As a newbie we had a go at the first pitching of our tent yesteday.On the video on the outwell site it showed them pegging it down first before putting in the poles and erecting it, is this the best way to do it?
Any other tips on puttting the tent up would also be appreciated
Weather dependent we don't peg anything down before erecting the dome poles. Once these are in we peg down the square. Then in go the pod poles and the porch, then the pegs go in for the rest. Cheers, Arkaig.
We have a 2007 model which pitches inner first; we also have the footprint (highly recommended. I have found it best to position and peg down the footprint and then peg down the inner. This allows us to get the SIG free properly stretched out, and then we erect the inner using the poles. Finally the fly and peg out. This method makes it an easier job in windy conditions too.
I agree with Arkaig - we do ours this way too. If you peg down the 'square' before putting in the poles, you are restricted when forming the arch and makes it even more difficult to get the poles into the pin system. We lay the tent out, put in the arch poles and highest porch pole, push it up into a dome, and once poles are in the pin system we then pull out the corners to make the groundsheet flat, only then so we peg out the 'square' to secure it if a bit windy. Then put poles in the bedroom pods, and then peg out the bedrooms. We find that doing it this way we get the flysheet much more taught. The videos are there as a guide, Im sure once you have put the tent up a few times you will find the best way to do it for you.
We have the XXL and foot print. We peg out both the foot print and inner before inserting and lifting the poles. We found that this was more suited to us.
Thans for the comments, should of mentioned we have the 2008 model. We pegged out the footprint first and then put in all the poles, up went the dome and pinned it first before doing the pod poles. we then pegged it out. seemed ok except one area of the living room next to the entrance seemed a bit higher, a bit more trial and error next time we pitch it.
Those Outwell videos are just awful aren't they?! We have a Sun Valley and studied the video taking note of that moment when the camera pans round and then back to the flat tent only to find Lo! the tent has risen and is errected! As if by magic! We tried putting it up in the way 'suggested' by the video and the poles were being stretched to their limits with us worried about breakages, so we tried again using our common sense and own trial & error method and it went up much easier. So our rule now is watch the videos and then do the exact opposite!
I will say that Vango make much better videos for their tents, they have a running commentary talking each step through.
------------- Angie ~~
~ If you see someone without a smile give them one of yours ~
Totally agree with Angie about the videos. We thought exactly the same as we were torn between Outwell Hartford and Vango Kura. If it was down to the videos we'd have gone with Vango but chose Outwell because the green colour made it lighter inside than the blue Vangos.
I was keen on green (we'd previously had a Hartford XL) but I have to say the Sun Valley, although blue isn't too blue! Does that make any sense?!!!! I put it down to the huge windows which let lots of light in and cut out too much blueness. The pods are cream & grey (apart from the Kids room which we just had to buy!) so it doesn't feel too blue inside. I remember checking out a Diablo and it just felt as though we were going into a bluey world, quite disorientating at the time as I recall!
------------- Angie ~~
~ If you see someone without a smile give them one of yours ~
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Topic: Pitching tips for an Outwell Hartford xl
