Ok, I have probably spelled "obsessing" five different ways. Stupid multiple consonants.
So, Eureka Titan: Nice floor plan, easy to set up.
The walls have windows on each side so airflow is good (though the dense mesh is not as free-flowing as, say, windows at home).
Though I have hated electric sites in the past (chiefly because--I mean, this is camping, right? Can you say eco-footprint, and because it invites neighbors who want to listen to "Thar's a tear in my beer, 'cause I'm missin' you dear" country or 80's rock all day. Not that there is anything wrong with country or Van Halen), but I have learned to love having a small electric fan to truly keep the air moving in a tent and to keep the moisture down.
But, we like to camp up north--Wisconsin, Michigan--where it gets chilly at night, so we wanted a tent that could seal completely up at night. We did NOT want a mesh TOP because we thought we would loose too much heat (though obviously those are nice for cooling off the tent, etc).
Now to the one big downside, though the jury is still out whether it's the tent's fault or my fault.
Rain.
You know how rain can totally spoil a camping trip. "Oh, but you can sit and play UNO with your kids while listening to the pitter-patter of rain on the fly!" Surrrrrre, for about five minutes until your three year old comes crashing on the air mairtress trying out a WWF move on you, and the cards go flying.
Or, alternatively, you can watch people go running to the camp bathroom with their jackets over their heads cause they just can't handle it anymore inside the tent. Fun. Guilty pleasure. SOmething probably wrong about it, but fun.
And, oh, the Titan fly seemed to keep the heavy rainfall out of the window, so we could open up and watch. Sickos that we are.
But, I figured,
Incorrectly.
That if my $180 box store tent could keep rain out for YEARS without being seam sealed, my $500 tent ought to be able to keep rain out with out being seam sealed until someone finally buys that weiner rotating on the heating pad at 7/11, which will be like forever..
I was Wrong.
About the need for seam sealing.
But, right about the weiner (still rotating--I suppose).
Even though Eureka SENDS a water seal bottle with the tent, and explicitly tells you to seal the untaped seams, I did not.
So, I didn't seal the seams and a pretty good downfall (not a huge thunderstorm, just one good soaking regular rain) brought water seepling through the seams underneath both doors.
So, we had some damp sleepling bags and clothes from that one.
Worse, water seaped UP through the TAPED seams of the floor.
Oh brother! That one has me nervous because you really aren't supposed to have to seal factory-taped seams. Now, in the the tent's defense, I had sort of stuffed the excess end of the protective footprint tarp below the tent effectively forming a little water dam, so that a permanent puddle formed between the underside of the tent and the protective tarp directly on the ground.
Next summer I will cut a protective tarp that is slightly smaller than the footprint of the Titan and hope no more water comes up.
So, in sum: we love our little cabin in the woods, but it is not some magical fairy cabin that by virtue of being expensive doesn't require seam sealing or can have a puddle below it and not seap up.
I will be having a seam seal party next spring and hope to report that the cabin is bone dry next year.
Heck, I will even HOPE it will rain.
Not really.
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