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Quote: Originally posted by armchaircamper on 13/9/2011

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It's very misleading to suggest that the guys are an optional extra. I know some people get away with not guying out (DD and friends a week ago!) if there's no wind but the default setting should be to use the guylines.

So saying, I haven't bothered with the one at the front of the bell tent the last couple of times as it gets in the way of entering and exiting the tent. My back gets sore enough bending to get in the doorway without stooping under the guyline as well. But if it was windy I would peg it out.

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Quote: Originally posted by petemillis on 14/9/2011

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Quote: Originally posted by armchaircamper on 13/9/2011

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It's very misleading to suggest that the guys are an optional extra. I know some people get away with not guying out (DD and friends a week ago!) if there's no wind but the default setting should be to use the guylines.

So saying, I haven't bothered with the one at the front of the bell tent the last couple of times as it gets in the way of entering and exiting the tent. My back gets sore enough bending to get in the doorway without stooping under the guyline as well. But if it was windy I would peg it out.

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Sarah, there is a way to guy the top of the A-frame so you don't have to duck under a guyline, and that's by using 2 guylines instead of one. Just have them both going to the attachment point at top of doorway, and peg them out away from the door.

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Thats handy to know and quite obvious when somebody says it.. like an ahhhh moment !!!

Quote: Originally posted by Soup Dragon on 05/4/2010

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Oh. I thought they were clothes lines

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You beat me to it.

OK on the frame tents I may leave a couple of guys unused but not on a nylon tent.

Then only exception is when we garden camp in a little tent just for that purpose - but on site definately use all the gys.

"Guy ropes can give your tent added stability and are used on some tents when the conditions are extremely windy or there’s a combination of wind and heavy rain but the larger your tent, the less likely you’ll need guy ropes."

It's unusual advice but hardly worthy of the vitriol on here. I have large tunnel tents (Vango and Outwell) and neither use guy lines for their shape, the other pegging points both give it shape and hold it down. Unpredictable weather make full guys a good idea but it's certainly not essential.

The guy ropes are there to give the tent added stability when the conditions are extremely windy, the guy in the quote isn't lying.

I only used my corner guy ropes when I first got my tent as that's all that were tied to it, there was a seperate bag of guy ropes but I thought they were just spares in case the 4 corner ones snapped?

On the 3rd day I realised they were to tie around the tent hoops that I found all along both sides of said tent (Doh!)

In all honesty, the tent was stable even in light wind with just the 4 corners pegged and they were even staked down with them crappy tent pegs that bend like Baco-foil if a worm is in the way - so I'd say, yeah, the advice was pretty accurate.