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Were the pegs that revolved L-topped wire pegs? If so they're notorious for revolving and throwing off the guys. Bloody awful things and should be banned imho. You practically have to bury them to get them to hold. Fine for inside pegging though, so don't throw them out.

Just want to check though, (you being newbies and all.) You did hammer them in at a 45' angle, with the points going back towards the tent, until the top was flush with the ground? I only ask because quite a lot of people start off with putting them in vertically and leave two inches sticking up, eek.

The V-profile pegs you got are very robust, btw, but they won't be ideal everywhere. They are best used for the big D-rings/webbing pegging points that hold out the corners of the pods as you can really get a good pull on the tensioning straps at this point. They're no good for pegging down the rings of the ring and pin system...here big 12" crook top pegs are ideal. 9" crook top pegs for the minor pegging points. Deltas for anything that involves a guyline.

Unless...you're on very hard and stoney ground, in which you need rock pegs for just about everything!

Tents will have been tested in very high winds so one can only deduce you did not put the thing up correctly in the first place !

Did you follow all the pitching instructions ?

As said above, did you put the pegs in at an angle?

1 Peg per guy line?

Quote: Originally posted by sam2009uk on 21/6/2009

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Tents will have been tested in very high winds so one can only deduce you did not put the thing up correctly in the first place !

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Well, I'd dispute that. Leisure tents are normally 2-season tents and not recommended for use in excessive winds ie winds above 30mph. Even if the forecast is for 30mph winds, there will often be gusts of up to 50mph mixed in. If not more. I think I can put up a tent as well as most and think I know most of the tricks but bottom line is that if the winds get too strong any big leisure tent will go down, however well pitched, positioned and sheltered. 

Hope you get your Deltas in time for your trip Faith - I'm going to get more plastic Deltas for the other guys as Val recommends (just got 4 metal ones at the moment) - the original ones were the L-shaped ones and I think we put them in properly, at an angle and hammered down etc. The tent did flap quite a bit so we could probably improve on getting it all a bit more taut as it goes up. Also, the ground sheet (which is sewn-in) seemed to flap about a lot in the night which was a bit disconcerting - the wind was whipping up underneath it so maybe not the best put-up tent.

Val - I'll look for some crook pegs - we already had rock pegs but didn't use them until the tent half blew down as the ground was quite soft. In the middle of the night, we were rummaging around in the trailer by torchlight and used every spare peg we could find and used some of the rubbish ones to double-peg etc.

Pam - i'm reassured to know that that site tends to be a bit windy as I was wondering if it would be the same anywhere. Maybe our next trip should be somewhere a bit more sheltered! It is a lovely site though and it's not far from us so we would pop there just on a day trip and would re-visit once we've sorted out the pegging properly.

Glad to see that it didn't put you off camping anyway

Quote: Originally posted by kippygirl on 22/6/2009

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Hope you get your Deltas in time for your trip Faith - I'm going to get more plastic Deltas for the other guys as Val recommends (just got 4 metal ones at the moment) - the original ones were the L-shaped ones and I think we put them in properly, at an angle and hammered down etc. The tent did flap quite a bit so we could probably improve on getting it all a bit more taut as it goes up. Also, the ground sheet (which is sewn-in) seemed to flap about a lot in the night which was a bit disconcerting - the wind was whipping up underneath it so maybe not the best put-up tent.

Val - I'll look for some crook pegs - we already had rock pegs but didn't use them until the tent half blew down as the ground was quite soft. In the middle of the night, we were rummaging around in the trailer by torchlight and used every spare peg we could find and used some of the rubbish ones to double-peg etc.

Pam - i'm reassured to know that that site tends to be a bit windy as I was wondering if it would be the same anywhere. Maybe our next trip should be somewhere a bit more sheltered! It is a lovely site though and it's not far from us so we would pop there just on a day trip and would re-visit once we've sorted out the pegging properly.

 

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You can use rock pegs as standard pegs in normal ground, remember. I had to do that two trips ago when I thought I'd forgotton the peg bag for that particular tent. (Then I found the peg bag, lol.. ) Sounds like you did all the right things eventually, but that the winds were just too strong for the tent that night.

Tip for the future...emergency kit lives by the doorway. Mallet, pegs, spare poles, duct tape, first aid kit etc. When you need any of it you don't want to be rummaging! Car keys and mobile should also be to hand somewhere in a place that everyone in the family knows about. Also it's worth having the mallet etc handy, just in case you notice a peg has worked loose or something. I make a point of walking round the tent morning and evening, just checking the lines and pegs. Only takes a minute and can save a lot of problems later.

Crook top pegs are very easy to find btw. You can get really good ones about 12" long and as think as a pencil for pegging the rings. It's always worth carrying a goodly selection of pegs plus extra guylines and sliders. (Make them up in advance though...not at 2am!)

I got some heavy duty pegs from an army surplus store, after finding some of the pegs supplied with my Vango Sigma+ bent after just one use, and some got lifted in the wind. These were standard metal J hooks.

I have not used Delta pegs before, however, I would get some when I need more pegs in future. Not for a while yet, as I got 2 packs of new pegs for this year and have not used them yet.

When I was spec'ing a tent to replace my Khyam Excelsior XL as it is too big to pitch on my own, I read about the need to use storm guys for the smaller Khyam QE tents like the Freelander that I eventually bought. So I got 2 packs of the storm guys and added one to each of the main pole pegging point, and still have enough to add another one if required.

I am glad I used the storm guys, as there was a really bad storm and strong winds for a couple of days, and the tent stayed put throughout, and I felt safe inside.

I am glad you have not given up on camping, good luck with your next trip!

I must get into the habit of checking the guys and pegs on a regular basis!

DK