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      I have just purchased a Kampa Perran 4 for weekends away and am struggling to put it up alone .It only has 3 poles but can't seem to lift it up on my own.I wondered if anyone had any advice.Don't want to break the poles on my first outing with it this weekend.

I often pitch dome tents on my own, and it can be a problem. The way I do it, is to do the first pole flat on the ground, and fit both ring and pins, then lift it and fit the second pole into the pin system. Then fit the front pole after. (all poles being fitted through the sleeves first)

Having said that, I have a Relum geodesic with five poles, and I managed to break two poles last week. Turned out I had mixed the poles, and had a longer pole through a shorter pole sleeve.

I just had a look at a picture of your tent. Was thinking about a two pole dome style with front porch using the third pole.

I wonder if perhaps you could take some sort of inside pole with padding to support the roof from inside while you fit the remaining two poles. Perhaps if you peg the four corners down first to hold the basic shape that would help.

The Perran does come with 2 porch poles so i could try proppping it up with them .Thanks for the interest i'm sure i'll have fun experimenting.

Be careful not to puncture the fabric with the tip of the porch pole. A tennis ball with a hole in the bottom on the tip of the pole should stop this happening. The rubberish exterior of the tennis ball should be strong enough to stop the pole piercing it.

Must admit there is no way we can pitch our Kampa Bude 4 single handed. Its easy with a second person going inside but hopeless without. I tried lifting the poles but the weight of the fabric plus other poles just held the centre of the dome to the floor. Hadn't tried just putting in one of the poles on the pins before lifting though...which may be worth trying, especially as the Perran has a lighter weight flysheet and shorter pole sleeves so you should be able to add the other poles after its up (won't work for our Bude though with its long pole sleeves).

You could also try lifting with one of the cross poles and the centre pole pinned on the ground, as the fly should accommodate this.

Good luck!

Quote: Originally posted by vealmike on 17/10/2011

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Lay tent flat.
Insert poles fully, but do not bend into position.
Poles will stick out of the canvas at one end, the other end will be fully enclosed - OR the other end will have a pin that fits into the pole. Fit the pin.

Peg the groundsheet at the end of the pole that is fully inserted. Repeat for second pole.

Grasp canvas at the loose end of the pole and feed pole into canvas. Pole will bend, canvas will tighten. You may push against the pegged end of the pole (that's why you pegged it.)

Should be a doddle.

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