Camp setup / gazebo help

[Brodie Tas]

Hi in the last few months I have brought myself a new boat so unfortunately my camp trailer is just a normal trailer now as I won’t be towing both around. We do more weekend camping then longer trips because I just don’t have the time to get away for longer times any more. So I’m thinking of buying a double swag for me and the wife my son already has a single swag and stretcher. So if we do a over night trip just chuck them under the car awning. But if we go for a weekend or longer I was thinking a kings 6x3 gazebo with a few walls in one half with the swags under that and leave the other half open for cooking and shade. Has anyone got any experience with the bigger gazebos? I can’t see setting one up would take much longer then the 3x3m ones. The reason I want the bigger one is because when fishing at the lakes here in tassie it can rain and snow so would rather the swags be covered up. Do yous think this could be a good setup or should I be looking at going another way?

Thanks Brodie

[Brodie Tas]

Or another the wife said was a 3x3 gazebo and use the awning walls of the 4wd awning on it so the should come out enough to put a swag under each one because the gazebo walls only come straight down

[Champin]

Hi Brodie. Most of my camping these days are swag under the annex. If it's going to be extra cold I  set up a cheap arse tent I've had forever. The tent, I find, gives me a bit of room to get dressed, and store a bit of stuff ( chairs etc ) out of the elements especially if it's raining or windy. It's a little dome type 4 person jobby that cost me about 20 bucks about 20 years ago. Packs up small too. I looked at the oztents and the like but they just took up way too much space for my liking. I do have a 3m x 3m gazebo but I  only set that up if it's pelting down.
It's pretty easy to set up and I would imagine the 6 x 3 would be similar. 

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[Champin]

Another plus for the dome tent is, the main part of the tent (without the fly) gives you somewhere to escape the mozzies and flies if you need a nanna nap.

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[britts]

If your wanting the space of the 6x3 consider 2 @ 3x3 you can get a gutter that goes between them, and they are much easier to put up and move around, the added benefit is you can just put 1 up if you need less space.

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[Brodie Tas]

Thanks guys the two gazebos might be the way to go at least if there’s not enough room to set them up side by side you could stagger them out in a camp site. I have thought about a tent but we already have the swag for the young fella and my dad said I can have his kings double swag his has it for a couple years and never used it so just adding a gazebo is a cheap option. The tents I have looked at are getting over the $500 mark because I like the quick setup ones with the awning

[clarky]

I agree with Britts. We have a supercentre gazebo and we are very happy with it. But it is as solid as... and with that comes weight. The thing is heavy and I reckon the 6x3 would be hard work, especially to put up on a car roof. That aside, we have used ours attached to our car awning, with an Oztent, just with the swags and with an Aldi awning tent. It is a very versatile pice of kit.

[#jonesy]

Setting up gazebos to do it easy needs 1 Person per leg and each take a few steps back.   You can get away with 3 and leave one leg on the ground.

 6x3 has 6 legs (6 people).

[loanrangie]

I sometimes use a 3x3m gazebo and find there is plenty of room for 2 swags, i set them up half under the gazebo so if it rains the water will just run off.
 Also use a 2.5x2.5m awning with 2 side walls with swags under them and still enough room for a table and chairs.

[Brodie Tas]

I sometimes use a 3x3m gazebo and find there is plenty of room for 2 swags, i set them up half under the gazebo so if it rains the water will just run off.
 Also use a 2.5x2.5m awning with 2 side walls with swags under them and still enough room for a table and chairs.

I was thinking about putting my awning walls on a 3x3 gazebo because they will come out like they do on the car awning no straight down like the gazebo walls. And that should free up a bit of room inside the gazebo for table and cooker and a bit of shade

[Pete79]

The 2 biggest issue with gazebos is Wind and Rain.
The first one makes them fly away and the second makes them fall down.

We have a heap of friends that do the gazebo and swag thing. It works for them.
A few are just couples and use the 3x3 and one family uses the double size.
I haven’t noticed any real difference in set up time between the different sizes.

But I have noticed how many afternoons and evenings we’ve spent running around trying to hold them down and tying them to anything that will stop them blowing away in gusty storms.
I’ve also heard the friends muttering many unpleasant things as they’re going around dumping the pooled up water out of the corners throughout plenty of raining nights. 

I’m a tent and tarp person myself.
The wife and I have been setting up our 3m X 6m tarp with 2 spreader bars for so long it’s pretty much second nature these days. Not as quick as a gazebo by any means, but not that much slower either.

Sleeping through the night and not having to worry about loosing our shelter is worth the extra 5-10 minutes setup time in my opinion.