I have a Gelert Horizon 8 (blue) which I bought last Christmas, and have been camping in it about 5 times.
I like the tent, but find the side porch extremely difficult to put up, especially with just 2 people (I'm a single parent, but have been camping with friends and also my mum). It's so hard to get the bit you have to attach, over the side and back of the tent without it rucking up and making sure it covers the two support poles and doesn't cave into the top of the tent.
It takes so long to put up, and it gets very frustrating attempting to put it up - especially in the rain!
Does anyone know if there is another Gelert porch which would fit and be fitted in a much easier way (that doesn't have gaps against the tent and leak...)? Or is there any other make of porch that would fit (I know Go Outdoors has the same type of tents called something else, but theirs are exactly the same type)?
I can't afford to get a new tent, but I'm happy with the tent, and it is handy having the porch, especially when it's raining most of the time during the camping season!
It just feels more trouble than it's worth to attempt to get the porch attached, so I wondered if anyone knew of a different way, or alternative porch that attaches much easier?
Any suggestions would be gratefully received!
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Snap i have exactly the same prob and so do many others!! The Go tent is Hi-gear and yes is exactly the same tent made by Gelert!!!
Our porch doesnt leek but we do have gaps down the side..
I stretch the back ropes as far as they go and am able to walk them round rather than throwing and hoping for the best!!!
Someone on here mentioed trying to adjust the black straps that go underneath from side to side but havnt used it since i read that!!!!
I think Arsenaldes had some very useful advice!! have you tried searchng in the forum for other threads??
I hope this helps in someway!!!
And completly agree we just love our Gelert!!
p.s do have a pick in my gallery of mine up and running if that helps in anyway aswell
I just had a look at your tent photo and it looks nice and even on the top where the porch goes, unlike how mine usually ends up!
Next time, I'll give your suggestion a try. The porch doesn't leak as such, and usually I can get it pretty close to the tent, but if it's windy or it's hard to get it snug to the tent, and it rains, then water pools in the porch,
My first outing I used a large tarp for the 'groundsheet' but as it overlapped the sides of the porch, and it poured down for a couple of days, the tarp just pooled up with water!
I now use those click-together large foam mats (like a large jigsaw) and they are excellent, and so much warmer underfoot!
I just had a look at your tent photo and it looks nice and even on the top where the porch goes, unlike how mine usually ends up!
Next time, I'll give your suggestion a try. The porch doesn't leak as such, and usually I can get it pretty close to the tent, but if it's windy or it's hard to get it snug to the tent, and it rains, then water pools in the porch,
My first outing I used a large tarp for the 'groundsheet' but as it overlapped the sides of the porch, and it poured down for a couple of days, the tarp just pooled up with water!
I now use those click-together large foam mats (like a large jigsaw) and they are excellent, and so much warmer underfoot!
Don't forget to leave a review of all tents you've used, for a chance to win fantastic prizes
We've got a gelert horizon 8 and porch and to begin with we loved it...but now we find the porch a pain to be honest, so much so we're looking at buying a new tent next year with the porch built in, I think we're going to go for the vango Maritsa 700.
We find the porch takes longer to put up than the actual tent by the time we've got the porch up and the groundsheet in. And we can never manage to get it aligned properly with no gaps, we were lucky with all our camps this year, we had very little rain or wind, but if we did have I'd worry about the porch letting water in...
The best way we found to put it up was to put the back poles in first, then put the porch up and put the straps over the top (walking them round like someone else suggested) and peg them, and then when we're happy(ish) with the position we put the front poles in and finish off pegging it out
If the porch fitted better and was easier (and quicker!) to put up then we'd be happy to keep our set up, but after 4 outings we've had enough!
------------- Bev :o)
2013
March - Pooley Bridge (Pod booked!)
May - Spiers House, Pickering
June - La Garangeoire, Vendee, France
Aug - The Cotswolds?
If your having difficulty putting up your porch try going to the other side of the tent and throwing some string over with a weight of some description(try a large nut)...attach the string to the straps and simply pull them over with the string. Peg the straps down loosely and then go back to the other side and erect the porch. Then go back to the other side and make any adjustments which need to be made.
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Topic: Advice needed on porch for Gelert Horizon
