Message Forums

We have just purchased a Bear Lake 6 and pitched it for the first time last night. I must say the instructions and video are pretty useless, we managed to get it upright and ready to guy in about an hour but am just a little concerned about pitching it with just the 2 of us (we had help last night).

Do any of you out there with a bear lake or just a larger tunnel tent have any tips on pitching with 2 people. Do you peg out the four corners and then work from the back or start from the front? Do you put all the poles in whilst it's on the floor and then erect it?

Any help gratefully received.

Thanks!!

I pitched my BL6 and the WL7 by leaving off the porch and then putting in all poles whilst on the floor.  Normally I then flip them so that they are laying towards the front of the tent.  Then I pull up the rear most hoop whilst my wife puts a couple of guy lines in.  Then we walk forward roughly squaring up the tent to its final pitch size and put a couple of guys out the front.  Then we put the side brace poles in and tension to give the tent some rigidity.  Then I zip in the groundsheet and reposition poles and start pegging other guy lines finally retensioning the original guy lines we did at the back and zipping the porch on the front and pegging that out.  Takes about 1hr with 2 people who have only done it a couple of times. 

Although the next time I am trying to pitch my WL7 with the ZIG already attached as this ight save a little time as I can then just concentrate on pegging out at the correct tension straight from the start.

Gary at Cross Camping told me to try doing it the way you did which is loosely peg four corners and then work forwards inserting one pole at a time but I found it awkward to get the poles once the first hoop is in a raised position.  By putting all the poles in one go my wife finds it easier to crawl across the tent feeding the pole through the fabric whilst I push and assemble the poles from one side.

Hi there

We also have the Wolf 7 & peg the 4 corners then thread in one pole at a time & raise & peg starting at the back.  We do this with zig attched & takes about 1 hr with 2 of us. We've tried a few different ways including the way Justin suggested but found this way works best for us. I think it's about trial & error at the end of the day & finding which way works best for you & personal preference.