Wind and a tent

[Tengu]

Was camping all last weekend.

It was rather windy, and the tent (a dome one) slatted annoyingly. I adjusted the guys, to no avail.

it got worse and worse, and eventualy I had a pole fracture and rip the fly sheet.

(lucky as I was packing up)

was this continual yeilding due to the fact the tent was getting slacker due to stretching?

I have had it five years, and has been my main tent. It was a cheapo one to begin with.

 

[Shewie]

Not a good weekend for tents

Domes are usually pretty good at deflecting the wind, if the guys were slipping though that won't have helped. Were you using knots to tension the guys or those sliding thingies ? Sometimes if the guyline is smooth and shiney they can slip in strong winds, that's not always a bad thing though as a little give can stop any stitching being pulled out. If it's fixable and you want to keep using it then I'd think about changing the guys for something a bit more grippy or look at something like Line-Loks.

Still if it was a cheapo then I don't think 5 years is too bad, it probably wasn't built for strong winds either so you've done okay out of it.

 

[Paul_B]

Dome poles cross in one point which is weeaker than geodesics which cross at several points giving more strength. AS a result Domes have a tendancy to flex. Unlike a tunnel tent which can deform a lot to take the force from the wind the crossing of the poles means a dome doesn't flex quite as much hence it reches breaking point. I knew a guy with a very expensive dome tent who spent the whole, windy night lying on his back watching the tent come down to meet him. Its not just cheap tents but cheaper tents can fail with the poles. It is down to quality of the poles I'm afraid.

Also if the poles are glass fibre they can snap sooner than a good or average quality alloy pole. 5 years could actually be good fro a cheap tent so unfortunately with the rip it sounds a goner but a goner that served well for the cheap price perhaps. If the pole had snapped without riping the tent you could try to buy replacement poles. There are companies that will make good quality replacement poles to the size required. IIRC its Hamptons or something like that.

Unfortunately I've never had a pole failure but my tents have failed with fabric (groundsheet) letting in water. A common failure if its not the poles or a tear that is.

You were not alone. I walked through a campsite and saw about 3 mangled tents in the bin area and then saw the remains of another left up a stream where it had faikled whikle up in the hills. The flysheet was pinned down by a rock and the rest was crumpled by the edge of the stream. SOmeone had put the rock on thr fly to stop it blowing away rather than taking it down for safe disposal. Idiots. They brought it up there so should take it down even if it had failed. It will be there for some time I reckon. Might get washed down or blown away perhaps but unlikely to get picked up i reckon. Just hate that sort of person. So inconsiderate.

 

[Tengu]

It cost me £20

and yes, it did bow down....more and more.

 

[Fizzy]

For five years use £20 was a good investment! Time for it to go gracefully to the big campsite in the sky

 

[rik_uk3]

Tengu the cheap tents tend to have few guy points and the fibre glass poles are a weak point. They are normally fine in the shelter of the woods but not good in exposed areas. Tesco have some in stock now for about £12.50 IIRC.

 

[Large Sack]

for what its worth you may have had one or more smaller fractures already without noticing...then things got progressively worse, rather than just an immediate failure. As others have said...not a bad investment though

 

[Nonsuch]

Sounds like it was £20 well spent for five years of fun. You can spend ten times that much (as I did on a Vango Spirit+ tunnel tent) and have the same result in just one night!
Geodesics are tougher but can still break at 10-20 times the cost. Sounds like you should just get another one !

 

[Lithril]

Did the tent fracture while you were actually packing it up, I've seen several people turn their tents into kits at the packing up stage. It's usually best in windy conditions to leave the pegs in the ground until the poles have been taken out.

 

[TFan]

Did the tent fracture while you were actually packing it up, I've seen several people turn their tents into kits at the packing up stage. It's usually best in windy conditions to leave the pegs in the ground until the poles have been taken out.

I learnt that the hard way last weekend in the New Forest. We had great fun holding on to the tent. Next time I'll leave the pegs in.

 

[Paul_B]

Trouble with geodesics is they don't flex in the same way. I know someone with the top of the range TN Quasar fully geodesic tent. Totally bombproof but it broke a pole while the tunnel tent next to it just flexed and survived intact. IIRC the tunnel was a Hilleberg so was also one of the best tent brands out there with excellent record.

Anyway the thing is geodesics rely on the strength of the poles and the structure to save the tent. The tunnel also has flex in the structure which might nto be nice inside it but can sometimes survive wind better than the admitedly stronger geodesics. I had a cheap tunnel that survived strong winter winds on the hillside without any guy lines too!! The guy in the quasar had less sleep than I did that night.

The reality is though Geodesics cope with snow loading whereas the tunnel can't but the tunnel can take wind better in some cases.

 

[Nonsuch]

I think it all depends on the tunnel tent. My Vango Spirit+ tunnel tent flexed so much the poles bent so they couldn't be used again. Hillebergs get a better rep.

 

[mrcharly]

I once had a £150 Saunders Spacepacker (about 20 years ago).
A gale in the lakes flattened the tent until it broke the pole.

I now camp in a £15 Argos tent. So far the worst gales have achieved is to damage a zip.

 

[gsfgaz]

For twenty quid after 5 years , get yerself a new tent ...

 

[Tengu]

Oh, I will

And I now have lots of bits....

 

[gandelff99]

paul b's right. i have/had a alpinite xt mountain tent,geo design,withstanding 100mph gusts it said, my backside, camped at the back of helvellylln one night and 100mph gusts flattened it with me inside,poles snapped outright ,didnt matter which way the tent was facing the wind direction came from evrywhere,ended up bugging out in no vis snow and winds to a sheep wall,where hunkered down in my bivi bag and spare sleeping bag,lessons learned from that one,
i also had a jack wolfskin mountain tent do the same ,and again did the bivi bag bug out,maybe theres just only so much a tent can withstand and no matter what you do to the guys and siting that cant help?

 

[Lithril]

That must have been an "interesting" night for you I pretty much always have my Alpkit hunka in the bottom of my bag for that reason. Geo's do have a tendancy to do that, they're either great or total failure, there isn't much in between, they're also usually a bit heavier. Saying that much easier to pitch/relocate on rocky grounds. Tunnels will take a lot more abuse if they're pitched into the wind correctly, pain the **** though when the wind changes direction.

 

[Tengu]

I think Id use my Vango Force ten in those conditions....

 

[Andy BB]

Spot-on, Tengu. If there is a more bomb-proof (or long-lasting) tent than the cotton Vango Force 10, then I've yet to hear about it! Expensive and relatively heavy, but will last a lifetime.