something like this
1779354219023.jpeg

It was a huge adventure and we carried boil-in-the-bag hot dogs and powdered mash for dinner. Great days!
 
thank god for them being heavy(ish) canvas - as a teenager I once took a tinned steamed pudding winter backpacking and decided to cook it late in the evening on a Coleman stove in the porch, keeping us warm in the process. An hour later decided it must be done, and found a mere thimbleful of Coleman fuel left in the tank... 'may as well burn that off' I thought before pouring it on the grass inside the porch and lighting it.... my first lesson in 'petrol doesn't burn gently like meths' as we frantically beat out 2 foot high flames. I dread to think if it'd been a plastic flysheet!
 
Tricky Dicky said:
I thought that they were horrendous things. I used them a lot in my youth, scouts, DofE, hitch hiking etc and found them really heavy and difficult to dry out. I vividly recall one morning the blasted thing was rigid with frost, we removed the poles and had to jump on it in order to try and fold it up so we could carry it (no way was it going back in its bag). Modern tents were a godsend, OK they might not withstand a force 10 gale but they were lighter, smaller pack size, easy to dry, didn't need reproofing etc.

I'm off camping with the cubs and scouts tomorrow, thankfully we've left the wooden and canvas patrol tents behind and have modern hiking tents, that the youngsters can put up themselves without risk of injury................
Click to expand...
I agree about the weight and the near-impossibility of getting it back in its bag. But, once it was up it was a very reassuring place to be on a wild night.
 
spelfish said:
it was a very reassuring place to be on a wild night.
Click to expand...
As we move into summer and the long hours of daylight an advantage of the Force Ten is how dark they are inside. I find some modern tents too bright inside to aid a good night's sleep.
 
I camped in one near Aviemore one late autumn.
Arrived back from a pint to a wild night and like many others on site tried to sleep through an horrendous storm.
I was surprised the tent didn't blow away or rip, but it survived and I got a little sleep.
I awoke early and looked out to find that we were the only tent left on the site - utter devastation all around and we slept through it.
So never mock an orange canvas Mk iv, just don't try and carry it.
A great British innovation!
 
We had a MK IV flysheet fall apart on holiday, once. But it was nylon, and had endured many, many weeks of Pyrenean and Alpine sun. You could get a extended flysheet, which provided an excellent area for cooking in foul weather.
 
One advantage of that regular shaped design is it's so easy to add an extension, either purpose made, home made or just a temporary tarp.
 
Just to put a pennyworth in.

Our scouts bought at least a pair with a connecting flysheet in the late '60's, they replaced the Gilwell Hikes we had to suffer with before (especially if you were over 5ft tall), maybe things are much better now but at the time they were a brilliant improvement, being Senior Scouts we took over 'supervision' and used them on some DoE stuff, it was like walking on air over Cross Fell. The elder brother AKA the Good Companion was much better for static camps but a bit cumbersome as I found out on my first go on the Pennine Way in 1968 (I think?).

Jim
 
Pitlamp said:
In filthy weather, with a Vango Force Ten and that other reliable camping workhorse the Optimus 111B "sidewinder" paraffin stove, you couldn't go wrong.
Click to expand...
My first stove for quite some years was the Camping Gaz Bleuet S200 (with the big cartridge if we were flush).
1779465830166.jpeg
 
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