Setting up the giant family tent from Europe

I recently purchased an Outwell Tomcat 5SA tent and it quickly arrived from the UK with a bunch of other camping furniture (because if you’re ordering from the UK, you might as well go big, right?!).  Camping World UK shipped everything quickly and it all arrived safely.  And as soon as it arrived I could not resist attempting to set up the tent and try out the furniture.  First, the tent is HUGE and comes in an equally huge roller bag.  It is also heavy and awkward to handle, which is probably why Outwell suggests two people for setup, and why I am glad I didn’t buy the larger Montana tent.

Above is the tent still in the roller bag and Hoho thought the bag might be a good bed.

I unrolled the footprint (upside down, oh well) and realized just HOW BIG this tent actually is.  It is filling my small back yard.  Once the tent was unrolled, it was a simple matter of staking out the corners and inflating the air tubes.  This part was surprisingly easy and the tent was up in no time!

I didn’t bother to stake out the guy lines, but I did put the one pole in for the side doorway.  The whole setup took me about 20 minutes–by myself.  I am thrilled with the ease of set up.

The two bedrooms are below (left is “master” bedroom and right is the smaller BR).  Either or both BRs can be rolled up out of the way and the “wall” between them can be rolled away creating one large BR.

Left is my new Outwell chair and table in the front room of the tent and right is M’s new table and chair with the photo taken from my new chair–this tent is spacious.

The back half of the tent where the bedrooms are.

Left, what Hoho usually thinks about having to stay in the backyard. Right, Hoho approves of the tent.

So far, so good.  And when I took it down, I managed to get the tent rolled up and back into the roller bag.  I’m not sure I could do that myself, if the tent was wet.  It is heavy.

I can’t wait for Week of Rivers!