A quality camping marquee is the perfect accessory for any outdoor trip. Your folding marquee has so many uses that you’ll wonder how you ever managed without this handy piece of kit. With a simple setup consisting of just a frame and a roof, you’ll be able to create valuable shade from the sun. Whether you’re at the beach or in the mountains, your party can stay cool, and safe from sunburn and dehydration. For picnics and shorter trips, when you don’t want to go through the hassle of erecting a tent but need some privacy, a marquee with walls provides an ideal area for changing into and out of bathing and sports clothes. Not to mention that one can easily check out expert camper for some of the best options.

A quality camping marquee can provide the perfect space for setting up a picnic table. With the shade it provides, food is kept cooler, the sun is kept away, and, with just a hint of wind blowing through, you’ll stay comfortable and relaxed while enjoying a delicious lunch or some refreshing drinks. But we know the Australian weather isn’t always so predictable. What if it rains? No need to retreat to the car or huddle inside a tent! With a camping marquee, your group can take shelter and your kit can be stored, safe and dry, under the roof. Sit around your table and enjoy some drinks while you wait for those rainclouds to pass.

Table of Contents

Organise Your Space

Tough, Yet Lightweight

Pick Your Quality

Choose the Right Marquee Cover

Polyester

PVC

Innovative Solutions

Degree of Protection

Choose the Right Marquee Frame

Ease of Assembly

Think about Safety

Think about Transport

Consider the Load

Do Your Research

Customer Feedback

Company Track Record

Product Warranties

External Verification

Customer Service Quality

Time to Hit the Road

Organise Your Space

On longer trips, keeping your gear organised and easy to find can be a challenge. When you store things in your tent, the interior gets crowded. Leaving things in your car can mean you have to hunt for them. A quality camping marquee gives you the space to store your essentials out of the sun, but within easy reach. If your marquee has walls, this can provide additional security. It becomes the ideal space to store your kit, games, sports equipment, surfboards, etc.

Tough Yet Lightweight

Given how many uses it has, you won’t want to set off from home without a quality camping marquee! What this means, though, is that over the years, your easy-to-use folding marquee can expect to withstand some pretty rough treatment. It’ll be thrown in the back of your car, carried and dropped, set up and dismantled in different environments and under various weather conditions. You’ll need an easy to use folding marquee that is strong and durable, as well as lightweight.

Pick Your Quality

There are $50 marquees, and there are $1,000 marquees as well. While you may only be planning your camping trip once or twice a year, think about the conditions you are setting up in. Will a cheap, flimsy unit withstand the tough wind, rain, humidity, dust, and mud thrown its way? Would you trust it to store your valuable equipment or to house you or your family? If you can’t be sure, don’t buy it! To help you select the quality camping marquee for your needs, and get the most benefit from it, check out this handy guide to the five most important things to look for before you buy.

Choose the Right Marquee Cover

There are a number of options to choose from on the market. Make sure to make the right choice so that your marquee will perform well over the long term.

• Polyester

Polyester covers are lightweight and typically waterproof, making them great for short trips. It is not something that can be left and forgotten for weeks or months, as it is not designed to handle torrential rain or coastal winds.

• PVC

PVC covers are more durable, and the best option for lengthy camping holidays or for setting up under harsh weather conditions. But with its strength comes a loss of convenience, as PVC is much heavier. This makes them more difficult to carry, transport, and adds time to your setup/pack down.

• Innovative Solutions

However, there are other solutions! Select a newer fabric such as Technishelter’s NextUV, which is not only lightweight and abrasion-resistant, but also carries a 5-year guarantee against loss of strength. In addition, there’s a ‘no-significant fade’ guarantee, also for 5 years, meaning that your marquee will stay looking bright and new for longer.

• Degree of Protection

To provide adequate safety and weather protection, the fabric you choose should carry proper certification for sun protection, flame retardancy, and waterproofness.

Choose the Right Marquee Frame

Marquees made to a specific price point may seem like a bargain at first, but it’s important to consider their lifespan, given regular use. Once the frame snaps, bends or rusts, your marquee becomes useless, and the whole unit will need to be replaced. So, choose a frame made from a resilient, rust-free material such as aluminium, which will last you for years to come.

• Ease of Assembly

Another thing for you to ask before you buy a camping marquee: how is the marquee assembled? Will you need to mess around with screws and tools, which parts can break or go missing so easily? The easiest and most popular marquee style is the pop-up marquee, as it requires no assembling of parts. All you need to do is unpack it, and secure the frame. Quite often, the marquee top can remain on the frame after your first use, making it even simpler for packing down and setting up again in the future!

Think about Safety

For safety reasons, make sure your marquee has been well-engineered and will handle a range of different climates. It is also important to consider additional weights or tools to secure your marquee in windy conditions. Pegs and ropes may not be strong enough to keep a camping marquee secure, and there’s a risk that your marquee will pick up and get blown away by strong winds. This would endanger anyone in its path, as well as cause damage to the marquee itself. Consider purchasing accessories such as cast-iron leg weights to ensure the structure remains safely attached to the ground. A responsible vendor will be pleased to offer expert advice as to what’s needed for your particular choice of frame.

Think about Transport

Before deciding which marquee to buy, consider how you’re going to transport it. It will need to fit easily into your car, along with all your other equipment. Any quality camping marquee should come with a carrying case. To make sure that your marquee is stored correctly and protected from accidental damage, this has to be strong and durable, too.

• Consider the Load

Finally, don’t forget to take weight into consideration. Ensure it is a weight you are comfortable with, without compromising the quality required for your use. It is usually recommended to set up with two people, so a good quality 3m x 3m for example, should be achievable. If you are on your own, consider getting a smaller marquee size or two, so you don’t lose out on your needed space and can continue to set up safely.

Do Your Research

A quality camping marquee is a great investment, but before making a purchasing decision, it’s important to do your research to find out what is on the market and to locate vendors with a reputation for the quality you want. Among the points to look out for:

• Customer Feedback

Check their online customer reviews for frank opinions and see if their claims are backed up by the experience of their existing customers.

• Company Track Record

Look at their company track record and depth of experience. How many years have they been in the business? Do they specialise in marquees, or are marquees just one of their many product ranges built to a price?

• Product Warranties

Do they offer express written guarantees to back up their claims for their products? Ask how long the warranties are for and what is covered. This will give a good indication of how much confidence they have in the quality of their products.

• External Verification

Can they provide any independent validation of their claims, for example in terms of sun protection or water resistance?

• Customer Service Quality

Before you commit, contact them by phone or email to assess the level of customer service you can expect.

Time to Hit the Road

A good quality camping marquee will add to your enjoyment and safety on outdoor trips for years to come. Just take the points above into consideration when you’re deciding which marquee to purchase and you can be sure that you’ll be making a great investment. Happy camping!