Fix old tent or buy new one

[BearLeader67]

Ok, five years ago when I started camping when my son joined the Cub Scouts we got a Northwest Territories Streamside 3-person tent from K-Mart as a Christmas gift.  That has been a great little tent.  Well the kids camped out in it last week in the room in the basement.  They took it down and stuffed it in a corner.  Well tonight I was going to get my son to pack it up correctly.  Well the shock cord was broken on one of the two tent poles.  I looked closer and noticed that at every joint the shock cord had worn down and was ready to break at all joints.  My son will be crossing over to the Boy Scouts in February.  So my question is should I try and get a new shock cord or new poles or should I just go get him a good backpacking tent and just let the kids have this old one and use it as a "fort" in the backyard?

Also if the consensus is to buy a new tent what are the recommendations?  I am thinking that since Scouts are always with a Scout buddy that he needs at least a two person tent.  Also they will both have a backpack so maybe a 3 person tent would be better.  My reasoning behind this is that since they will always be together then they can divvy up the tent and only have to carry half of it.  Also since they use the buddy system there should always be at least two Scouts in each tent.  So, what does everyone think?

[PastorLarryT]

I would opt to purchase a new tent rather than try to repair the worn poles, depending on the cost of the original and the projected cost of the new tent.

As to which new tent... wow, the field is somewhat staggering.  Guess I would consider what I absolutely "had to have" in a tent and how much I was willing to spend.  There are some very good Eureka two man tents out there - my brother just purchased one from Bass Pro recently and it seems to "fit the bill" nicely.  I really like the clips and ventilation of his Eureka.

Since your scouts will be paired up and can share the load, a little bigger tent would be fine, I think. 

[Nalgene Ninja]

I've been pretty happy w/ the Swiss Gear 2-man hiker tent I got recently. And the vestilbule is big enough to hold some gear.

[Nalgene Ninja]

Nice!

Just checked Spadout.com and you can get the same tent from Sunny Sports for 11 bucks cheaper there w/ free shipping.
http://www.sunnysports.com/Prod/KLTTGM2.htm

Spadout also shows a Eureka Tetragon 5 for $59.99. I would price match that w/ Altrec and get the free shipping.
http://www.ramseyoutdoor....amp;avad=1768_3839_ml_0_1

But w/ the Eureka you don't get the Aluminum poles and it's about 1/2 lb heavier.

Either way you're getting a good tent.

[Woody]

If the shock cord is the only problem you don't even have to repair it really. They are just there for convenience and do not affect the structural integrity of the tent once assembled. You may want to put a colored sticker on each pole to color code them so they are easier to put together once they are not connected anymore though.