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Hi I would have all poles loose, not in any hole position, until I had the corners over the bed boards. And, the velcro in place first.  then erect them equally both sides together. You may have to stretch the canvsas again after a good soaking. Our 99 Pathfinder never goes past the third hole at the best of times.

Also try a  candle rubbed along the zip to lubricate it whilst canvas is 'down'. DO NOT use any sort of WD40 type spray on zips.

it sounds like the canvas has shruck over time,you can restreach it by setting it up soaking the canvas when you think it is wet soak again.once it is well soaked you should be able to start pushing your poles out to streach the canvas.you may have to do this a few times.

the fact you had the trouble in the first place sounds like the canvas dried a fair bit as you traveled home allowing it to shrink.

our bed corners are slightly ripped (seams undone) and have been like that from before we bought it.  The seams are apart up to where they meet a seam going across so won't go any further but it does mean that we can pull over the corners I little easier.  I have thought of sewing them back up but have put off for now.

We seem to have our canvas slightly off centre going sideways and this tends to cause problems attaching awnings via the zip though

No, I wouldn't do anything untill trying the 'wetting' and stretching method.

My 2007 Pathfinder shrunk once due to a very long journey home while wet and I could hardly believe how short it was !  I didn't need to hose it down as it started raining anyway and I just stretched it a couple of times over the next few hours. Dried fine and never happened again.

Hi, we had the same problem this weekend. We had to pack up in very wet conditions. We couldn't put the tent back up on Sunday, so had to do it when I got home from work last night. It had already started to dry, and I knew it was going to be a b*tch! from past exerience and this is the method I employ.

The trick is to get all the bracing poles in place, (DO NOT RAISE ANY OF THE VERTICAL OR PULL OUT  THE DIAGONAL POLES) pull over the canvas on both sides, and then pull each of the corners, one end at a time over the bedboard corners. Make sure you do the velcro and bungy cords. Attach the sides to the velcro side rails. Then go inside and push up the poles and the diagonal bed poles. These can be hard to do, and I usually lie on the bed and push out with my feet to get them onto the first hole.

At this point I wait for it to rain again, and then go back and put all the poles onto the second hole. Wait to dry and pack away. Obviously you could use a hose and give it a soak if no rain is forecast.

Hope that helps.

Mark

never thought canvas could shrink like that,when you say to wet it,how wet do you mean?would a dosing of water do?or completely drench it?would you need to let the water soak in before tensioning the poles?

only asking as we have just got a pathfinder,and no doubt it will happen to us

Interesting thread.

Our Pathfinder is a 2002 that we bought secondhand. We have never managed to get it past the first hole on each pole. Even some of those can be difficult to get to. My OH made uses this to push out the difficult ones.

Due to mouse damage (prior to us owning it) we had to clean and Fabsil the whole canvas when we bought it. Does anyone know if this will prevent us using the wet/stretch method to stretch out the canvas?

We are all tall so it would be great to be able to raise the roof to its highest.