jeez..what a pain

[joeyd]

Hi all

Just got myself a new tent after not camping for twenty years. I just moved down near Dartmoor and fancy a few nights wild camping on my own in the moors. Anyway, i'm used to the old style 2 man ridge tent, put it up in 5 mins etc. I just got a £45 2 man Dome tent from makro and it must have taken me an hour to put it up in the garden. Now i know with practice etc i will reduce the time, but nowhere near 5 mins. I realise the space savings etc of having the poles external, but jeez i got no chance of putting that up in the dark/rain/wind in under 1/2 hour.

Anyone else tried one of these, and if so, what are your opinions of them

Cheers Joey

ps

soon to be looking for an old style ridge tent on evilbay

 

[rik_uk3]

Very hard to pitch on your own, if your in high wind its really hard. I've got a 3 man dome, to be honest, that one needs two to pitch it. That said, the space compared to say a Force Ten ridge tent is wonderful. The nylon domes are also noisey compared to a cotton tent, takes some getting used to. I now use a single pole GoLite Hex 3, very simple to pitch.

 

[Lithril]

Have you got a picture of it, as dome tents shouldn't be that hard, usually the sticking points are pushing the poles through the tubes on the fabric. I can get a dome up in under 10, usually within 5 minutes, so it is possible.

 

[leon-b]

Have you got a picture of it, as dome tents shouldn't be that hard, usually the sticking points are pushing the poles through the tubes on the fabric. I can get a dome up in under 10, usually within 5 minutes, so it is possible.

same i can put up a dome tent in under 10 minutes, have you put up a dome tent before
leon

 

[Womble]

I suppose it's all down to practice. I can get a dome up in about 7-8 leisurly minutes, and can get my Jack Wolfskin Termite II up in well under 5 If I'm in a hurry. The Advantage of the wolfskin is that the out clips onto the frame, which saves an aweful lot of time... The Blacks Tiree used a simelar system, and is a little more intrinsically stable (and had a far more effecient porch) - but unfortunatley neither of these appear to be sold anymore.

 

[joeyd]

Hi

Cheers for the replys..........looks like there is hope after all. Your right about the poles, that bit took me quite a while, and it is the first time i've tried putting up a dome tent. In retrospect it is bigger than i need, but i was comparing it to my experience of old style ridge tents and fancied a bit more room that a one man tent. I will look to see if i can find a pic, but in the meantime i'll keep practicing.

If all else fails i will read a few of the threads on tarps etc (mind you, that limits your area on Dartmoor)

Thanks again

Joey

 

[stevec]

not too sure if its fly or inner first, i wasn't reading that closely! but my method for my old and cheap(now destroyed after lending it) dome was
make sure door zipped
peg out the rear corners
insert the poles and fix at the pegged corners
grab the poles as far apart as you can near to the door
and with a sort of a wrist-flick pop the top up
fix one corner, the other pole will did into the mud a bit,
fix the other corner, then peg fully.

i admit it took a bit of practice, this was a 2man dome from milits.

don't know if that helps

best regards
steve

 

[joeyd]

Thanks steve i will try that

Just took me a good 15 mins to take it down again, the problem being getting the poles out of the tubes

ah well........back to putting it up again

Joey

 

[gregorach]

The trick to handling the poles is to always push them rather than pull them. If you pull them, they tend to separate inside the sleeves and get caught.

 

[joeyd]

Ok....i'm officialy a muppet, i did try and pull the poles out. (didnt even think)

Talk about making life difficult for myself

At least i'm screwing up in the garden and not on top of a tor

All i need to do now is reduce the time it takes to put it up by 3/4 hour and i'm there

Joey

 

[Simon E]

My wife and I decidied a few years ago to have a long camping trip in Australia. The plan was for 3 months non-stop so I bought what I though would be the best tent for the job (The North Face Ambition 35) We could put this up in about 2 minutes after a couple of days, but, on your own it would be nigh on impossible.

What I suggest you try is to make a sort of tent peg that is the camping equivalent of a carpenters 'dead man' that is used to hold one end of platerboard as you are fitting it to a ceiling.

Get a length of steel like a long(150mm) bolt and grind a bullet tip on the end of it. Then get a length of thin walled steel pipe about 40mm long. Flatten one end as long as the head is wide and weld (if you have access to one) or use some of that uber glue that can be drilled to the head of the bolt.

Then, when you are setting up, put the 'dead man' in the ground at one corner of the footprint and push a pole end into it. This will give you something to push against and flex the pole sufficiently enough to get your end into the grommet or whatever your tent has.