Can anyone give me any advice on what is the easiest way to put down a trailer tent whilst raining on a muddy site. Being new to the trailer tent scene I must of spent hours wiping and removing mud from the base of the tent so that it wouldn't stain the canvass when folded onto the frame. Also the front detachable part had to be removed and sort of rolled without touching the floor to keep it clean.
This will probably the first of many questions as I draw on everybody's experience.
Hi I have done a lot of kids and mud and one suggestion I have is to keep the mud out of the tent by stacking up on cheap car mats (easy to pack flat in back of car)and putting them down around the entrance of hte tent when rain threatens. No wellies or boots inside tent. Then the inside of your tent, at least, should be free of mud. Doesnt solve the problem about the outside, I know, but its a start.
What type of trailer tent have you? In our Conway Carmargue and many other similar trailer tents you don`t have to unzip and take off the awning, just fold it back and forth smoothly over the cabin canvas then fold the cabin down as normal. Saves a lot of time.
I just asked my Hubby what we did about muddy skirts on the TT and he agreed with me...nothing. Sad to say we just used to fold it all up. I don`t recall having much of a problem with mudstains on the canvas, so I presume it just washed off the next time it rained or dried and blew off? Certainly despite it being the pale stone coloured canvas version, it looked pretty clean.
The groundsheet always got filthy of course. Put it in a bin liner and hose it down over the washing line.
The one thing I was totally fanatical about was NO SHOES IN THE CABIN. We kept a doormat at the step and all shoes came off there. I can`t bear getting the bedding dirty.
We always just tried to keep canvas to canvas and end up with the mud on the outside. We spent ages putting it away "properly" whether it was time well spent or if we should just have shoved it all in and opened it out at home and then brushed off dry mud I'll never know.
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Yes, outside to outside and inside to inside is always best, for tent or trailer tent canvas. The way we fold the awning back over the cabin means the canvas always folds like to like. The skirts fold up onto the outer surface of the canvas. And the inner linings don`t get muddy of course, because they`re either totally enclosed within the cabin or you take them down from inside the awning.
My TT is a Cabanon Galaxy and I have always removed the front section of the tent folded it up and put it in the middle, dont know if you have to do this as I was just following the opposite of the assembly instructions.
Seems a good idea though because its a pain to lay out and fold, not sure if the porch would give me some trouble.
Quote: Originally posted by darrennerrad on 31/03/2005
, not sure if the porch would give me some trouble.
I had a look at a pix of a Galaxy and I see what you mean about the porch. My only suggestion would be to try and see how it went. We take the curtains off (and any inner linings) and open up the zips on the door and roll up section on the front before we start by tossing the front section up onto the roof of the awning and going from there. (The Carmargue has a flat front.) Don`t open the side section zips though...you want the side walls in one long piece.
It`s definately a two person job as you want to roll the canvas back on itself smoothly, not forcing any snags or tugging the zips. Obviously it doesn`t make nearly as neat a package at the end as it does when the awning canvas is off and you may need to loosen the elastic cord on the cover to allow for the greater depth of packed canvas, but once you have the knack it saves huge amounts of time at both ends. And of course you have more room left in the trailer for other stuff if the awning isn`t packed in there.
We used to dry off the TT at home by opening up the cabin then throwing the awning canvas forward over the back wall, just to support it. No poles. Worked a treat. I don`t recall us ever taking the awning off even during the winter on either of our TTs, though I know other folk do.
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Topic: Wet and Muddy
