So, I am still trying to persuade The Mister that we need a Bell Tent. The last two times we have been camping it has been extremely windy, in fact this weekend we packed up early as I had just had enough of thinking the tent was about to blow down and I was worried about cracking poles like the last time we were camping.
So, my question is, how do Bell Tents cope in the wind? Better or worse than other tents?
Auntie Doris x
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we have Dutch Pyramid, which is like a square Bell Tent, very stable due the the shape (all roundy, slopy) with a good strong central pole. Peg them and guy them properly and you will be sat smuggly while the other campers "flap". Easy to put up too
And they are Canvas, so more gains there too
We certainly would not have a plastic hoop tent thing again, indeed my last experience of one ended with us in a portacabin for the night with a bunch of drunk Germans when it was destroyed in a storm
The other deisgn I have loyalty to are ridge tents, but they are less practical unless you are winter/sever weather camping
i have a bell tent and it was very billowy in the wind, but i have been told that was because i didn't peg the guys out far enough (i wouldn't have had space to do this anyway). so bear in mind you need a large pitch to accomodate the length of the guys.
------------- the orchard in may,
rosewall in july
blackberry wood in august
Mines a lot more secure since i changed the guy ropes to rope and wood sliders, and also I doubled up the guys - I used the loops under the apron round the sides to double the guys, but think the loops are for tying up the side walls rather than for guy ropes - it works well anyway!
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Bell tents are very stable in windy conditions providing, as Val said, they're guyed down securely with decent ropes. Replace the nylon ones with decent poly-hemp and wooden sliders and even look at replacing the main pegs with some sturdier ones as the whole structure is only as secure as the ground it's pegged in to.
Also, make sure if you can that you pitch it with its back to the prevailing wind and near a hedge if you can so that acts as a bit of a wind break.
The only other thing to watch out for is how sturdy you're central pole is - some of the cheaper aluminium or thin steel ones have been known to bend and buckle under strong winds but you can get thicker steel or good wooden ones quite easily.
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It was very windy for us in Newquay last summer and our 4m bell tent did very well considering some modern tents had snapped poles.
The fact that it is a circle and guy ropes extend in all directions make it very stable.
We still have the original nylon ropes/plastic sliders BUT (and by was I gald we did..) we invested on some heavy duty pegs (£13 for 20 IIRC).
The tent handled the wind very easily. To set it up, I set the guy ropes up first, roughly and loosely, then put the center pole in and then went round the outside tightening the ropes. Thwen finally I realigned each rope one by one correctly..
Quote: Originally posted by Littleskink on 06/7/2010
val - I love the look you have with the wooden sliders and hemp line
Would they be out of place on a retro Blue and Grey coloured Dutch pyramid do you think ?
Sure they would look fine on the eldorado as it's a canvas tent ( hated the white polyester and black plastic guys, looked nasty and cheap and ruined the whole look)
You need to measure up how much rope you need (add an extra bit for safety!) and how many sliders - worth getting spare of both as both items pretty cheap, but obviously postage knocks the price up
The rope is actually synthetic poly hemp (6mm) , so all the advantages of being weather proof, doesn't stretch etc but looks like the standard hemp
hi valbarley. i had my bell tent replaced as it was faulty, but like the idea of putting rope guys and wooden sliders on it instead. i have the 5m ultimate like you, how many metres of rope would i need and how many sliders?
my other question is, do you think that the wooden sliders could stain the tent when packing away if its wet, in the same way that wooden clothes pegs stain when it rains?
also how does having rope guys make the tent more stable?
------------- the orchard in may,
rosewall in july
blackberry wood in august
hi valbarley. i had my bell tent replaced as it was faulty, but like the idea of putting rope guys and wooden sliders on it instead. i have the 5m ultimate like you, how many metres of rope would i need and how many sliders? my other question is, do you think that the wooden sliders could stain the tent when packing away if its wet, in the same way that wooden clothes pegs stain when it rains? also how does having rope guys make the tent more stable?
I'm not sure they do make it more stable but it feels a lot stronger than the horrid white thin poly stuff and you can give the guys a good 'wrench' to make it solid
I 'think' there are 14 guy ropes..
I used a 1.5m length of rope per guy rope
If you order 16 sliders and 30m of rope you will have plenty
The front guy needs to be longer than the rest, and if you want to make a spare front guy (as RAF suggested, to make the ropes either side of the entrance rather than down the front) order another 2m and an extra slider (is only about £1 difference and is a pain if you are short and have to order more)
The rain has soaked it a couple of times and the sliders haven't stained it - haven't packed it away soaking, but would have to open it up and dry it at home anyway - the sliders aren't as dark as the image on the web page shows, the wood doesn't appear to be stained with anything either
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Although I'm not fussed about authenticity for my bell tent, Like yourself don't like the original guylines and the plastic sliders are absolute rubbish. Mine was from Soulpad so the guylines are orange.
Now I treated myself to a bundle of flourescent clam cleats and flourescent guylines for the Wolf Lake and have been thinking of putting them on the bell tent.
So my question is....what do you think, will they look daft or should I spend more money and go for plain white clam cleats and white guylines?
Thanks for any forthcoming thoughts or suggestions.
Valbarley, with your guyropes doubles what footprint size do you think your 5m tent ends up with...wondering if I have sufficient pitching space in garden.
Thanks
Quote: Originally posted by murdo on 10/7/2010
Valbarley, with your guyropes doubles what footprint size do you think your 5m tent ends up with...wondering if I have sufficient pitching space in garden. Thanks
It's no larger in length with the double guy ropes than it was with the original ones - the length is the same, the double guy is in the thickness, as it doubles back on itself
I would look for about a 7m circle size - Gives a 1m space for the guy on each side
You can see on this pic roughly how room much the guys use
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Topic: Wind in a Bell Tent
