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 Topic: Cabanon Espace 8 first trip - any advice?
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20/7/2013 at 11:00am
Location: Essex coast living on a boat!
Outfit: Vango Stargrove 600xl
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We are off to Lincolnshire on Monday for a week's stay and are taking our 'new to us' tent bargain, a 2003 Cabanon Espace 8, bought from a friend we met camping last year for only £100 (brilliant!).
It all seems fine, in fact when we took it out to check it,we were surprised and delighted to find that it looks practically new, the guy ropes are almost pristine, and no holes, marks or signs of wear anywhere, no perished rubber, no fading at all, so far so good.
I had a look at the two huge bags of poles yesterday, they all look ok, and we have the instruction sheet to refer to, but having never pitched a big frame tent like this before, just wanted to know if anyone had any advice, as it is absolutely HUGE!
It all seems a bit daunting, even to someone like me who has been regularly camping for 20 years, just don't want to get there and not be able to get it pitched.
I remember reading on the reviews page that it is a good idea to attach the roof lining before lifting the tent to its full height, but how exactly do you do that when it is on the ground?
All tips and ideas welcome!
Thanks folks!
Jane.
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Enjoying life beyond kids, new love, living on a boat and a new lease of life in my mid 50s! Never too old to reinvent yourself.....
Mum to five - 4 girls, 31,28,25 and 22 and one boy, 20
Engaged! Wedding June 2020!
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20/7/2013 at 3:15pm
Location: Essex coast living on a boat!
Outfit: Vango Stargrove 600xl
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Thanks Janet, I didn't think of clipping in the roof lining before putting the canvas over the frame, that is a great tip!
I guess I am just a bit unsure as we are used to the lightweight elastic threaded poles with all our other tents.
The poles are not colour coded, but whoever had it before has kindly tied all the sets of poles together, I think there are four which look like they might be the front of the roof as they have the bit that sticks out extending the roof line (if that makes ANY sense at all), and the rest of the roof poles are also tied together, and the uprights are in a separate bag.
I can't wait to see the tent up, the guy we bought it from had another one exactly the same but in another colour way (ours is green), they really are great tents, especially for us as the four sleeping areas mean that the kids can bring friends with them, and the living area is so spacious to accommodate lots of people.
If it goes up as I hope (and pray!), I don't think it will necessarily take a lot longer than the set up we usually use (once we are used to it of course), our other tent, the Vango Colorado 800 DLX, has a footprint to peg out, then the main tent, then the extension as well as the inner tents, so takes us over an hour to get the basics done.
Did you find that you needed something to stand on to clip in the inners, it looks quite high?
Hoping to take some pics to share on here when we return.
Thanks again,
Jane.
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Enjoying life beyond kids, new love, living on a boat and a new lease of life in my mid 50s! Never too old to reinvent yourself.....
Mum to five - 4 girls, 31,28,25 and 22 and one boy, 20
Engaged! Wedding June 2020!
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20/7/2013 at 4:25pm
Location: Hull
Outfit: Palamos 6 Cabanon pyramide 6
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HI Jane,
It is indeed a high tent you will need a step to reach the roof poles once the legs are extended,unles you are lucky enough to have a son that is six ft 4 like me,he came in very handy!
Obviously if the weather is bad you will have to do the roof lining after the canvas so you might need something to stand on.
Sounds like your poles have been organised for you,we used to lay out the ridge pole and all the other roof poles and start from there,if you get chance colour code them,makes it even easier.
To be honest with you we found this one of the easier tents to put up,it just takes a while because its so big,but its symmetrical so it kinda makes sense if you see what I mean.
What more could you want from a tent,4 bedrooms,2clothes rails,fab living space,dedicated cooking area,removeable panels,brilliant!
Hope you get some good pics,will look forward to those,can you tell I miss mine lol.
P.S took me and oh about an hour to pitch
Oh meant to ask,whereabouts in Lincs are you going?
Post last edited on 20/07/2013 16:32:59
Post last edited on 20/07/2013 16:46:57
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Janet
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20/7/2013 at 5:00pm
Location: Essex coast living on a boat!
Outfit: Vango Stargrove 600xl
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Hi Janet,
Reassuring to know that it is not that difficult, logic should tell me that but I suppose it can feel daunting with anything unfamiliar or new.
We will have to take something with us to stand on, I think, my husband is 6ft, but son is not yet 6ft 4 at 14!
Maybe we will pop into Go Outdoors beforehand and get one of those folding steps that they do, I think they're only a fiver or so, with the monster of a tent in the trailer, not much room left for accessories, but I am sure that it will be worth it when I am sitting in my new tent sipping tea.
Thanks again for all your advice,
Jane.
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Enjoying life beyond kids, new love, living on a boat and a new lease of life in my mid 50s! Never too old to reinvent yourself.....
Mum to five - 4 girls, 31,28,25 and 22 and one boy, 20
Engaged! Wedding June 2020!
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21/7/2013 at 4:41pm
Location: Essex coast living on a boat!
Outfit: Vango Stargrove 600xl
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Hi Janet and chappers2341!
Thanks so much both of you for your feedback, this tent truly is a big beast, the bags are all in the trailer and we have stuffed what else we can in there. I have had to cut down on some of the non essentials (well, apart from the solar fairy lights, one HAS to keep up standards, don't you know! ;)
Great idea about the sharpie and sellotape, chappers, I will colour code everything and that should make it a lot easier to find the right poles.
I will report back after the trip, and hopefully post some piccies too :)
I could not resist the wonderful chance to own one of these tents, we could not believe our luck when we unpacked it, with five children and maybe even future grandchildren it will be such an asset to our family and we intend to look after it very well and make the most of it.
Janet, I have now been to Go and bought a folding stool to stand on to attach the inners, so all ready for lift off!
Thanks guys, much appreciated, I am not (quite) so worried now about pitching this huge tent thanks to you!
Jane.
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Enjoying life beyond kids, new love, living on a boat and a new lease of life in my mid 50s! Never too old to reinvent yourself.....
Mum to five - 4 girls, 31,28,25 and 22 and one boy, 20
Engaged! Wedding June 2020!
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21/7/2013 at 5:20pm
Location: Oxford
Outfit: helsport Kongsvold
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Glad you feel a bit happier now about putting the tent up. As I said we were never dissappointed with ours and wanted to ditch the trailer, we also wanted a tent that we could have a fire in too. So we reluctantly sold ours and bought a lavvu type . As you say look after it well and it will outlast you, Drying it again can be a bit of a pain if you have to pack it up wet, but essential. One of these is very useful as one time three weeks after returning we still hadn't managed to get the thing packed away again as we hadn't had enough dry time for it to properly dry out.
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30/7/2013 at 3:09pm
Location: Essex coast living on a boat!
Outfit: Vango Stargrove 600xl
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Hi Folks!
Just reporting back after our trip, sadly no pics tho' as unforeseen circumstances meant that we had to come home early, nonetheless it was a nice stay on a lovely site, sorry, will take some next time as we are hoping to get away again mid week next week, this time to Oxfordshire!
I honestly don't know what I was worried about getting this tent up, it went up like a dream, all the sprung poles were self explanatory, and if anything once we knew what we were doing it took no longer than our Vango Colorado with extension to get set up.
And the wonderful thing was that I was right, it WAS new, the inners had that new fabric smell when we unpacked them and not a blemish or speck of dirt anywhere, and the curtains and roof liners were crisp and fresh, never been used!
I suspect that the tent had been test pitched once without the inners, hence very slight marking on the bottom of the guy ropes, so an incredible bargain for us, we LOVED it. No condensation, plenty of space for everything and everyone, and even in the smallest inner there was room for two single air beds, so really IS an eight berth!
The canvas and zips are real top quality, and the whole thing felt really solid.
I liked the side window for cooking and the little corridor curtained off from the living area was perfect, we put a tarp under this and the bedroom area to keep the underside of the inners clean and for a floor in the 'corridor' and used a breathable ground sheet in the living area.
The only thing I really missed was my double Royal fabric cupboard for all the food and bits and pieces, it gives an extra work surface too, but we can't fit it in the trailer with this tent in, so I have bought a smaller version that will lie flat in the bottom of the trailer under the tent canvas for next time.
I have just bought some clip on hook racks that I can hang with some cord from the tent poles to hang up mugs and utensils in the kitchen area, and another for hanging under the wardrobe pole so that our waterproofs and fleeces can be hung up there, we don't tend to take clothes away that need proper hangers so this will be very useful, good for any damp towels as well.
The only other thing I have invested in was a tent tidy with 16 pockets as this tent does not have one, and they really are useful for the 'odds and sods' like matches and chargers, tissues, wipes, torches etc.
Not a lot really to pay in addition to the £100 that I paid for the tent, and this should keep us more organised (I know, I know, wishful thinking!)
VERY glad of the advice to get a step, as it was my husband had to still do the highest clips up as I could not quite reach!
So thanks to all for the tips and encouragement, I promise you lots of piccies next time and will report back after the next trip!
Jane.
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Enjoying life beyond kids, new love, living on a boat and a new lease of life in my mid 50s! Never too old to reinvent yourself.....
Mum to five - 4 girls, 31,28,25 and 22 and one boy, 20
Engaged! Wedding June 2020!
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12/8/2013 at 4:20pm
Location: Essex coast living on a boat!
Outfit: Vango Stargrove 600xl
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Already posted this on Camping under Canvas, but just to post thanks to all who advised re pitching this great tent, thanks to you, and here are the pics finally!
Finally got some pics of our new Cabanon Espace 8, we are currently on our second trip with it at Greenhill Leisure Park in Oxfordshire and are so pleased with it, suits our family perfectly and takes no longer to pitch than our other tent.
Not bad at all for £100!
Hope this works....
Post last edited on 12/08/2013 16:08:43
Post last edited on 12/08/2013 16:17:29
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Enjoying life beyond kids, new love, living on a boat and a new lease of life in my mid 50s! Never too old to reinvent yourself.....
Mum to five - 4 girls, 31,28,25 and 22 and one boy, 20
Engaged! Wedding June 2020!
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13/8/2013 at 8:30am
Location: Essex coast living on a boat!
Outfit: Vango Stargrove 600xl
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Thanks guys, I am really so pleased, and can't quite believe my luck, and thanks for the tips, chappers2341, the friend who sold us the tent (who we met camping on the West Coast of Scotland!) told us a similar tale, he has the same model, different colour and does similar to you, and his tent was one of the only ones to survive a violent storm up there several years ago!
What we like about this tent is the space, with five teen/young adult children, this allows them to come with us whenever they like, eldest daughter brought her fiancé last weekend, and next one down has come along with her uni friend, after two months backpacking in Italy, she still wants to camp, albeit in a more luxurious manner!
There were 7 of us plus the dog at the weekend, sitting in the tent around the table eating dinner, and still loads of room. Lovely.
Jane.
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Enjoying life beyond kids, new love, living on a boat and a new lease of life in my mid 50s! Never too old to reinvent yourself.....
Mum to five - 4 girls, 31,28,25 and 22 and one boy, 20
Engaged! Wedding June 2020!
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