Hi, I bought a Urban escape 6 person tent 2 years ago from Halfords on the second time out with it we had a hissing noise in the night thought the gas was leaking but it was the welded seam in the bottom of air beam that had split.
We found the nearest Halfords and they ordered me a new one by express post free of charge but it was to small so they ordered a second one when that arrived it was also to small. The manager phoned the makers of Urban escape and was told that this model had been discontinued and they cant help me,Halfords offered to replace it with a smaller tent but the wife liked that on so I bound the end up with tape so we could finish our holiday. On arrival home I took it to several camping shops but could not get one the right length or with the valve in the right place. I found a hot air vinyl welder on ebay when it arrived I practised on one of the two free ones burning holes in it at first but once I got the heat setting right I managed to weld the seam it has staid up in my bedroom for a week now so I think all is ok again.
Halfords helped me a lot. But the makers were crap.
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Vango do, think for that reason they would be the best mainstream airbeam make to buy. You can buy a spare beam when you buy the tent so if the worst happens you have it with you already.
I have to say this... buy car parts from car accessory shops and camping goods from Camping stores and you won't have this issue. Halfords Urban Escape tents are their own brand so it's up to them to make sure they order enough spare parts for their own brand products not the company they employ to make them so to speak.
------------- Gary Cross - The masked camping guru.
Just a follow up on the air beam
I cut the end of one, cut 2 foot of the end of the other one inserted in the end of the short one and welded it with hot air gun being careful not to weld it closed, it has been up for 48 hours now and no leaks.
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Quote: Originally posted by TRITON on 09/8/2017
Just a follow up on the air beam
I cut the end of one, cut 2 foot of the end of the other one inserted in the end of the short one and welded it with hot air gun being careful not to weld it closed, it has been up for 48 hours now and no leaks.
Exactly the same mine failed on the front beam l asked Halfords why don't they carry spare beams as this is a problem with all air beam tents they could not give me an answer
Quote: Originally posted by Jim1977 on 05/8/2017
Vango do, think for that reason they would be the best mainstream airbeam make to buy. You can buy a spare beam when you buy the tent so if the worst happens you have it with you already.
+1
Exactly this. Buy a bike from halfords or a tyre, or an inner tube...their own brand tents are probably mass produced in China somewhere and they'll probably change models quite frequently at the end of one production run deal before making another one with another manufacturer.
Buy a tent from a camping store which stocks replacement beams and have one in reserve. They're not that expensive either.
if the beam is over-long, you can fold the excess over at one (or both) ends. that's what vango advise with their spare beams, as i found out when i had to replace a beam in my infinity extension. it pumps up ok, but not used it in the wild, for obvious reasons, so far this year…