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I've had a brainwave but I'm not sure if its a good one or not!!!

Over the last few years we have bought 3 tents and a gazebo for camping...( I have just been made redundant so cant afford any more expensive buys, like day tents etc)......we have never used the gazebo..........it was a bargain sturdy metal one but after reading stuff on here we decided not to risk it whilst camping + our last and favorite family tent buy was a huge 9 berth royal montpellier and we thought we couldn't get in all on a pitch anyway.

Anyway........my question is.......the montpellier doesn't have a particularly big porch so cooking in the rain is a problem as I wont cook inside the tent.

So I was thinking could I do a d i y porch canopy thingy. We have porch poles to stick the porch up at the front of the tent........I thought attach a tarp to these use another set of canopy poles we have and rig a sort of 5 ft extension to the front of the porch......somehow I thought i might be able to suss out how to bring a bit down the side as well........and then peg out securely. I would only set this up if it was raining!

Its working inside my head, but until I get my tent up and have a fiddle I'm not too sure of how sensible this might be.......I've just stuffed my back up so we have had to cancel 1 trip out already, and waiting for physio we may not make it out for a few more months yet........if at all this year   

does anyone else have a diy rigout.....does this make sense.........I would luv to see photos if anyones got any........or am I just TOTALLY MAD!!

sharon x

Hi giggler, sorry to hear of your misfortunes. We have done exactly this to create a side porch area for our Vango QUest 600. I had a spare pair of porch poles from an earlier tent, and got a new pair of adjustable ones (by Hi gear) and a good quality lightweight tarp that packs really small - that did cost about £48 but its a very good German make (weschel see here) but you can do this with any kind of tarp really.

The tarp is 3m by 4m with various eyelets all around the edge, and it came with lots of guys. We attach one of the short(3m) edges to the pegs down the long edge of the tent (its a tunnel tent) using its guy ropes (Delta pegs are great for this!) and then throw the tarp over the top of the tent. We then prop it up on the adjustable poles halfway along its length on the other side of the tent, and make these poles longer than the final pair which go into the end of the tarp. This double set of poles therefore ensure that the tarp slopes and does not collect rain. We put an windbreak around this covered area and in creates a sheltered spot for cooking and eating, and jus twatching the world go by!

I notice that Coleman are now doing porch type tarps this year- maybe they stole my idea!!

Decathlon in France were selling just this sort of thing last year...unfortunately they were out of stock so we couldn`t get one. It was 3m x 3m, had eyelets at regular intervals along all sides and  one in the centre and they showed it pitched in a variety of ways using four spike-top awning poles.

We had friends camping near us on the same trip ...they were in a porchless Vango Vista so had a tarp rigged up as a porch outside the door.

Guess what I bought this year? Spare set of porch poles, a few miles of guyline and spare sliders. I need to get a decent quality tarp, but in the meanwhile am taking a 3m x 2m B&Q one out the garden shed. I want to try rigging up a cooking shelter on the side of our Cadiz...it has brass eyelets in the pole sleeves so somewhere to attach one edge of the tarp to.

Will let you know. My one concern is safety of these home made things in high winds, so whatever it is, I think I`ll take it down at night and when we`re out for the day. That`s no different from dropping a porch door though.

Thanks guys

I KNEW it was a good idea. I've been putting it to my very sceptical husband for a while now....he has not been convinced.

I've just shown him your replys and hes starting to come on board now. I am hoping he has been swayed by the ideas of more experienced campers (we are in our 3rd year now and still finding our feet a bit) and it is not because I am just the dopey old wife coming up with more loopy female ideas, but now its been backed up by BLOKES (at least i think you are...sorry if your not!) it might not be so daft after all!!!

sharon x

Quote: Originally posted by giggler on 29/4/2006

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, but now its been backed up by BLOKES (at least i think you are...sorry if your not!)

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I`m not....

Quote: Originally posted by giggler on 29/4/2006

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I thought attach a tarp to these use another set of canopy poles we have and rig a sort of 5 ft extension to the front of the porch......somehow I thought i might be able to suss out how to bring a bit down the side as well....

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Quote: Originally posted by Valk_scot on 29/4/2006

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Quote: Originally posted by giggler on 29/4/2006

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, but now its been backed up by BLOKES (at least i think you are...sorry if your not!)

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I`m not....

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....I'm not either..........Foggers is just a nickname (its a long story....) and my real name is Jane

Quote: Originally posted by foggers on 30/4/2006

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Quote: Originally posted by Valk_scot on 29/4/2006

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Quote: Originally posted by giggler on 29/4/2006

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, but now its been backed up by BLOKES (at least i think you are...sorry if your not!)

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I`m not....

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....I'm not either

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That`s funny...then the first three folk that answered this thread were female, and Giggler`s Hubby thought that it must be a good idea because we were all blokes?

 

Hope your Hubby didn`t read this thread any more, Giggler....

OOOOOOOOOPPPPPPSSSS......SORRY!!!!

Foot in mouth as usual

Just goes to show it was a fantastic idea as it is the brainwave of many females!!!

Thinking of it no mere BLOKE would have had the brain power to come up with such a intricate piece of engineering utilizing a humple tarp and a roll of string.

Not going to show the end of this thread to hubby!!

sharon x