We were at a lovely little site down in Kilmeston, Hampshire and the sun was gloriously hot and the view across the valley wonderful. The children were excited and looking forward to their second weekend in our cosy little tent, a Lichfield Vermont 4DLX - purchased in the sales this spring.
I put the frame together and pulled the canvas over. Got inside and raised the tent off its 'knees' and felt a lovely breeze come across the valley, whereupon the tent swayed and collapsed around my ears!!
The air was clear and sweet but my language was rather blue!
When I examined the cross link tube sections 3 of the 6 were bent as far as actually splitting. In each case the failure point was where the reinforcing sections had been tack welded on. The external tube diameter is 3/4" so ought to be substantial enough to handle the rigour of a gentle British summer breeze.............
The unfortunate thing is that it will not be a simple matter to repair the cross sections as they are angled specifically for the section that they are intended for, hence the colour coding.
Woe is me as I would hate to have to write off such a lovely weekend tent all for the want of 3 cross section pieces.
I would be interested to know if anyone else has experienced frame failure in such mild weather conditions as I'm sure the failure is more due to the design of the cross piece itself not making it twist resistant enough.
Steve
Post last edited on 06/07/2009 11:57:07
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And I thought this was supposed to be fun!!
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It spoiled the first few hours while I muttered, bent and twisted it roughly back to shape so I could peg it down. After that I stopped moaning and enjoyed the scenery, children and red wine instead! Started muttering again when it came time to break camp Sunday morning though as the harsh reality set in!
I bought it new from Yeomans in April. Been trying their customer services all morning but no reply there yet, must be busy with the sales again.........
An identical thing happened to our first frame tent which was a hawley Goodall badged (but in essence a Lichfield) 4 person.
I took the offending piece of frame to a small welding/engineering company who repaired it for a very modest charge and it came back even stronger than before.
I did consider trying to weld up the offending pieces but 3 cross pieces are affected with 4 of the angles split and twisted out of shape - I think it would be difficult to replicate the original angles.
I have just spoken with Yeomans and sent them images of the damaged sections. They immediately agreed that the welds are at fault and have refunded the full purchase price along with collection. An excellent company to do business with.
Quote: Originally posted by bluebottle187 on 06/7/2009
Hi campasarow,
I did consider trying to weld up the offending pieces but 3 cross pieces are affected with 4 of the angles split and twisted out of shape - I think it would be difficult to replicate the original angles.
I have just spoken with Yeomans and sent them images of the damaged sections. They immediately agreed that the welds are at fault and have refunded the full purchase price along with collection. An excellent company to do business with.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=250458710076
- I can't make out the name label on the front, any ideas anyone?