We visited Frensham today and having read on another post that there was a problem on some bear lakes in terms of door not closing, we checked the one on display. The door would not close. We drew this to the attention of a member of the sales staff and they agreed the door would not close and said they would ring Outwell. They also said no one had made any complaints and they had sold all their first batch of bear lakes.
I would be really interested to hear from anyone who has one and has pitched it. We loved the Bear Lake 4, seems perfect for us but only if the door can be closed!
------------- lizzie
Don't forget to leave a review of all tents you've used, for a chance to win fantastic prizes
All doors on tents will suffer problems with opening and closing if the tent is not pitched properly.
As stated above, keep all doors closed when pitching, and then when tensioning the guys keep checking that there is not too much tension on the door and it will open and close easily.
Tunnel tents seem to be particularly prone to this problem.
We have a Bear Lake 4 and took it for its first weekend in the Yorkshire Dales this weekend, we were really impressed, its take a bit more effort to pitch but once its up it feels really sturdy, and the door shut without any problems (having made sure it was shut when pitching). The canvas makes its much quieter when the wind is blowing and we had some pretty heavy rain with no leaks. I'd definately recommend them.
JenniW
Don't forget to leave a review of all tents you've used, for a chance to win fantastic prizes
I have just taken back a Bear Lake 6, with the zip problem. Pitched it with the door shut, and we could not adjust anything to make the door close easily.I think that there are some faulty tents, and hopfully 2nd time lucky.The rest of the tent is superb, and I really hope that I can get a tent with the correct door.
WE've just tried our BL4 in the garden. Really pleased. Doors fine and again we made sure that the doors were shut fully before pitching. There must be a few dodgy ones out there!
------------- "Why can't they see that when we bleed we bleed the same?"
They have a Bear Lake 6 on display, and again the door would not close. The owner came and had a look,and adjusted the poles and peg positions, and hey presto the door worked much better. So i think this puts an end to the door tension issue. You have to close the door and peg it out correctly.
I will be buying the tent again now. What a different it makes when you are talking to an experienced camper who know's whats what. Not like most of these camping places were you have teenagers more interested in how low their jeans are hanging of there bum, then thier knowledge of tenting.
Top marks Caseys.
Don't forget to leave a review of all tents you've used, for a chance to win fantastic prizes