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BigV · 10-15-2008, 10:23 AM

As promised, some gear tips.

I have a stand alone tent. That means the tent can be erected without staking it down, relying instead on the tension of the tent fabric resisting the springy bent tent poles trying to become straight again.

In almost all these designs, the end of the straight pole is poked into a pocket or a grommet, bent in some way, and the other end similarly secured. Then the top part of the tent is clipped to the pole, or the pole is slid through a sleeve along the top part, then clipped into the ends. In any event, it's tough to get all the things that connect to the pole ends to be exactly at the same tension, meaning something sags or falls off.

I have had a recurring problem with my little REI Chrysalis, but the problem can affect all tents that have a footprint (the flat waterproof fabric sheet that acts as a groundcloth for the tent), a tent body, and a rainfly. I would clip the poles to the corner of the tent body (and the wall clips too), then attach the footprint, then the rainfly. All these elements stack onto the end of the poles, and in that order. But I would have trouble when I was moving or using the tent without the rainfly. The footprint would fall off the pole ends since it wasn't quite as taut as the tent body. Grrrr.

But I learned a new way to do things. Assemble the tent as before, but when it comes to clipping the pole ends into the grommets, just put the looser footprint on the pole end first, *then* put the taut tent body on the pole. Now the footprint can't fall off, because it's held on by the tent body tab/grommet.

I learned this trick by observing RG, who was putting up his new tent, and he did this to the corner tabs on his tent. I thought he did it wrong, accidentally, and so I brought it up to him. He explained that it was I who was mistaken, that he had done so on purpose, didn't everyone? Huh? Yeah, it keeps the footprint from falling off. Who says old dogs can't learn new tricks?

I can see I haven't consumed my thousand words yet, so here are a couple pictures to illustrate.

10-15-2008, 10:23 AM	#29
BigV Goon Squad Leader Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Seattle Posts: 27,063	As promised, some gear tips. I have a stand alone tent. That means the tent can be erected without staking it down, relying instead on the tension of the tent fabric resisting the springy bent tent poles trying to become straight again. In almost all these designs, the end of the straight pole is poked into a pocket or a grommet, bent in some way, and the other end similarly secured. Then the top part of the tent is clipped to the pole, or the pole is slid through a sleeve along the top part, then clipped into the ends. In any event, it's tough to get all the things that connect to the pole ends to be exactly at the same tension, meaning something sags or falls off. I have had a recurring problem with my little REI Chrysalis, but the problem can affect all tents that have a footprint (the flat waterproof fabric sheet that acts as a groundcloth for the tent), a tent body, and a rainfly. I would clip the poles to the corner of the tent body (and the wall clips too), then attach the footprint, then the rainfly. All these elements stack onto the end of the poles, and in that order. But I would have trouble when I was moving or using the tent without the rainfly. The footprint would fall off the pole ends since it wasn't quite as taut as the tent body. Grrrr. But I learned a new way to do things. Assemble the tent as before, but when it comes to clipping the pole ends into the grommets, just put the looser footprint on the pole end first, then put the taut tent body on the pole. Now the footprint can't fall off, because it's held on by the tent body tab/grommet. I learned this trick by observing RG, who was putting up his new tent, and he did this to the corner tabs on his tent. I thought he did it wrong, accidentally, and so I brought it up to him. He explained that it was I who was mistaken, that he had done so on purpose, didn't everyone? Huh? Yeah, it keeps the footprint from falling off. Who says old dogs can't learn new tricks? I can see I haven't consumed my thousand words yet, so here are a couple pictures to illustrate. Attached Images __________________ Be Just and Fear Not.