Date:         Sun, 22 Sep 2002 21:09:43 -0400
Reply-To:     The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Subject:      Re: Side tent for sale.
In-Reply-To:  <002e01c26282$86f0e540$97731e41@kc.rr.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252"

> I didn't think I'd like the dirt floor in my Komet when I got it,
> but having used it in the field, I'm inclined to say that having no canvas
> floor in the tent makes it a lot more practical.

> Say John, if you took it to your local "tent-maker" could they
> sew a floor in it?


Of course, our $199 tent comes with a sleeping cabin - basically a "tent
within a tent," complete with floor, that takes up about half of the larger
tent's interior space, effectively dividing the tent into two halves, one
with floor and one without. Since the tent is very large to begin with, each
half is still quite large. The sleeping cabin is simply clipped in when
needed, and removed when not.  We also sell a sleeping cabin separately, for
use with the Komet or other similar tents.

But another possibility that had occurred to me was to use a tarp or similar
item as a floor, and afix it to the side walls with velcro strips sewn to
both the tent side-wall and the "floor." This would be easily attached
if/when needed, and (if sized slightly larger than the floor area and
attached to the inside of the tent a few inches above the floor line) would
be fairly waterproof. A reasonably large amount of velcro would be needed,
but this can be bought by the roll on the internet at a relatively low cost.

Although I must say that my experience, too, has been that I don't much find
the need for a floor.  My last two tents had one, and my present one
doesn't.  I expected to miss the floor. And I even bought a sleeping cabin
myself, just for that reason.  But I've found that I have never actually
used the sleeping cabin, other than the one time that I set it up to try it.
Just never saw a need, in real use.  If someone actually needed to sleep in
the tent, I could see setting it up, as it would beat sleeping on the
ground.  But we use our tent as an extra room for our stuff, to gather
inside during inclement weather, and as a kids play area - none of which
calls for a floor - so I really haven't had any reason to miss the floor.
We sometimes bring a throw rug and lay it on the ground inside the tent,
just to make things a bit neater/cleaner, and sometimes don't even bother
with that.

- Ron Salmon
  The Bus Depot, Inc.
  (215) 234-VWVW
  www.busdepot.com

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