Over there in the USA you have a pretty good line up of decently-priced canvas wall tents, bakers or even whelens which will do the job on a vehicle-borne expedition.
Unless I take a significant other I usually sleep in a swag under the stars or under a canvas tarp or nylon hootchie if the weather is bad, but I do own a few larger canvas tents.
You guys have seen these?
They're called a bell tent and are very popular with VW Kombi campers and the like in the UK and Europe, and they are starting to be sold by a lot of places in Australia too. They're styled in similar fashion to an old-timey British army bell tent, but have a sort of A-frame over the door which keeps the rain out. They are popular with glamping outfits and with festival goers. I was interested in them because of their heritage. They date back to at least the early 1700s as a military tent design - and probably earlier.
Similar sized military bell tents in use in the UK by British Army personnel in the 1910s.
I was tasked with torture testing a 4m model over a period of six months. It went all over the country with me in the back of the landcruiser, hell I even took it canoeing. It has mosquito net doors and a zipped in heavy duty groundsheet. The tent stood up well to some of the word rain and hailstorms we've had for decades around these parts and the only time I saw water in the tent was when it was dripping off my hat when I poked my head in.
The test tent - taken during a canoe trip. Probably why chicks dig these tents.
For a couple, or a couple and one or two kids it's awesome. Heaps of room, light and airy inside and you can even roll the sides up for a cross breeze in hot weather. To pitch it takes me just under 10 minutes by myself. You stake out the groundsheet, erect the single central pole, put the door A-frame in place then just stake out the guy ropes. So simple, even I can do it. Downside is that it's canvas so it requires special care and handling, and the whole weighs around 23kg (50lbs). I liked it so much that when I gave the test model back I bought one just like it.
Fast forward another couple of years and I've gone and bought a more old-fashioned version of the same thing.
Looks the same? Sure. There's a few important differences though. Gone is the peaked doorway and zippers. It's replaced by a set of angled doors with dutch lacing closures. There's no attached groundsheet. It comes with a flimsy lightweight plastic thing that I won't use. There's no insect netting either. The steel poles and stakes have been replaced with wooden ones, the guy line adjusters have gone from steel triangles to old fashioned timber adjusters. The guy lines themselves are hempen laid ropes as opposed to the kernmantle nylon cords on the other one. The tent is much lighter and the bulk is reduced considerably compared to the "modern" style. When packed up the package is more square and flat so it's easier to pack.
Dutch lacing door closure system on a vintage style bell tent.
The thing I like about this particular vintage style bell tent is that it's the same basic dimensions as the modern 4m bell tents like I had previously, so I can easily buy off the shelf an inner net tent for when I have company, and other things like lightweight groundsheets and such.
The modern tents are made in China, so you can get them off Aliexpress. I paid under A$500 (approx US$400) for mine and they are almost as cheap on the Bay of E. The vintage style one comes from Canvas Tent Shop out of the UK and I think it cost me about A$550 (US$440) shipped. That's minus the 20% VAT tax that overseas folks don't have to pay on UK purchases.
They are easy to pitch, roomy, old-timey, waterproof if pitched properly, they look good, your wives/girlfriends will love them and want to go camping every weekend - which may or may not be a good thing.
If it's just you and a couple of mates on a hunting trip it's a good base camp tent. You can accommodate 4 or five people and their gear with ease as long as you have a tarp pitched outside as a kitchen, sittin' area for bad weather. It's better than a US army pup tent but I still wouldn't want to be cooped up in a bell tent for days on end with a couple of buddies due to bad weather.
