Anybody got any ideas as to how to do this? I've bought a Quechua 3 second Air, and it has no porch area for removal of wet shoes, etc. I'm sure I've seen a photo of a contraption which solves this problem, but if you know how to do it, please give VERY detailed instructions, as I'm not that technically minded! I'll say 'Thank you' in advance, because I know the good members of this parish will come up with the goods! This site is addictive and brilliant!
Picture in my gallery of shelter I made a couple of years ago. Cant remember exactly what I did but it was a beach shelter which I cut up then atached in various ways. I know elastic went right underneath. It could maybe give you some ideas. Also Sunncamp had an awning type sail thing that atached with guys and elastic round front hoop. Good luck. PamJ
If you can't find the Quechua one, you can always make your own porch kit by getting a tarp, poles and pegs separately. That is what we did a couple of years ago and it really is the most versatile thing we have bought for camping - we can use it on all of our tents and also as a freestanding shelter too. (see pic in my profile).
I think I could manage to construct one of these now! Two questions though - how do you stabilise the poles in the ground (do you just drive them in and hope they stay up)? And does the back end of the tarp rest on the tent, or is it best to have a gap between the two?
The poles need to guyed up - in our homemade kit we have included lots of spare guys and pegs, so that we can guy up poles in any number of configurations- we usually have 2 guys on each pole.
You may need to play around a bit with guying the poles to work out the best directions to pull the guys out in, but there is a logic to it. If you imagine that the 3 guys plus the point of attachment to the tarp are the three points that need to pull in each direction to create a balanced tension that keeps the tarp nice and taut, then you add in the pole to push up the point where they all meet....a bit like putting up a tipi! Not sure if my description makes sense though.
And the back edge of the tarp needs to come over the edge of the tent otherwise you have a gap and will get wet when it rains and surely the point of a tarp-porch is to prevent that. Just guy the tarp down so that the tarp sits just behind the pole of the tent and won't move around in the wind - rubbing could eventually cause some damage to tent or tarp so keeping the tarp firm is important - check your guy ropes at least once a day, and more in high winds.
I've thought of one more question! Assuming I can't find a Decathlon tarp (think they're rarer than hen's teeth), and I have to buy a tarp elsewhere, what sort of poles should I buy and how many? Will I need anything else too?
Here's another vote for the Decathlon tarp. We bought a couple of additional upright poles, from our local camping store, so can use it between two quechua pop ups, to keep the weather off both doorways.
It is a versatile piece of kit, and packs up to nothing.