So after great advice on here I got an Icarus 500 + canopy, lovely tent, very happy with it!
There is a problem, instructions...I was a bit disappointed to find the instructions are generic for the Icarus range, talking of colour co-ordination and all sorts that our tent just doesn't have.
Our biggest problem is packing away there are no instructions at all for this. It was threatening to rain this afternoon, so we folded the tent in half towards the middle, then overlapped it slight (using the tent bag as a guide) until we knew when we halfed it again it would be the right length.
This works fine but means the tent is bulging out the bag sideways, we can either get it too long or too thick, we can't fit it comfortably!
Would anyone have any advice? Thank you in advance for any advice you can give
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You`ll never get it back in the bag like it came from the factory lol we pack ours back corners to front and then fold again, place tent poles qat 1 end then roll up
We have an Outwell Hartford XXL ATM and we've given up trying to get it in the bag, we put the flysheet in a seperate bag so we aren't squeezing it in with the main tent. It also makes it safer for the inner as we aren't putting a wet fly sheet in with the inner and risking mildew.
Stand on the long edges of the tent. Pick it up 1/3 of the way from the front end and bring that fold to the back of the tent. It's now in thirds. Then fold it in half. Now fold in both short ends to the centre, Then roll. You need to get the air out. We flop on it!Ours goes in the bag every time. Also the groundsheet doesn't touch the tent fabric. I'm afraid this sounds like gobbledegook! If you don't get it, you can email me at debrahill at hotmail.co.uk with your phone number and I'll ring you.
Ha! we had a similar strategy, one of us rolled down the tent towards the door, which should be fun on the campsite. I think I get what you mean, a sort of concertina (sp) fold?
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1. Unpeg everything, roll up guys, release vents etc. Leave front door completely unzipped.
2. pull out 4 corners and make sure everything else is on top, so you have a nice rectangle to play with,
3. stand at the front and back and fold left side in towards middle to width of bag, fold right side same way, but twice. then fold 2 bits together (you should have 5 layers now if you've done it right) This will leave you with a long strip of tent!!
4. fold long strip in half by bringing front to meet back.
5. roll tightly from folded end to edge (you can roll on it if you want - we often do)
6. place open bag at end of roll and push the rolled up tent straight in. Place poles on top and zip up bag.
Quote: Originally posted by Debhill on 20/6/2010
Stand on the long edges of the tent. Pick it up 1/3 of the way from the front end and bring that fold to the back of the tent. It's now in thirds. Then fold it in half. Now fold in both short ends to the centre, Then roll. You need to get the air out. We flop on it!Ours goes in the bag every time. Also the groundsheet doesn't touch the tent fabric. I'm afraid this sounds like gobbledegook! If you don't get it, you can email me at debrahill at hotmail.co.uk with your phone number and I'll ring you.
i`m trying as hard as i can to understand this..we fold ours from back to front and the groundsheet never seems to touch any of the other fabric..grrrrrrrr folding tents is a pain..bigger bags is needed from the manufacturer`s :)
I've just done it this evening, my Icarus was drying out for a few days so we did the needful today. After you've got it straightened out into a nice rectangle fold it side to middle on both sides. That means the more delicate polyester is enclosed inside the sturdier groundsheet. I then checked out the bag size and decided to fold it into thirds (again from front to back) - that left me with a long strip which I rolled from the back to all air could be expelled out the front door, using the pole bag in the middle.. I've packed this tent four times since I bought it and todays packing was the best job so far.
The last time when I didn't get it first time I put the whole damn thing in the car rolled up and left the site. I'd provided other campers with quite enough entertainment as it was.
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We have used our Icarus 5 times this year and I think it has been packed away differently each time, but we always manage to get it back in the bag with not too much problem.
However, the best time was when my OH came and she added the womans touch, can't remember too much, but we seemed to fold it like a sheet with the ends meeting each other a few times and then a final roll and it went into the bag like a dream. On one occasion though, I was pleased with myself for getting it back into the bag and I turned round and saw that I had left the pegs & poles out!
Mines is the 600 and I manage to get it back in the bag but minus the poles. It just takes a bit of time, time we often don't have when it's raining and when that happens it just gets rolled up and put in the bag as best we can, after it's dried at home we take more time with it.
I've done this a load of times now and sometimes I still don't quite get it right but I mostly it works out fine. I fold side to middle and then to thirds. When I roll it up there is a certain amount of adjusting because it want to 'spread' as I roll. I also find it a bit easier to connect the straps before zipping the bag up.
I only slightly open the front door, maybe a third of the way. That's because I keep forgetting to close the doors the following time I pitch the tent and then the doors won't zip shut, so I have to move all the guys then.
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Topic: Icarus 500 packing?
