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1970s tent

1970s tent


Postby Bombaybadboy » Sun Jun 20, 2021 1:44 pm

Hi everyone just wondering if there is anyone else out still using a 1970s tent. I bought my Robert Saunders Fellpine in Aberdeen (Marshalls) 1976. Yes we aberdonians are tightfisted apart from a slight tear on the outer sheet it's in great condition
This photo was last weekend at Scourie. :D
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Re: 1970s tent

Postby Tringa » Sun Jun 20, 2021 3:42 pm

I can't go back as far as the 1970s but have

a Vango Force 10 Mark2 classic. It was one of the few tents that survived 23 hours of rain and a gale unscathed at Edinbane campsite sometime in the early 1980s. Frame tents were being flooded and poles snapped in others. The Vango just sat it out, though after the rain stopped when we hit the groundsheet a ripple would travel along it from the water underneath,

a Robert Saunders Jetpacker plus, and

a Robert Saunders Spacepacker plus. This was probably last used about 6 years ago at Ullapool.

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Re: 1970s tent

Postby Marty_JG » Sun Jun 20, 2021 11:26 pm

You have a piece of still-living history with a Bob Saunders, something to remember a pioneer by. Cherish it.
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Re: 1970s tent

Postby Caberfeidh » Mon Jun 21, 2021 8:57 am

I still have a Saunders Spacepacker. Not a great deal of space, but very light and a great wee tent. I remember being battered in the face by it constantly all night long in a hurricane force wind at Loch A'an in the Cairngorms. The knee-deep snow melted overnight and we arose to find the loch lapping into our tent. I tried to put on my gaiters but the wind tore the gaiter from my hand and in the time it took me to turn my head, the gaiter was halfway across the loch. Why didn't I doss under the Shelter Stone? Because I wanted to use my Saunders Spacepacker of course... :shock:
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Re: 1970s tent

Postby Mattsmyname77 » Wed Jun 23, 2021 5:36 pm

Just done the Southern Upland Way and borrowed a Robert Saunders Spacepacker, fantastic tent. Wish I could get one!
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Re: 1970s tent

Postby gaffr » Mon Jul 05, 2021 9:04 am

One of my early tents was I think a copy of the early Saunders ...big pole at the front and a wee one at the rear. :)
Thereafter we used a Saunders Basecamp for some time and later on the larger size of the Spacepacker tent.
I still use both the 'copy' and the Spacepacker.
Paliri camp.jpg
The Spacepacker used at a very rocky site.....some wooden planks used to make sleeping easier.
Camp at Carozzu DSC_0049.JPG
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Re: 1970s tent

Postby WalkWithWallace » Mon Jul 05, 2021 10:09 am

I picked up a Robert Saunders Jetpacker tent for £15 from a house clearance, one of the pegging out points needed sewn back on otherwise it was in good condition. Sold it for a small profit, but bit of me wish I kept it.
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Re: 1970s tent

Postby Thataway » Mon Jul 05, 2021 12:38 pm

I still have my Black’s Good Companions Standard tent, complete with A frame poles and flysheet, and extended flysheet.
I bought it all new with my earnings from tattie pickin around Banchory in about 1964.
Been used lots, though currently residing in the loft.
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Re: 1970s tent

Postby gaffr » Mon Jul 05, 2021 1:45 pm

The Good Companions Tent....didn't have one of these although some of the Ferranti folks I think had these tents.
Is this model kind-of based on a Bell tent design? Long time ago so I could be wildly out here. :)

....also an image that I was searching for earlier.
Taagen camp 1981 Loch Maree.jpg
The earlier Saunders Basecamp tent that we used in 1981.
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Re: 1970s tent

Postby Thataway » Mon Jul 05, 2021 2:19 pm

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Re: 1970s tent

Postby alan gauld » Fri Mar 11, 2022 3:16 pm

I still sometimes use my Saunders Fellpine, bought in 1978. The neoprene peg loops are slowly breaking up but bungees work and weigh less. I wouldn't trust it in a winter storm anymore but it's still the lightest tent I have if I only take the fly (2.5lbs). I last had it out in June 2019 on Suilven...
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Re: 1970s tent

Postby Ewen1966 » Wed Mar 23, 2022 8:32 pm

I bought my Fellpine in 82 when I was 16.It was green, not orange and it went all over Europe. The Poles went missing at one point so got replaced and the rubbers had to be replaced but it was uv that got it in the end.
The groundsheet had gone and then the fly started as well. It eventually ripped but it had seen a lot of use. I'd love to have a similar tent and remember thinking 4lbs 6oz was ultralight then. The only thing is I doubt I'd get in and out of it now.
We regularly fitted two in it but that was the days of kipping on a karrimat so more room. I also could sit up in the doorway and cook.
I do have a force ten MK3 aš well and remember when you would see them everywhere up the hills. It used to be force 10s, Saunders or ultimate tents everywhere.
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