Hi. I'm looking at buying a small Obelink canvas dome tent for myself and my 10 year old to use for short stays instead of a Kyham biker tent which though excellent is drafty and noisy in the wind. The tents I'm looking at are either the river dome tent or the London 3 grey both are simple domes with small porches. My questions are has anyone any experience of this sort of tent from Obelink and will it be easy to put up with one adult? I'm especially concerned as I chose the biker tent as it doesn't need much force to snap the rods into place whereas I'm afraid bending the Obelinks rods into a dome may require significantly greater force than I can apply (I had to return a Kyham freelander for this reason it was too tricky to put up in the wind). I really dont want to order a tent from Europe and find that I have to return it as I'm unable to erect it. Any thoughts very welcome. Thank you for reading.
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The Obelink River is a great tent and yes, it can be pitched by 1 single person. There is more tension on the poles and flysheet than the Khyam but this is good thing though. This makes the River more stabil and tensioned canvas absorbs less rain which makes it faster to dry.
I've got a Obelink Ranger2 which looks very similar in size to the River & I can pitch it on my own. In fact, once you have initially pitched the River it looks like the second pitching will be much easier if you leave the inner attached to the outer.
Thank you sos, so much Floydian that's really helpful to know its a good tent - I'm very keen on canvas as it really impacts on how much we enjoy our trip. The Kyham is great but it's dratfy and I've always struggled to get the footprint groundsheet to work well, so a fully sewn in ground sheet will be a welcome relief.
Pleased it will be stable - last year we were at a site where there were 60mph gusts. The tent carnage was terrible our pyramid was fine but I was getting very nervous about being hit by other people's gazebos etc.
Thank you also to Foydian, Mountain Runner and Johnnykk for confirming that it's highly likely that I should be able to put this up,on my own.
Mountain Runner that's great to know about your Obelink Ranger looks like a nice tent. Will take onboard your comment wrt the inner tent.
So overall a massive thank you - I think I've been convinced to go ahead with my purchase. Very excited now. Hopefully I'll be able to post a few piccys of my first attempt to pitch soon!!!!
The tent arrived today - I'm delighted but since it was raining I couldn't pitch it outside. So I tried to put it up in my living room and failed I suspect in part due to the fact that the room is only just slightly bigger than the tent. Hopefully the weather will be better later on this week but I realise I've never put up a dome tent. So please can someone explain how to do it on my own as it was clear that it's going to need good technique for me to be able to pitch it as the canvas is quite heavy and the ends of the tent were just slipping around when I tried to tension them and my daughter isn't strong enough to be able to hold the apex up while I try to put pins into the poles to make the dome. Any suggestions?..
Thank you.
Thank you - I will give it a try tomorrow weather permitting. Pegging the SIG out first makes excellent sense. The tent doesn't seem to have come with any erection instructions so I really value your help.
Sorry I can't do links atm, but if you Google "Obelink Texel instructions" you will find some pdf's from Obelink which help with putting up your tent. They may be in Dutch, but the pictures are pretty straight forward.
That's brilliantly helpful. Thank you very much. Now with the pictures and MonsterBears advice about pegging out the SIG first I'm all set to go!! Sadly looks like I'll have to wait till tomorrow as today is drizzling but tomorrow is supposed to be sunny!!!
Monster bear gave you the wrong advise! (sorry monster bear)
You only peg out SIG tents when the poles are placed within the tent (like a bell tent or pyramid tent).
When you first peg out the SIG from a dome tent then it's impossible to pitch. The pole sleeves almost go to the ground. When the SIG is pegged out first it's not possible to slide the poles through the pole sleeves! The amount of tension and stress on the poles is enourmus and can damage/split the poles.
The best way to pitch the River is by spreading out the flysheet. Then you can slide the 2 longer poles from the large dom through the pole sleeves. Then you can tension the poles by placing them on the pin. Now you have pitched dome, then you can slide the pole from the porch area through the pole sleeve. After that is done you can peg out the tent.
This is the best, one and only way to pitch a SIG dome tent.
Hope this helps.
cheers
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