Pitching a tent

[Valiant]

Whats the outer? Is that the top bit? lol

[gordon taylor]

Whats the outer? Is that the top bit? lol

Cripes. 

The inner is the little "room" made of lightweight white material with a zippy door and a groundsheet. It is completely soundproof, so don't worry if you snore or enjoy noisy sex.

The outer is the outside dark nylon bit.

The poles are long and thin.

The pegs are short and thin and shiny.

The guy ropes are for falling over on the way to the loo.

The zips are free-running masterpieces of space-age engineering which only ever jam solid when you are gagging for a pee.

Enjoy!!!

[Cunobelin]

I would second Clarions comments. It's not a matter of life or death, just convenience. It you have pitched it before it just makes life simpler. Or to put it another way, if you don't want to fall out with your camping partner before you even have the tent up then practice pitching it first. 

Don't!

There is a perverse pleasure in sitting outside your tent with a few beers watching someone with a new tent - You will only spoil the entertainment value!

Or is that just being evil!

[Valiant]

Whats the outer? Is that the top bit? lol

Cripes. 

The inner is the little "room" made of lightweight white material with a zippy door and a groundsheet. It is completely soundproof, so don't worry if you snore or enjoy noisy sex.

The outer is the outside dark nylon bit.

The poles are long and thin.

The pegs are short and thin and shiny.

The guy ropes are for falling over on the way to the loo.

The zips are free-running masterpieces of space-age engineering which only ever jam solid when you are gagging for a pee.

Enjoy!!!

Damn, tents are quite advanced these days. The only non 2second tent I've used was basically a dark green bedsheet with ground tarp and alu poles that push into eachother. Now you get two tents in one?

[clarion]

Tents are a lot lot simpler than they used to be when you had to scrabble about with flappy canvas and a load of big poles.  The outer was (sometimes still is) known as a flysheet, and had to be thrown over and pegged down separately.  Now most tents allow you to keep the inner hooked in when you fold it up again, making the pitch really quick.

Go camping.  Chill.  Enjoy it.

[pcolbeck]

Buy a bag of extra tent pegs. You always loose / bend  some or they don't provide enough. I am a bit anal about pegging my tent down though, perhaps this is due to the fact that most of my camping these days is done in Northumbria or the Lake District and we seem to be guaranteed one storm every time we go.

[Valiant]

Good advise

[clarion]

Most tents come with extra pegs now anyway.  Take care putting your pegs in and pulling them out, and you should only bend the very occasional one.  Clean & straighten between trips.

[hellymedic]

Count up how many pegs your tent needs and travel with n + 2.

[Polar Bear]

Most tents come with extra pegs now anyway.  Take care putting your pegs in and pulling them out, and you should only bend the very occasional one.  Clean & straighten between trips.

Except if you're on tour for a couple of weeks moving at least once every two days carrying a few spares is then essential.

[pcolbeck]

Even if you take enough your friends never do and if you have spares you can be gracious. Camp sites always charge a fortune for extra pegs.
I like a sections of your normal cheapo steel skewers plus some of these and these for the most important guy ropes depending on conditions. The yellow ones hold well in damp ground and the green ones are ace in more rocky ground where normal pegs just bend.

[clarion]

That's true.  It's amazing the number of people who go camping without enough pegs

Worth saying:  Make sure you have a peg on everything on your tent (including every guyline, despite what a lot of folk say) before you lend any out.  You never k now when the weather's going to turn, and your friend is unlikely to want to return any loaned pegs in a gale at 2am.

[pcolbeck]

The other thing to remember is that pegs don't go in vertically. They go in at an angle leaning away from the tent.

[Dave]

A thread called "pitching a tent" has reached three pages without being moved to NSFW?

Tsk. You just can't get the smutmeisters these days  

[Valiant]

I see something in your pants that can't be real
don't hold back, baby, tell me what's the deal
i gotta move in closer and cop a feel
oh my, you got something with mass appeal
the tent so big in your pants, baby
the tent so big in your pants
if there's a housing crisis there ain't anymore
need a place to go, you gotta open the door
wanna save the night, pull up a floor
wanna feel alright, party galore

How's that?

[Notsototalnewbie]

What will my neighbours think?   

[Valiant]

hehe

[Polar Bear]

How do you drive your peg home then?   I prod the peg into the ground at approximately 45 degrees. place the toe of my boot upon it and push with enough force to get it to sink into terra firma!     

I have noticed people with mallets, and one guy with what looked and sounded like a nail gun.  Me?  I just put my foot into it! 

[pcolbeck]

Depends on the ground. Foot or plastic mallet.

[chris]

How do you drive your peg home then?   I prod the peg into the ground at approximately 45 degrees. place the toe of my boot upon it and push with enough force to get it to sink into terra firma!     

I have noticed people with mallets, and one guy with what looked and sounded like a nail gun.  Me?  I just put my foot into it! 

Some years ago, I arrived at a sailing event in Brighlingsea and asked the steward at the bar if there was somewhere that I could pitch my tent. He pointed to the end of the car park and told me I could put my tent up near the fence. I got the tent ready to put up and tried to put the first peg into the ground, only to find that I was trying to put the tent up on solid concrete with fine gravel over the top. Not to be put off by this, I got my rechargable hammer drill out if the car and drilled some holes into the concrete, then used two and a half inch x eight wood screws and Rawlplugs instead of pegs. When I went back to the bar for a drink the steward was finding it hard to keep a straight face as he asked me if I had managed to pitch my tent OK. I had the last laugh as I told him I hadn't had any problems. 

[Dave]

How's that?

Much better.

[drossall]

How do you drive your peg home then?

With metal pegs, I tend to take the view that, if I can't put it in by hand, it's run up against a stone, and hitting it will just bend the peg. I move it a couple of inches and try again instead.

[clarion]

More bent pegs are caused by people trying to push them in with their boots (on their feet) than any otehr way, I reckon.  Most places you can just shove the damn things in by hand far enough.  Remember you gotta get 'em out again.

[Polar Bear]

That could be true Clarion but I tend to wand my pegs driven home rather than sticking up 2 or 3 inches and popping out or worse, catching your exposed pinkies when you pop out in your sandals for a wee small hours pee ...   

[drossall]

If you drive them home you'll have to pull them out by the guys. You're not supposed to walk over guys so projecting pegs shouldn't be an issue.