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Hi, virgin member after some advice!

Had a Khyam XXL Special Edition  approx 6 years, over the summer four knee (bedroom pole) joints have snapped (2 of which were new replacments) and they are both difficult to get hold of and expensive, as they come in a pack with a rapidex joint that I don't need!! Just cut short a week in Devon due to very very high winds and another two joints giving up the ghost. I've rewatched the pitching instructions over and over again and can see no reason for the sudden poor performance.

Can anyone offer some good advice...other than getting rid!    

Geeting rid solved my problems would never ever consider a Kyham again

sorry to hear about your khyam :(

i stocked up on spare joints when i bought our Classic XL but i have never needed any of them (am i tempting fate here ? ) and we have had some very windy weeks in Dorset.

Our bedroom poles are a bit bowed but we haven't replaced them.

you can see pics of our tent in my sig and here

Our tent is two years old so maybe we have trouble ahead .......

Quote: Originally posted by Andy Pandy 666 on 20/8/2008

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, but having seen the method (and end result!) in which some 'ridgidome' tents are pitched, I'm not surprised...

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hi andy :)

whenever i show pics of our tent i think goodness knows what andy will make of it  

The most difficult time pitching can be when you are in a group and friends try to 'help'.  It took ages to get our triguys back to where they should be, after someone messed with them :(

I am 100 percent responsible for the rip in my annexe though.

The ridgi domes are a bit vulnerable when you fold them up and despite taking great care i have caught the fabric slightly in a joint. We leave the little leg warmer thingies on all the time.

glads22 .. do you mean it was this joint that broke ..

did the hinge come apart ??

when i bought my spares it was from a camping shop that had stopped selling khyam but still had a box of joints. I have an idea he said these were vulnerable, which i thought seemed odd. I think i bought 2.

have you tried contacting khyam

they'll replace the poles or if the tent is unrepairable they may reimburse you

worth a try

Quote: Originally posted by milkybar on 21/8/2008

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they sent out 2 in a pack next day delivery for less than £10 delivered to campsite.

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i remember that!

We camp on very uneven pitches and because i want to look at the view i am nearly always facing into the wind which i think is contrary to advice.

When we pack away our bedroom poles now one of them has a pronounced curve.. which is better than the joint breaking..

i think luck probably has a lot to do with it as wind is a fickle thing. We lost a delta peg last month, which put the ridgi-poles to test!  

nb: i was looking through some photos last night and came across a picture of Andy's annexe interior.  It is sooo neat!  I don't think my husband thinks it is real .  

Quote: Originally posted by sonja.p on 21/8/2008

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We camp on very uneven pitches and because i want to look at the view i am nearly always facing into the wind which i think is contrary to advice.

When we pack away our bedroom poles now one of them has a pronounced curve.. which is better than the joint breaking.

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Quote: Originally posted by Andy Pandy 666 on 21/8/2008

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   I certainly wouldn't criticise your tent pitching Sonja. Looking at some of your pictures, I'd say you did really well to pitch the tent at all!...

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i was dragged kicking and screaming into camping when a sunday afternoon event we had been going to for years turned into a 3 day festival, on a slope!

The slope didn't really worry me too much, especially in the 2 second pop up quechua, after a flagon of cider, until my dodgy hip started complaining loudly :(

The easy up khyam (you are joking!?) solved the standing up in the tent to get dressed issue and i promised my husband if we spent the money we could have a camping holiday.

We tested it in the new forest.

So much for the grassy living area! Anywhere flat enough to pitch a tent at all was totally grass free!

My friend's idea of an idyllic camp fire sing song was proven to be a myth as you get fined £500 if you so much as smoulder a twig!

looking for sites that allowed camp fires in Dorset i came across eweleaze farm. Sadly it isn't open until a week after our little festival and anyway the slope is even worse!

However i love Dorset and we had the tent.. so the rest is, as they say, history

ps: many thanks to Andy who answered all my khyam questions and has always been very polite about the state of my tent :)

I have just had the same problem. Pitching the tent on a gusty day the wind got hold of the bedroom end before I'd got it pegged down and bang went the joint. Fortunately I had a spare which was in a better state than the one which had just broken. When I got back I rang Eurotech Leisure on 01922 628554 and ordered 2 new joints at a fiver each plus £3.50 pp. I got them 3 days later. And now to my 'innovation'! I have put a jubilee clip on each joint where they keep splitting and hope that gives a little bit of extra support. Has anybody else tried this and how effective has it been?

Just for interest I have also bought an Outwell canopy which I have put up across the roof of my XL Classic. It needed a bit of reinforcement where it touches the joints but it's great!! No more dripping into the tent every time you open the door on a rainy day and to be able to sit in your tent with the door open when it's raining outside is fabulous. Also handy pitched over our little tent to provide shelter and  somewhere to cook and all for just £19.99

http://www.camperlands.co.uk/store/erol.html#1X0

Hope that's of some help.

Quote: Originally posted by Oldbluefox on 21/8/2008

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to be able to sit in your tent with the door open when it's raining outside is fabulous.

Hope that's of some help.

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i am really interested in that!

We have used the khyam screen canopy but it has a gap between the tent and the canopy and it has to be taken down when it is windy. In fact it ripped off last time and i have attached a clingon but not tried it yet.(