Tarptent Hogback

Oddly I was also going to post a similar query about the Hogback – in relation to my three children 2 – 10 years old …

As I already have a Squall Classic the alternative would be to use both that and perhaps the Rainshadow 2.

Any thoughts or experiences with either the Hogback or the Rainshadow 2 for camping with young families?

My biggest concern would be finding a big enough footprint to pitch it. Would it be feasible to do two 2 man tents instead of once 4 man?

It's the footprint size that decided me against the Hogback. Even with the Rainshadow, it's harder to find a place to pitch than with a Squall 2. My current setup for 2 adults, 3 kids is two in the Squall 2 and three in the Rainshadow. You'd want to split the adults between the two tents until the kids get older, though.

It's kind of nice to have the snorers of the family in a separate tent, too!

I can definitely see the size of the tent being an issue in finding a place to pitch the tent. Decisions…..

At first thought, the 4-person Hogback would seem to have a much larger footprint than something like a 2-person Squall 2 but the actual comparison surprised even me. The gold colored figure is the Squall 2 and the gray figure is the Hogback. Note that the Squall 2 actually takes a substantially longer space for pitching due to the beak and front and rear guylines.

I figured that one out last night doing some footprint comparisons for the SD Lightning XT3 thread.

Nice to see that Tarptent is finally coming out with some brighter colours. Love that Gold Squall.
Franco

Well it's not every day that the man that owns the company of a product you're considering reponds to a forum post. I think that seals the deal for me. I'm going to start saving my pennies and hope to be the proud owner of a hogback.

Trevor, welcome to the beautiful world of BPL and the cottage industries. Henry, along with many other backpacking related business owners and gear makers, frequent these forums to better their service and products.

Their reputation for customer service is some of the best I've ever seen. Certainly you can buy with confidence and pride!

Aye there are a couple manufacturers that are on these forums and constantly answering questions. It gives you great confidence in their product and customer service.

Just ordered a Hogback for the fam. We're going to take our twin 4 yr old's BP this year. Should be here on Tuesday. I'll post some initial impressions and pix.

Trevor,
If you're in the Denver/Boulder area you could come take a look. As long as you're not a serial killer or something ;)

Chris

Chris,

Thanks for the offer to take a look at your soon to be new tent. I might have to take you up on this. The bad news is that instead of a serial killer I'm a cop.

-T

I've bought the hogback for my family- 1 wife and one 18 month old with an aim towards another. The thing is just gargantuan- I've only pitched it in the garden at the moment but the headroom and lying space is massive. The vestibules are small-you're not going to get much in there apart from a rucksack or shoes but there's a lot of storage space in the actual tent if you've got kids rather than all adults in there. You can stake back the groundsheet if you need to cook in there. It's possible to get up to a crouching stand in there to get dressed and it doesn't slope too heavily so it's all useable space. Best thing? It's 1837g on my scales. Pitches in two minutes with one person. To be honest, it feels almost too big for me, but my wife is absolutely delighted which is the main thing ;)

Simon,

Do you think there is enough room for 3 kids and 2 adults and accompanying gear? The kids will be carrying packs the size of large school bookbags.

Thanks for the info.

-Trevor

I would think that 3 smaller children would work just fine in there and have been considering it for our family as well. For what it's worth, as a comparison, we have had 2 adults + 3 children in a Hilleberg Keron 3 a few times with reasonable success. The dimensions were 64" x 87" and we had the 4 and 6 year old sharing a single rectangular sleeping bag – with their feet in the middle and heads at opposite ends…a great UL strategy for children imho. – a 30 oz. bag split between two.

Trevor,
As long as you bring me one of those get out of jail free cards, it's all good ;)

Chris

I think there would be enough room, depending on the size of the children and the size of the adults- me and my wife are also pretty small too ymmv. You could try marking out the floorplan and all lying down to get an idea (may make you appear like you've lost it a bit 'hey everyone-lie down in this square!')

I posted some pictures and first impressions of the Hogback here:

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?bo=watch&forum_thread_id=30464

cw

Edit: Fixed the link