Thread: Swag or tent??

Originally Posted by Recy Mech

Being a bit of a minimalist, old habits die hard, I'm from the 'Swag' school of thought.

Takes up far less room than a tent, ease of setting up - in all weathers, costs - well that is very problematical you get what you pay for.

I'm not convinced. All the one person swags I have ever seen have taken up more space than my centre pole tent that slept four people. Even when I added the space taken by our four sleeping bags, it still only occupied about the same space as the dozens of swags I have seen.

I have seen adults taking more time to set up some swags than the time my son spent erecting the tent when he was under ten years old.

Not only that, but the swags accommodated one person. My tent slept four and we could stand up to get dressed.

Originally Posted by Bundalene

As others have mentioned, they are a bit more bulky than the smaller tents, but I guess it comes down to what suits individual people and their requirements.

Hope this helps.

Erich

Camping where there are sometimes others around and having a wife and young teenage daughter who prefer to get dressed in private can make swags an unattractive option.

Another issue is that swags, in my case, would have involved buying four swags as opposed to just one tent.

I did a couple of trips years ago with someone whose idea of setting up camp was to throw a sleeping bag on the ground and crawl in - no tent, no swag, no groundsheet.

I did notice that when I did another trip with him over a decade later that he had graduated to using a tent. Perhaps having a wife and two children were the reason.

Originally Posted by vnx205

I'm not convinced. All the one person swags I have ever seen have taken up more space than my centre pole tent that slept four people. Even when I added the space taken by our four sleeping bags, it still only occupied about the same space as the dozens of swags I have seen.

I have seen adults taking more time to set up some swags than the time my son spent erecting the tent when he was under ten years old.

Not only that, but the swags accommodated one person. My tent slept four and we could stand up to get dressed.

Yeah, I was on a tangent thinking of those tent thingies on top of vehicles. There seems to be a plethora of that type up here in the Pilbara. So I automatically thought of them as opposed to the 'stand alone' variety.

Anyway, doesn't change my choice.....still a swag.

kuranda a frame swag

Originally Posted by Recy Mech

Yeah, I was on a tangent thinking of those tent thingies on top of vehicles. There seems to be a plethora of that type up here in the Pilbara. So I automatically thought of them as opposed to the 'stand alone' variety.

Anyway, doesn't change my choice.....still a swag.

Maybe those thingies up on top of the vehicle keeps campers clear of some of the life threatening critters that infest your part of Australia.

I know that when we camped at Sandy Billabong in the NT, my wife was rather nervous about the fact that there was was only our tent wall between us and any reptilian survivors from the age of dinosaurs that might crawl out of the water.

I wonder if that might affect someone's decision to avoid sleeping in a swag.

Originally Posted by vnx205

Camping where there are sometimes others around and having a wife and young teenage daughter who prefer to get dressed in private can make swags an unattractive option.

Another issue is that swags, in my case, would have involved buying four swags as opposed to just one tent.

I did a couple of trips years ago with someone whose idea of setting up camp was to throw a sleeping bag on the ground and crawl in - no tent, no swag, no groundsheet.

I did notice that when I did another trip with him over a decade later that he had graduated to using a tent. Perhaps having a wife and two children were the reason.

Understand that perfectly. When our 2 children travelled with us we had a tent but now we travel alone and usually bush camp, we prefer a swag. Both our children have swags which they use often... Andy especially uses his when he's on the road for work.

If we know we are camping out with others though, we normally pack our centre pole tent in the car. Like I said, each to their own.

Originally Posted by vnx205

I'm not convinced. All the one person swags I have ever seen have taken up more space than my centre pole tent that slept four people. Even when I added the space taken by our four sleeping bags, it still only occupied about the same space as the dozens of swags I have seen.

I have seen adults taking more time to set up some swags than the time my son spent erecting the tent when he was under ten years old.

Not only that, but the swags accommodated one person. My tent slept four and we could stand up to get dressed.

Quote: "I have seen adults taking more time to set up some swags than the time my son spent erecting the tent when he was under ten years old."

What you talkin about man, LOL, Regards Frank.

The plastic tarp over the swag is to prevent having to wait around in thew morning for the sun to dry the dew of the swag before you can pack it. Also as others have said, getting in while it is raining is a challenge in a swag.

For me, swag for overnight stops. Tent for longer stay when you want to spread your gear out a bit more. Yes clothing yourself standing up is more comfy.

Swags do vary a fair bit, some call a sheet of canvas folded in half with a light mattress and bedding a swag others differ little from a small one man tent in as far as they use fiberglass poles/hoops, fly wire, multiple zips and need to be pegged to get them to stand up. How much room they take up comes down to what end of that range you are talking about, how thick a mattress and other bedding you like to use. I know I can fit two three man tents and two sleeping bags in the space that my single swag takes up but I can set the swag up in 5 min whereas the tent would take 20 min.