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 Topic: Filey 6 doesn`t sit right. Any advice?
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27/8/2013 at 11:22am
Location: South Lanarkshire
Outfit: Kampa Filey Classic
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Joined: 31/7/2012 Standard Member
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Hi all, Im the "tent pole cutter" 
Apologies if long winded but I feel I need to explain my evil deed.
Like Kitkins we also have a tent which didn't sit right, unlike Kitkins we kept it and modified it to work for us.
Ours is the classic (polycotton) version which we bought from Norwich Camping at the beginning of the year, I had researched this tent and was aware Kampa had discontinued it, the beige one being the Filey, produced 2011-2012 and prior to that the Holkam, being the blue one.
I have camped in both England and Scotland and to date have never seen another Filey Classic on site, when purchasing I also knew stock of these tents was pretty limited and only one or two have been sold second hand.I knew it was discontinued due to production cost and lack of sales...so with all of this in mind I'm doubtful if this particular tent was ever "mass" produced as I suspect only a limited number were made.
This thread had started prior to us pitching ours for the first time. So I was aware there may have been issues (I so wanted it to sit perfectly..the way Muckers does!)...but alas, it didn,t.
Now, whilst I have only been camping for 2 years, hubby has done so since he could say the word "tent", scout tents, dome tents, pyramid tents, trailer tents and probably a few beers tents too..so he knows his stuff and although he has his faults, I would never question his pitching knowledge.
Our previous tent was a Nevada XL...similar tunnel to the filey only polyester.
So....we pitched the filey, Gary Cross method, which is great however could not under any circumstances get the ground sheet flat at the inner vestibule corner nearest the door, or the door itself where the zip closes.
This was so bad we couldn't even get the zip to close. Although first time pitched it was up and down 6 or 7 times that day, we kicked the poles in, pulled the poles out and even tried to off center the flysheet to the tensioned areas...nothing worked. All component parts of a tent have a specific function so there are only so many things you can do. Even unclipping all the flyseet c-clips on the effected side and unpegging the ground sheet didn't work.
We sadly concluded the poles were too long or the groundsheet was not cut/sewn correctly. We discussed the evil deed over sending the tent back. I loved the tent with it's attached canopy, toilet area, zip out windows, lovely polycotton, darkened bedroom and the colour.I also don't think there is another polycotton out there with the same layout and price range. Do I have the faff of return only to be sent another one with the same issue? or worse find there are none left. In the end we made the personal decision to cut the poles to ease the groundsheet in the effected areas. We didn't spontaneously combust, neither did the tent and it eased off the tension a bit.
We took it away May bank holiday and pitched it fine. The tension was still there though and the flysheet stitching began to come away at the left of the front door, so hubby modified the poles again, a small bit at a time until we sorted it. We did have to take less from the vestibule poles and made sure the flysheet remained off the ground.
Other than the aesthetics of it,s spine looking slightly dipped at the door, our Filey has been great. My baby has kept us warm, cool, dry and has held up as one would expect in windy conditions. Some internal stitching has also come away and I've chosen to strengthen the stitching on the bedroom pod clips. Yes this tent may not have been fit for purpose and yes it was new but we made the personal choice to keep and "fix" it and we absolutely love it.
I did e mail Kampa, including a link to this thread..basically to make them aware of this issue...and there IS an issue, for the benefit of any other complaints they may receive. The reply, whilst very polite basically told us they knew nothing of this and condescendingly listed basic tent pitching instructions. It offered no solution hence, I didn't post on here.
My opinion is that there is a pole length / groundsheet issue with a "batch" of these tents the degree of which may or may not vary. For those with the issue I really do hope you find a solution because it is a wonderful tent, for us however, we made the personal decision to modify and are all living happliy ever after.
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Do we REALLY need one of those ?
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27/8/2013 at 10:57pm
Location: Jersey
Outfit: Filey 6; Frinton 5
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Shellipoos (eh ?) and others,
Good and comprehensive post. Like you, I really like the Filey and want to get to the bottom of this. Not yet ready to shorten poles as I don't think I should have to do that. However IF I decide to, it would be under warranty and with Kampa's agreement.
Spoke to Kampa today about this. Very polite and listened to my two main issues: groundsheet tension, especially in the annexe, and aligning the footprint. Second one sorted but no quick solution to the groundsheet prob.
They are keeping an open mind, and we agreed that I would send in pictures after pitching the tent in the garden, specifically to assess this issue. They pointed out, perhaps cagily, that this might be a supplier issue as the tent is still under warranty. Hmm , not sure about that - it might be a warranty issue, but it is hardly a suppliers problem if the groundsheet was not right from the manufacturer. To me it is either something I'm not doing quite right in pitching the tent, or a manufacturing fault.
More to come in a few days.
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