Pitching a tent

[Valiant]

Heylo,

I have a Vango Beta 450 tent, and I'm gonna go camping inna couple of weeks if I'm up for it physically, trouble is I've never pitched a tent before. Anytime I've been camping before I've always borrowed a Quechua tent which is one of those ones you chuck in the air and it makes itself in 2 seconds, then you just peg it down.

How difficult is a Vango tent to pitch up?



Like that only in Red & Black init.

[Wowbagger]

Try www.vango.co.uk/products/documents/2008/Beta%20250,%20350%20&%20450%20.doc

[Mrs Pingu]

With our vango tent - nothing like yours, 3 poles in the inner & 1 in the fly it's really pretty easy. Just bung all your poles together, see how the sizes go, and it should be pretty obvious.
Just hope it's not raining and not trying to do it in a real hurry!

[Valiant]

Genius! Sounds easy enough! Trouble is where to give it a test Live in the middle of the city

[Wowbagger]

Genius! Sounds easy enough! Trouble is where to give it a test Live in the middle of the city

The day I came back with Butterfly's tent, I cleared a space in the front room and pitched it. 'Twas a doddle.

[Cunobelin]

Treat it like a Video Recorder!





































Pay the kids in the next door tent a couple of quid to set it up for you!

[Valiant]

Genius! Sounds easy enough! Trouble is where to give it a test Live in the middle of the city

The day I came back with Butterfly's tent, I cleared a space in the front room and pitched it. 'Twas a doddle.

Slight issue there, the tent is 5x3m and my living room is 5x6 with furniture

[Deano]

Either go to a local park/piece of waste ground and practice, or borrow a mate's garden. 

It looks big, by the way - how many of you are staying in it?

[Maladict]

Sam: that kind of tent takes poles which are packed small by folding.  You have to unfold the poles, then push them through the tent - you see the poles curving over the top of the tend, they go into a sleeve which holds them in.  If the poles are different lengths then you'll need to make sure you select the right one for each slot.

Put the pole in carefully as you want to avoid ripping the fabric.  Also take care not to pull the pole sections apart as you do so.

The tent might have a separate ground sheet.  I tend to keep mine attached to the tent so the whole thing just gets laid out then assembled.  The other thing to do, is before you start putting it all together, put a couple of tent pegs in first, at the upwind end, and attach the tent to those.  This stops it blowing away while you try to work out what the hell this little part is for.

Once the poles are in, you go round putting the rest of the pegs in and tightening everything.  Easy.

YMMV, but I didn't find it hard with my tent.

[Valiant]

Two in comfort lol. One of the main reason I got it was that the trike or a couple of uprights will fit in the porch lol

Thanks Maladict(a), having recapped the contents, all the poles are colour coded with sleeves

[Julian]

These ones are easy - get the right poles in the right places, then just start pegging.  The worst that can happen is you peg it out a bit lopsided.  And although purists would be horrified, I tend to be quite happy with lopsided tents. 

[Wowbagger]

These ones are easy - get the right poles in the right places, then just start pegging.  The worst that can happen is you peg it out a bit lopsided.  And although purists would be horrified, I tend to be quite happy with lopsided tents. 

Well, we are all naturally a bit lopsided, are we not?

[Valiant]

I definitely hang to the right.

[Mrs Pingu]

all the poles are colour coded with sleeves

Should be a piece of piss then!
Instead of a ground sheet we bought a large sheet of thin foam - think of a parsimonious karrimat - from Pennine Outdoor (JFGI) I think.
Tis a great store for people who can sew and make things (which unfortunately I can't) but they have all sort of useful stuff....

[tonycollinet]

Genius! Sounds easy enough! Trouble is where to give it a test Live in the middle of the city

You can come and practice at ours - we only live 170 miles away

[andrewc]

Genius! Sounds easy enough! Trouble is where to give it a test Live in the middle of the city

The day I came back with Butterfly's tent, I cleared a space in the front room and pitched it. 'Twas a doddle.

Slight issue there, the tent is 5x3m and my living room is 5x6 with furniture

That's not a tent! It's a f***ing mobile knocking shop! 

I have an old Ultimate Peapod which is the same Tunnel design, though smaller.

As an educated guess....

Make sure all zips are closed.

Find the elastic loops at one end. Put pegs through them into the ground at approx a 45 degree angle. ( peg the tent parallel to the wind direction!)

Assemble the poles and carefully insert them into the sleeves. They will be different lengths, so work out what goes where.  You may need to locate the ends of the poles in grommets at the end of each sleeve.

Pull the fabric taut and insert the pegs at the other end.  Tent should now be standing up, but may be a bit flappy.

Find the guylines (red cords in the picture) unravel these and pull them out at 90 degrees from the tent. Peg them out, they will have sliders or friction toggles so you can adjust the tension.  You want them (and the fabric of the tent) taut.

Unzip the door, if the inner tent is not permanently attached to the outer then now is when you attach it, usually by hooks/loops or velcro straps.  peg out the floor of the inner so it is flat & wrinkle free.

Open beer, drink,    relax in the admiring gaze of your lady companions and those of us who are not blessed with The Mojo...

Have Fun. 

[drossall]

Funnily enough, I have just bought the Beta 250 in the same design and colours. I haven't got round to pitching it yet, although I am taking it on camp next Saturday.

Should be pretty easy to pitch - poles first as Maladict says, then start pegging out corners. The inner hangs off the fly. Apparently you can pitch both at the same time, but it looks as though that's harder so don't bother.

The inner will have a sewn-in groundsheet. There's a separate groundsheet for the "lobby" area. That's usually best half folded back so you can walk in with wet shoes and take them off under cover. If you're storing bikes, you probably won't want it at all.

When are you first using it?

Detailed instructions are available from Vango.

[Valiant]

Next Saturday in Huntingdon

[Cunobelin]

Next Saturday in Huntingdon

Which Site?

[Pingu]

Choose a flat place if you can. If you have to pitch on a slope try to have your feet at the bottom.

Pitch the tent so that it is not side-on to the wind.

Check the area for poo & stones before pitching.

 

[Valiant]

Next Saturday in Huntingdon

Which Site?

I dunno lol

[clarion]

Definitely worth practising before you get to use it in earnest.  Not least to check you have the right number of pegs.

LMM was kind enough to let us use her garden last time we had a new tent. 

[Notsototalnewbie]

You're free to come and use my lawn if you want to practise 

Am only just Sarf of the River.

[toekneep]

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. 

[gordon taylor]

I've got a Vango Spirit, which is very similar...

Tip 1: If the inner is detachable, detatch it completely and pitch the outer first. Hook the inner back into place once the outer is up. They get tangled up otherwise.

Tip 2: Unless you are up a gale-lashed mountain, those tents don't need the guy ropes at all. Untie them before you go and keep them separate in a little bag for emergencies.

Tip 3: There might be some diagonal internal straps. These are needed at hurricane level winds only. Wrap them up with a rubber band and keep them out of the way.

Tip 4: These tents are really easy to pitch... the second time you try it.