Hopefully someone can give us a bit of advice. We have only just got our Montana 12 and used it for its first time this week ( we did try it quickly over the park before we went ). We found it very difficult to erect. I followed the instructions from the review of it on this site and they were extremely helpfull. We left all the doors unzipped, but found it very difficult to pull up the ends. All in all, it took 4 of us ( 2 adults and 2 children ). We got the first end up and pegged in the guy ropes to hold it and then when we were getting the second end up the first end fell down towards the guy ropes. With all the strain we had to put on it, I really thought the tent was going to rip. When we eventually got the 2 ends up, the rest was really easy. We all thought it was a great tent, but really did struggle to erect it. Is there some trick for getting the ends up, because everyone comment we have seen says that its easy to erect. For example, when do you peg down the corners, before or after the ends are up.
We found doing both ends and then the middle on the 6 easiest. We only put the front and back poles in to start with. It might be worth putting the guys on the side by the back pole forward just so it stays up while you put the front one up. Whatever method we've tried it does feel like really hard work to pull the pole up and you feel like the pole will either break of the fabric will rip but so far ( fingers crossed ) no problems. We only peg the bottom of the tent down if it is windy as you need to adjust it all once the poles are all lined up anyway.
Good luck with it, it's still a darn site easier than some tents though.
Did you put all the roof poles in before trying to erect one end ? This will add some weight but counters the guys on the end you first erect and then it shouldn't fall.
I havnt tried the start from one end approach myself because you are awlays working against the weight of the tent
I did it exactly as your fantastic review. The method works perfectly, its just seems so heavy getting the ends up. But then again, it was only the 2nd time we have tried it so I guess with experience it will become a bit easier. I guess different methods work for different people. We will be puting it up again tomorrow just to give it a clean, so I will try a few methods.
we have a monty 12 and basically we follow camper-petes instructions,but i go inside the tent and push the poles up so the other half can secure tent....(i do have a beer in hand whilst performing this task!!!!) 15 minutes and the tent is standing fairly securely!!!! last year we put the tent up in rain and gales and on a hot sunny day and its been ok, although the tent is heavy and we do have a FEW choice words!!!
I had a play with the Monty 12 today while I was cleaning it. It looks like, for me anyway, the easiest way is to start at one end and work down. The whole process took about 20 mins and I didn't have to strain once. In-fact, I only had a little bit of help from my 11 year old daughter and could have almost done it on its own. It was fairly windy today as well and I was working in a confined space ( The Garden, and the tent just fits with hardly any room to walk down the sides ). I think everyone has their own method that works for them, but this seemed to be the way to go for me.