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i love camping but after 10 years of it, i still wonder if i've pitched the tent up correctly. when i get inside my dome tent i notice that the flysheet seams don't seem to run in line with the inner tent. this means that the inner bit touches the outer so can get wet if it rains hard. can anyone let me in on some trade secrets on where to start first?

thanks

its a eurohike 4 berth tent

don't know what 'model' but i think you'll know what sort i mean!!!

foggers,

firstly, i crack a beer open when i get the tent out of the car boot, another beer when deciding where to pitch up, one more whilst reading the instructions and at least 4 more whilst wrestling with the poles and pegs....and the missus!

my eurohike flimsy thing....i have to feed the bendy poles thru the inner tent first. then the flysheet afterwards but the inner tent doesn't hook from the inside onto the flysheet. the flysheet is held down with pegs and guy(?) guide(?) ropes, dunno the exact word :-) please help! got a big festival in august so need professional adive from yourself! :-)

so what do you do then Ju?

do you just leave it as it is and listen and watch the rain come in?

or do you keep tweaking it all night untill it looks symmetrically ok ?

hahaha, i'm not sure if that was what i was meant to say

happy flasking!

Quote: Originally posted by homedeeth on 01/5/2006

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foggers,

 

firstly, i crack a beer open when i get the tent out of the car boot, another beer when deciding where to pitch up, one more whilst reading the instructions and at least 4 more whilst wrestling with the poles and pegs....and the missus!

my eurohike flimsy thing....i have to feed the bendy poles thru the inner tent first. then the flysheet afterwards but the inner tent doesn't hook from the inside onto the flysheet. the flysheet is held down with pegs and guy(?) guide(?) ropes, dunno the exact word :-) please help! got a big festival in august so need professional adive from yourself! :-)

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Righto then - having read through your description of how you do things, I think the first thing is to maybe keep the beer to a limit so you have full use of your faculties whilst putting the tent up!

I had a Eurohike 3 berth dome tent for many years ( and indeed MANY festivals - I see from your other posts you are a fan of the Big Chill) so I have also scratched me brain to remember the routine for that.

There are 2 main reason your outer touches the inner;

1. When putting it up maybe its not lined up properly, so when you are putting the flysheet over the upright inner it is important to line up the seams of the flysheet along the poles, and to peg it down in a way that keeps it in line.

2. However, the main thing I remember about my ole Eurohike dome was that guying it out very tautly was the only way to make sure that the outer did not sag onto the inner. Guying out fully on a festie site can be a problem becuase of lack of space and because passing folks often catch the guys and kick em off the pegs. Also, the fly fabric stretches when wet so you need to take up more tension on the guys to pull this away from the inner. Also keep your kit inside the inner away from the walls. Our airbed sometimes slides up against the wall of the inner and presses it against the outer, thus allowing water to wick in.

Once the tent is up though- then it's beers all round!

Don't worry, have always had Eurohikes... there is a secret... you just have to pitch them from the back and work forward...

Stick a peg in the ground where the corner of the bed-pod is, to keep the whole thing from blowing away while you get the poles in. Get the poles through and put the tension on them from the back to the front. Just lay the poles, with the tension on right there on the ground while you stand back and admire!

Pull the front of the tent forward and stick a couple of pegs in the ground any-old where to keep it up in the air. Don't get too technical about how much tension is on the the tent right now... just keep the beggar high enough off the ground for you to get in and fit the inner.

NOW FIT THE INNER! KEEP IT SQUARE AND PULL THE OUTER TO FIT THE CORNERS OF THE INNER!

Those plastic hooks on the corners of the inners fit the 'D' shaped plastic hoops on the corners of the outer skin. Keeps the inner taught.

Once you have the inner hooked up it's time to peg the outer skin. Work from side, from the sleeping end, to side to keep it equal and you should have a nice symetrical tent by the time you get to the front.

Works for us.