Hello,
I’m looking for some pitching advice.
My particular tent is a Wild Country Hoolie 3 compact, and it’s a tunnel tent in design.
It was bought new.
The issue I’m having is that it’s impossible to get the roof taught. This means that the tent is fantastic at collecting rain water.
On the tents first use in rain, it was a still night and the rainfall was heavy. (The less sunny picture shows that the pooling was happening).
The tent was pitched almost exactly as the photos show, and when testing whether I was making a fuss over nothing, the roof was able to catch 1.5L poured from a bottle (admittedly not really rainfall) but this goes to show that the puddle can and will grow BIG.
Can anyone tell me what I’m doing wrong, I am starting to wonder if this is a manufacturer issue and the roof has been made too long.
I have tried the following with no success:
Moving the poles into the inner eyelets, designed for drying the tent out when soaked.
Front and rear guys at steep angles, also swapped between front/rear being steep and the other shallow
Front guy ropes moved to pull the tent forwards, and vice versa at the rear
Moving the feet of the poles closer to the middle, so the front/rear guys pull the top of the pole down
Pulling the poles as far away from eachother as possible.
Played around with tensioners on the front and rear
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Hard to say. I spend hours fiddling with the tension on guys to get the perfect crease free pitch and no pooling etc .
I can see you have your front and back guys good and taut. Try pulling the bottom of your poles outwards, they sometimes get curved in at the bottom and need pulling out. That might add extra overall tightness.
Or maybe you have the whole tent pulled so taut that it has flattened the curve over the top of the roof?
IMO a bit of pooling on a tunnel tent is really hard to avoid though.
Quote: Originally posted by DeborahTurner on 24/4/2023
Hard to say. I spend hours fiddling with the tension on guys to get the perfect crease free pitch and no pooling etc .
I can see you have your front and back guys good and taut. Try pulling the bottom of your poles outwards, they sometimes get curved in at the bottom and need pulling out. That might add extra overall tightness.
Or maybe you have the whole tent pulled so taut that it has flattened the curve over the top of the roof?
IMO a bit of pooling on a tunnel tent is really hard to avoid though.
Thanks for your reply, whilst I agree with your comment on all tunnel tents being susceptible to pooling - I can only describe the sag I’m currently looking at (dry) as a trough!
A small pool that drained every so often would be okay, but considering it was just holding more and more, I think this could be a future problem.
I’ve tried pulling out the poles as you said - they’ve got nothing more to give.
And in terms of tensioning the tent, at points I’ve had it so tight that the zips stop working, but the sag remains!
I have half a mind to return the tent, but I doubt it’ll fall under warranty 🫤 they’ll just say I don’t know how to pitch a tent.
very easily fixed! you need to have the guy ropes on the poles pulling forwards aswell as outwards, so peg them at 45 degrees from the tent. unlike at the moment where they are just pulling at 90 degrees from the tent, then that will tighten the outer fabric up
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So the pairs at the side, that currently line up with the hoops in the photos, need to go forward (front guys) and back (rear guys) instead? Or is it the front & rear guys that need to splay out more?
Quote: Originally posted by Fiona W on 25/4/2023
So the pairs at the side, that currently line up with the hoops in the photos, need to go forward (front guys) and back (rear guys) instead? Or is it the front & rear guys that need to splay out more?
more or less yes! they need to pull at 45 degrees from the center of the tent so they are pulling the poles backwards/forwards and outwards at the same time
Quote: Originally posted by marg6 on 24/4/2023
very easily fixed! you need to have the guy ropes on the poles pulling forwards aswell as outwards, so peg them at 45 degrees from the tent. unlike at the moment where they are just pulling at 90 degrees from the tent, then that will tighten the outer fabric up
Thanks for your reply.
I tried to give this a go when I first encountered the issue (photos attached) and it still sagged - if you can see anything you’d change let me know!
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the only other thing i can see is that you havent tightened the pegging points at all, you need to pull the black webbing so the pegs are closer to the edge of the fabric. failing that its then a fault on the tent
ok just watched this tent being erected, if you watch closely you can see that on the video there is a guyline front and rear at the very top of the poles, not just the 2 on the flaps over the doorway, without those 2 extra guylines then the roof wouldnt be pulled tight either! so it seems that something in manufacturing has happened, see here from 40 seconds in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzsVeg7OpCs
I wonder whether you might have been given the compact pole set with the standard fly? The dimensions look to be slightly different, eg the vestibule is 10cms longer on the standard version.
Quote: Originally posted by marg6 on 25/4/2023
the only other thing i can see is that you havent tightened the pegging points at all, you need to pull the black webbing so the pegs are closer to the edge of the fabric. failing that its then a fault on the tent
ok just watched this tent being erected, if you watch closely you can see that on the video there is a guyline front and rear at the very top of the poles, not just the 2 on the flaps over the doorway, without those 2 extra guylines then the roof wouldnt be pulled tight either! so it seems that something in manufacturing has happened, see here from 40 seconds in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzsVeg7OpCs
Post last edited on 25/04/2023 16:13:06
Hmmmm, the OP's tent does not appear to have an anchoring point for a centre guy over the doorway and the centre back.
However, one can easily create guying points on the front and back flaps by using Clingon clips.
DK
------------- Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest & Play!
- 2027: ? NL+DE+FR
- 2026: FR+DE
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'24: 10/49; '23: 9/47;'22: 8/46; '21: 9/34
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* Treat life events like a dog: if you can't eat it, play with it or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
Agree. Quick look at 3 different YouTubes & they all have one wee tab at the very top of the hoops, which comes over the canopy for a single guy heading straight forward or straight back. Maybe missed during manufacture? I’m not familiar with the Clingon fixing, but they’re mentioned often enough here.
Ah, memories of ridge tents long ago!
Quote: Originally posted by DeborahTurner on 26/4/2023
FlyingPenguin, I think it worth contacting the manufacturer about this.
You have tried everything, and these are quality tents and should not have large pools collecting when correctly pitched.
Does the inner tent pull the roof downwards and flatten it out?
Thanks all for your replies and research.
As to the query about the tensioners - if I do apply tension the tent no longer zips (found this out the hard way when I tried to close up the tent in rain).
Pulling the material where the other models have central guys does solve the issue. The Hoolie 3 has that middle guy, however the Hoolie 3 compact does not appear to on photos on google. IF they have intentionally removed it then it seems like an odd decision. I hope it is a manufacturing issue and will contact them to ask, I love the tent otherwise.
I’ve never come across clingons but it makes sense that they exist. There’s no spare material in the centre - will they clip onto the pole?
As to whether the inner weighs it down, I pitched without the inner yesterday and it made no difference.
Thanks all for your help and ideas - makes me feel a little bit more sane that I can’t get this thing to work!
Quote: Originally posted by FlyingPenguin on 26/4/2023
I’ve never come across clingons but it makes sense that they exist. There’s no spare material in the centre - will they clip onto the pole?
I do not believe the Clingons would work onto the pole, and would not try it myself, as they are designed for fabrics.
I would add it in the centre of the front and back flaps.
I am certain you have already worked that out - guys should be tightened when all the doors/zips are closed.
DK
------------- Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest & Play!
- 2027: ? NL+DE+FR
- 2026: FR+DE
- 2025: 17/77
'24: 10/49; '23: 9/47;'22: 8/46; '21: 9/34
* Ex-tenter
* Treat life events like a dog: if you can't eat it, play with it or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
------------- Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest & Play!
- 2027: ? NL+DE+FR
- 2026: FR+DE
- 2025: 17/77
'24: 10/49; '23: 9/47;'22: 8/46; '21: 9/34
* Ex-tenter
* Treat life events like a dog: if you can't eat it, play with it or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
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Topic: HELP! - Pitching advice needed
via mobile 24/4/2023 at 4:33pm
