Is it really worth dragging tents

we've decided to go the mini van route and wondering if we really need tents or is there some way to improvise in the van to get some sleep during van downtime.  any thoughts from anyone or other ideas besides tents?  i just have this feeling that nobody is going to want to deal with the tents for a 4 hour sleep.

It might depend on how fast your team is, but we are a slower team and the 4 hours or so of rest that we get in the tent is well worth it.  We bring 2 4-man tents that we are very familiar with.  We can put them up in the dark in about 5 minutes.  You do not want to be trying to learn how your tent goes up for the first time at 2:00 am. 

This will be our 5th year and this is what van 1 tends to do.  After our first set of legs, we get something to eat and then head out to White Lake State Park (transition #11) and throw our sleeping bags on the ground (or under the pavilion if it is raining) and grab a nap.  Van 2 contacts us and we cheer them on and then head over to VTA 2.  After our second set of legs, we head over to Bear Brook State park and put up the tents.

Van 2 doesn't bother with tents since the transition times and places are not as convinient for tents.  They do bring sleeping bags and use them where ever they can.

I'm also in van 1, and have never used tents. Two out of the last three years we've brought them and they stayed in the van, unused. This year we decided to not even bring them along. 

While not a super fast team by any stretch of the imagination, we really only seem to try to sleep at Bear Brook- after our first set of legs we get dinner in North Conway, and by the time we finish that and get to the Kenneth Brett school, we only have an hour or so before we're back running, so no time to set up tents.

We also seem to get to Bear Brook late enough that there really aren't too many places to set up tents, and it's approaching/ already is dawn, so it gets pretty loud.

The worst part about sleeping in the van is if you were driving to the transition area, you pretty much are stuck in the driver's seat to sleep. I usually drive this leg since I know my odds of actually sleeping are slim, so better let someone who will sleep be more comfortable. Although being there does let me put my feet up (along side the steering wheel), and I wrap myself in my fleece blanket, so it's not that bad. I just have to be careful not to hit the horn.

If you do decide to bring/ use tents, be sure you can set them up quickly, in the dark, exhausted. If it's going to require any effort on your part, odds are good you won't bother.

We really spoiled ourselves. My brother would go to Bear Brook and setup our camp for us so when we got there we would just roll out of the van an onto nice air mattresses and comfy sleeping bags. When van 2 approaches he cooks breakfast sandwiches for both vans, van 1 wakes up, eats and gets going while van 2 eats and goes to sleep. When it was time for van 2 to get going they just jumped into the van and took off while he cleaned up camp. That was for the two times we did the race, 2006 and 2007. I think I read now that they discourage additional support people from going to any of the VTA's. Anyway, if you have someone that lives close, it was by far the best way to go.

Is he for hire?