Well - Here she is - A little beauty. Let me introduce Wanda Warmlite to you all. She weighs in at a sylph-like 1190 grams including pegs & stuff sacs. (not including her seam sealer, which I will do at the weekend).
More later.
You should be able to click on the pictures to get a larger view (I think - I may not have got this right!)
One very happy man!! :D
ReplyDeleteAlan...
ReplyDeleteNice erection..
when are you going to cut your grass?
Dave
Thank fuck for that.....
ReplyDeleteNice shed.........
ReplyDeleteBlue! Blue!
ReplyDeleteWhat on earth - they;ll be no guerilla wildcamping you m'laddo
;-)
Thank God for that - we can all breathe now.
ReplyDeleteHope we get some thorough reviews after what you've put us through :-)
Steve
I do hope this podcast series we are going to do, isn't going to consist of you moaning about customer service for the full length of Britain ;-)
ReplyDeleteI think I may do a survey on questions everyone wants me to ask you before, during and at the end of the trip.
But blue? Hmmm, I can see anything in your kit list that will GO with ;-)
Podcast Bob
Oooh,
ReplyDelete.. if you're walking that far you must be colour co-ordinated!
I shall keep my eye out for fluorescent blue streaks across the landscape when I'm traversing the Highlands!
Hey, my tent is also the same colour ! don't you Guys know that green is sooooo 2006 ?
ReplyDeleteI am with Steve on this one! It's this year's colour, girls!
ReplyDeleteI agonised about the choice of colour: I could have had it in any combination of colours but decided to go with just a single colour. Then it was a choice of which colour.
My old Akto (bought almost 13 years ago now), was a bright red. Nice and cheerful , but it was a bit on the loud side. But at the time I thought that I would mostly be pitching quite late and leaving early so it was not too much of a problem. If I was to leave it there all day, then I can understand people’s concern about the colour. Over the years quite a few comments had been made about the colour, but after I had explained my thoughts, most people backed off a little.
Anyway, not wanting to go down that route again, the choices were to be made from: Green, Teal, Medium blue, Dark blue, Light blue, Yellow gold, Light green, Purple, Fushia (American spelling?) Pink (!) Grey, Light Yellow, Orange and aluminium.
I went with light blue, because, a little surprisingly, from a distance, light blue ‘disappears’ - something to do with light difraction? Perhaps you have some technically minded readers who can explain it. But, it does work: I remember clambering up the tourist path up Ben Nevis a few years back and being able to see my red Akto parked down in the valley (ooh! I left it pitched during the day! but it was on a campsite…) for quite some time, wheras Richard White’s Light blue Macpac Microlight became invisible very quickly indeed.
I didn’t want to choose a dark colour as it gets claustrophobic inside.
Besides, I thought light blue made a nice contrast with black.
And Eddie - yes, it is a nice shed.
Brother Dave: I am about to set up a rota for grass cutting for Oli & Felix whilst I am on my travels as Lynnie can never start the mower. She says it's the only job I do and she is not going to do it anyway!
Tom - Give us a song? Succinctly put, as ever! You've been spending too much time in the cramped confines of Eddie's boat. Stir crazy?
Hi Alan,
ReplyDeleteit looks like a single skin tent, is that correct ?
Theo
Hi Alan,
ReplyDeleteHow do you deal with not having a porch?. Where do you put muddy boots?. And what about cooking safely?. And finally, how stable is it?.
I too would like something lighter than my current Atko but the only other tent other than yours is probably the Laser Comp which to me looks too flimsy.
Hi Anonymous
ReplyDeleteNot having a porch is really not a problem as the tent is cavernous inside. There is a huge amount of space inside - it is 5 feet wide at the front pole and four feet wide at the rear.
Muddy boots? I never have them! I am walking on moorland & mountain so the only 'mud' is peat which knocks off readily outside the tent. Inside I organise the tent very methodically - the 'wet' side, for rain-soaked gear is to the 'downhill' side of the tent and the dry stuff (computers, maps, guidebooks etc) on the uphill side of the tent. My lovely Exped 7 down mattress is down the middle keeping me warm & snuggly.
Cooking is not a problem - I use a gas cartridge stove with a fold-out tripod base. The system I use limits steam when cooking to an absolute minimum - I use Expedition freeze dried vacuum packed meals - all I need to do is boil water in a kettle and pur it in and seal the bag. The remaining water in the kettle is used for a soup whilst the meal is rehydrating. There is plenty of room so that I can sit across the tent whilst cooking - there is no danger at all about knocking anything over.
As to stability - well, I had my Akto for ten years and this Warmlite is massively more stable.
It really does not matter where the wind is coming from - it shed wind and rain loads better than an Akto.
I have seen and had a good look at the Laser Comp and it really does not come close to the Akto for stability - it is certainly more difficult to pitch than an Akto and there is a lot less room than an Akto.
For me, it really is a no-brainer: The Warmlite 2C is massively more roomy, more stable and lighter than the Akto. It is fractionally heavier than the Laser Comp, but it is so far superior in every other department that I would never even consider the Laser Comp.
With the dollar as it is at present, it is also tremendous value too.
Go for it 'Anon' - go for an Warmlite 2C, and coose your own colour too!