We have a 2007 Conway countryman, and we're finding problems zipping down the door and also securing the tent canvass inside the internal corners around the kitchen area. Everything seemed fine when we bought the unit last year, but this season there is at least a 6 or 7 inch gap with the zip at the bottom of the door, which means it's very draft and not too secure.Is this normal?? I might have expected it with a damp/wet canvass, but this happens when perfectly dry. I don't think that the base unit has grown over the last year....so I'd appreciate and advice on how to solve this, apart from what we are already doing, which is stuffing the gaps with bubblewrap.
Same problem with our Countryman. We now use the 'elastic rings' on the uprights by the door to fix the inner tent plastic hooks to then we don't have a problem with the kitchen end. Our original inner tent shrank so much that the corners began to tear. As it was under guarantee at the time, Pennine replaced it with no fuss. Pennine did seem to make them a bit too small, and in my opinion, didn't take shrinkage into consideration.
Maybe this has been overcome in the newer models.
With regard to the door gap it's usually just a question of checking that the canvas is fitting around the opened-out beds properly and of not having the frame opened to its full extent. Try initially opening out the frame to its first position and tension it last thing once the canvas has been properly fitted.
Ours is the 2010 model with the Isabella vinyl fabric, by the way, but we do get the same door fastening problem from time to time. We always manage to sort it out though.
The door gap is quite common, but, usually, because people make the mistake of setting the unit up with the door open.
As June says; make sure the canvas is fitted, correctly, round the bed pods, push the poles up to the first notch, close the door, then attach all the velcro and under bed bungees with the door shut, then go inside, close the door behind you and push the poles up, but only as far as they can comfortably go, with the door shut. It's a common misconception that the poles need to be on the last notch. They don't.
The only other thing to be aware of is that you are thinking about it the wrong way around. Canvases shrink when they are dry, and expand when whet, when they take on water. We normally recommend that you set your camper up, with the canvas as taut as it will go, then giving it a couple of good soakings to expand it. You should, then, be able to push the poles up at least one more notch. allowing it to dry in this position helps to stretch the canvas back out, again.
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Topic: Shrinking canvass
