Like many others we were caught in the high winds last weekend and unfortunately we came back after a trip out on Saturday to our find our Vango Oregon 800 had collapsed at one end due to the poles splintering. The tent itself is ok, but the poles on this tent have been the bain of every camping trip, and we had already replaced several sections as we were putting it up on the Friday before the wind sprung up. Have we just had a bad batch of poles, and do we try we another complete set at about £50 or do we cut our loses and go for a different tent altogether?
(Incidentally, campsite owner of the year award must go to Lesley Shell at Drumroamin Campsite - she came rushing over as we arrived back to tell us she was putting us up in one of her statics so we wouldn't have to cut our 5 day holiday short, helped dismantle the tent and gave us space in a shed to store our gear so we wouldn't be driving round with a car full of stuff!)
------------- Rachel
Sept 07 - Middle Woodbatch Farm
Aug 08 - Langdale / Middle Woodbatch Farm
July 09 - Camusdarach / Auchindarach
April 10 - Hadrian's Wall
May 11 - Drumroamin
July 11 - Drumroamin
July 12 - Drumroamin
July 14 - Sands,Gairloch
August 14 - Drumroamin
Poles are so easily replaced, buy the kit ( a threader) and spare poles at most outdoor shops, 20 minute job first time, 10 min thereafter. If fabric was damaged I'd buy a new tent.
And that Lesley at Drumroamin is such a wonderful lady. We were there 2 months ago, no wind then though.
Hi
If you are going to sell the tent then you really need to replace the pole to get a decent price. If you keep it Outwell Durawrap poles are supposed to be stronger as they a criss cross outer reinforcing which is more resistant to splitting but more expensive. If you do change tents go for one with steel poles
------------- Experience enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.
Everything has been said before, but since nobody ever listens we have to keep going back and saying it all over again and again and again
Quote: Originally posted by thorneywilson on 06/5/2011
Have we just had a bad batch of poles, and do we try we another complete set at about £50 or do we cut our loses and go for a different tent altogether?
We had the same problem last year. We went for a new tent with steet poles, went away last weekend to Shropshire in the high winds and the tent didnt move at all.
Quote: Originally posted by thorneywilson on 06/5/2011Have we just had a bad batch of poles, and do we try we another complete set at about £50 or do we cut our loses and go for a different tent altogether?
It could be down to the way you pitch your tent.
this is my opinion why there are so many damaged tents. Either the fibre glass poles are not sitting properly so are under stress before the winds even start and snap because of the extra stress of the winds, or guys are not tensioned correctly and are either too loose or too tortly hammered in to allow the guys and tent to flex properly.
The other problem is when you watch someone and they only put half the guys out pegged. A tent has the amount of guys it has because the engineering has decided it needed those guys in certain weather conditions. WHY YOU WOULD NOT USE THOSE GUYS IS BEYOND ME.
Incidently this is not a dig at the OP, just a generalised comment of why I think so many broken tents lately. I am sure perhaps 10% of losses are through damaged carbon fibre, but the rest in my opinion is due to poor understanding of physics of a tent.
to the OP, replace the poles as you can't sell it if you don't. If you like the tent I would keep it, if not sell it, but replace the poles anyway or your purchase is worthless. If no damagae as you have indicated it should get an alright price.
Personally I would say keep the tent. Also if the winds are bad do what we do. We place windbreak city around the tent. This may seem like overkill, but if hammered in enough the can stop the wind around the tent and shield it from the worst of the winds. I have had to replace several windbreaks, during my 4 years camping, but never replaced a tent! Also try and find sheltered edges especially when seaside camping as these afford a little more protection. We tend to camp by hedges or where I can put the car to break the wind.
We had a few years ago now a Royal andorra, massive tent!!
Went out for the day and on route back to tent the heavens opened and the wind came too, and as we cam back saw my mate Adam look round from the front and i thought the tent has collasped!!
Because of the poles and the weight of the rains settling on the top of the tent the whole thing had collased right in the centre.Had to go in push it back up,not one pole was snapped, but most inside was soaked.
Got shut of it and bought a steel poled tent.
I've got three Vango Oregons, the 400, 600 and 800. We've only had one pole failure and that was a really catastrophic one, when a horrendous gust of wind basically punched the entire end of the 600 in and knocked it flat. The end pole couldn't cope and went at one side, then the next one took the strain and went down too. Freak occurrence and not unexpected given the weather. We mended the poles as best we could (I always carry spare sections and duct tape) and finished the holiday though.
However when we got home I replaced the whole pole set. I just used the same again from Vango, I didn't upgrade them at all. If you put stronger poles than your tent fabric is designed to cope with in a tent the next gale will just rip the seams and fabric instead. Poles are easier to mend and replace imho. Remember leisure tents are really only designed to cope with wind speeds of 30mph or so, after that the manufacturer will gently point out that a two season leisure tent isn't designed for storm weather and is thus outwith the guarantee. Most don't guarantee the poles anyway.
The poster that asked if the tent pitching was as good as it could be is correct...so many tents fail in even moderate winds due to poor pitching. It's also why a well pitched cheapie can often be still standing in the morning after the storm while the megabucks tent is smashed flat. All guys in use and correctly pegged out, obviously, but positioning, tensioning and shelter are vital too. Type of peg...good enough for storms? After that you can go on to use double guying and storm guying techniques. And the TBS should be used correctly too. Poles break when they overflex but they do need to be able to flex a bit.
Also, fibreglass poles should be taken good care of. Tipping them out of the bag endwise onto the hard ground is my No1 pet hate, for example. Throwing them into the car and packing stuff on top of them is another way to damage them. (That ghastly valise bag with pole sections on the base and weight at the top that Vango use should be burned imho.) Also, poles should be inspected as the tent is taken down. White streaks in the fibreglass indicate the material is beginning to fracture, as do longitudinal cracks...you can feel these with your finger ends. Never think a damaged pole "will do"...one weak section only means the stresses are carried onto the next one. If you've had to repair a pole section with duct tape and then seen through another night of high winds with that, chances are the whole pole will need replacing. It's better if you damage a pole to replace the whole pole with the spare you always carry (of course!) asap before it can knacker all the sections. Bin any cracked sections, of course, but also bin any sections that look even vaguely suspect. You can end up with having a near constant series of breaks over several trips if you don't weed out these weak sections before the next camp.
Thanks for all your responses, especially Val's. I think we will try a complete set of replacement set of poles for now, maybe saving up for a steel pole tent for our next tent. I am wondering if we have our tbs too tight, its always the rear end poles that split sometimes even before we have peggedthe guys out - any thoughts Val? I suspect part of the reason the tent collapsed was because not all sections were 100% as we had already used up all our best spares (donated to us by another camper who had given up on his Oregon 800) hence think we should try a complete new set rather then just replacing sections. I also need to find replacement poles for our sun canopy as the tent collapse took those (steel) poles out too!
------------- Rachel
Sept 07 - Middle Woodbatch Farm
Aug 08 - Langdale / Middle Woodbatch Farm
July 09 - Camusdarach / Auchindarach
April 10 - Hadrian's Wall
May 11 - Drumroamin
July 11 - Drumroamin
July 12 - Drumroamin
July 14 - Sands,Gairloch
August 14 - Drumroamin
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: Storm damage - repair or replace?
