Hi all,
I have a tunnel tent that by all accounts is pants, however, we intend to persevere with it for our hols in Cornwall, so some advice on guying please.
To prevent the top of the flysheet coming into contact with the bedroom pods if it rains, is it best to have the end guys fully tight, but the sides less so, to avoid pulling the top out and flattening it down ? Or should everything be equally tight to stop the sides moving and coming into contact with the pods that way ? I am less worried about it blowing away in wind as I have deltas – I got something right !
Maybe I should let it get wrecked on our last day, claim the insurance and use that to get a proper tent ! But the guying thing is a genuine question – what is best and does it vary depending on amount and direction of rain and wind bearing in mind this is Cornwall ?
Thanks,
Alison
you should have tension straps as well as guy ropes,these keep the fly sheet taut,never had a problem with my tunnel tent,go on tell us what you've got?the suspense is toooo much! went camping in cornwall last year-FANTASTIC
I work on the assumption that the tent is designed to be at its most stable if evenly guyed. So I always opt for even tension all round on our tunnel tent- if you guy one side more tightly than the other then I think there is a higher risk of something getting strained and damaged in high winds.
On the middle poles I take the guy ropes directly out to the sides, and on the end poles I angle them a little outwards. Any guys attached to the top of the arch of an end pole should not be guyed out so tightly that it makes the line of the arch curve when you view it from the side as I reckon that puts too much strain on the pole. Hope that makes sense!
Hello Alison, sounds like youre having fun!!! The tension straps run underneath the tent and are connected to the pole rings, the are made of belt webbing and they should have adjusters on them. The idea is to allow for uneven ground. Each hoop/pole should have a tension strap on each side of the tent. you can tighten or loosen each one so that the poles stay in an arc and therfore give you equal distance between fly and inner. also it not just guying which effects the gap it is also down to how taut you peg the base rings on your fly sheet. Now then tell us whats the tent ??? I promise i wont tell anybody !!! Paul
Thanks all for the advice. Shall do the best we can with it and hope it sees the week out. (Dont care after that as this time next year I WILL have a folding camper).
It does have tension straps (now I know what they are !) but I dont know about being able to adjust them though... I will check next time but I think they were just fixed at each side and straight across - frankly it wouldn't surprise me if they should be adjustable but aren't.
Anyway, my tent is a F*ee**m* Arizona. I bought it because of the 4-berth bedroom with a modesty curtain divider and it looked pretty in the photo. No clue about HH or how bleedin stupid those big mesh windows are, back then. Doh !
Anyway, there it is.
ps the starred out letters are r, c, a and p - rearrange as you see fit.
Alison
Not all tension straps are adjustable - some are just a fixed length so that the pole feet can be pulled out and positioned at the correct length apart.
I remember a thread yonks ago on daft things we have seen folks do when camping, and a tale that I have always remembered was some family arriving and attempting to put up a big dome tent they were obviously not familiar with. In exasperation, they CUT the tension straps (clearly not realising what they were for) and then had the expereince of the tent slowly going as flat as a pancake during the night cost the poles were no longer under the correct tension!!!