Has anybody got any tips or ideas on the best way to erect a sun valley 8? Have received the tent last week and not sure if we will have a chance for a practice run before first use. Instructions don’t look that comprehensive - unless it is dead easy to erect of course.
1 Peg out the rear section of the tent.
2 Insert the rear most pole forming the arch shape.
3 Move onto the next pole, moving forward, pegging down as you go.
4 Continue one pole at a time untill you reach the front of the tent then peg out the front section.
5 Insert the sidewall stability poles along both sides of the tent.
Thats basically it !! you will probably need to move some pegs around to achieve the best shape but you're pretty much done except for the guide ropes etc.
OH one more tip !!
Before raising the tent, open up the two side doors.
Because this tent has a SIG it is effectivly a huge sack. This creates a vacuum inside the tent that works against you trying to raise it up. Opening the doors lets the air in and makes it much easier.
This takes us around 20-25 Min including Unpacking. It works for us but we are also open to any other suggestions.
The Outwell instructions tell you to insert all poles before raising the tent. we find this method makes the tent too heavy to raise with all the poles laying across the tent material. We were scared something was going to rip when we attempted to raise it.
Once you get the hang of it it IS relatively easy for such a large tent. The rear of the tent I assume to be at the opposite end to the porch - i.e. where the two larger pods are?? Yep thats it.
And when you say peg out the tent, do you mean the guy ropes or the pins at the poles? I mean the Pins at the pole ends.
As I said thats how we do it once you've put it up the once I'm sure you will find a way that suits you best.
Cheers
Roger
First we spread the tent out to orientate it, then put the poles in, then raise the tent with a 'temporary' peg at the front and rear middle guys to keep it upright (we don't find getting it up too hard as long as the zip behind the porch is not fully done up to let air in). Then tweak tent into its final resting place. Then peg out the groundsheet forgetting about the back section i.e peg only the bottoms of the poles. Next comes the guys. We only peg out the back section once everything else is done.
Make sure that when you are pegging the pins at the poles that the tensioners are loosened, and that you don't have any twists in the tape. Once the tent is all up tighten the tensioners.
Phew.
------------- somewhere in the world it's 5 o'clock
When putting it up, obviously so well thought through, how many people are assisting. We have the two of us + couple kids and are thinking of getting SV8.
How easy is it to pack away keeping inner clean with SIG, and any tips?
2 adults should do it? We use a tarp under the SIG , thus SIG may only be damp (not muddy). We took it down in the pouring rain last summer - me and 2 sons - and didn't have too much bother. It all seemed to go in the bag anyway! Obviously you have to unpack it when you get home to dry it out...
We find that it helps to keep disciplined about what footwear you allow in the 'inner' area. Doormats helped us a lot. We camped for 2 weeks (mostly in the rain) in the north of Scotland last summer and found it a good tent for us.
------------- somewhere in the world it's 5 o'clock
We have SV8 and find it is fine for 2 adults to erect. We pretty much follow the same routine as okitsme. Agree about raising the poles as you go along. We found it awkward the time we tried raising them all at the end.
We don't find the SIG a problem when packing away. We just fold the tent in half once, so that the SIG is on the outside, with all the material tucked inside. We can then fold/ roll repeatedly without getting the tent dirty.