Pavilions

It seems like you can't be considered a serious player in the SCA unless you have a pavilion. After all, they are what gives an event that period feel. And the amount of room they give is just incredible. I mean, being able to stand up and change is just a wonderful thing. But there are some drawbacks to pavilions. They're not cheap, to begin with, but to me, that's only a minor consideration. To me, the main drawbacks of a pavilion are the storage space, the maintenance required, and the manpower necessary to set one up.

Even a large modern tent will fit in a duffle bag - poles and all - and might weigh as much as 20 pounds. When you compare that to a small pavilion (I'm using a GP-Small for reference - about the equivalent of a 10' round), you're looking at about a 3'x2'x1' tent that weighs 40 pounds plus poles plus stakes plus ropes. You're not going to fit that in a Kia.

Another issue is the maintenance requirements for a pavilion. Canvas rots. Now if you put away a modern tent wet, even though it's not advisable because of mildew problems, your tent won't dissolve if you forget and a little bleach will fix the problem. With a period pavilion, you have to make sure its stored dry, otherwise the canvas will start degrading. Which means you have to either wait for it to dry before you pack up or lay it out when you get home, and canvas doesn't dry nearly as fast as nylon.

The final issue I see is the manpower issue. There are very few pavilions that can be set up by a single person. For smaller pavilions, you need at least 2 people, and as anyone who's helped set up the royal pavilion can attest to, the really large ones require an army. Of course, this is the SCA and finding willing volunteers to set up a pavilion usually isn't a problem.

But in spite of these drawbacks, pavilions are still wonderful things. As I said earlier, nothing adds to the flavor of an event as much as rows of pavilions. And not only are they roomier than most modern tents, but they stay cooler as well. You won't see too many people sacked out in their nylon tumbleweed on an afternoon at Uprising, but it isn't all that rare to see a group of ladys escaping the heat of the day in a pavilion. And you won't asphyxiate if you run a tent heater in a pavilion.

All that being said, I probably won't ever get a pavilion. And for me, it's the manpower issue that's the deciding factor. A personal quirk of mine is that I don't like relying on other people. There's no good reason for it, I just don't. And since I usually don't take my family on events, I need something I can set up by myself. That's why I've got a tent I can set up by myself in about 15 minutes. At least that's what I've used for the last... forever.

My wife wants to do more mundane camping. And given the realities of camping in Montana, she wanted something she could heat so she doesn't have to worry about the kids. So we've been looking around and found ourselves a used camper. It's actually a little bit smaller than my big tent, but it's waterproof, windproof, and comes with a heater. Which leaves me wondering if I want to use it for Uprising. I'd be relegated to camping in the trailer park, but a stove, a real bed, a closet.
And it's almost a 1-person set-up camp. The only time I'd need someone else's help is when I hook it back up to the truck. If only it had an air conditioner or a shower...

It looks like I've got two months to decide...