Our trusty BL6 stood up OK to the battering it received in Devon last Thursday, with one important exception - the windows on either side, but especially the windward side, were blown open by the wind and let loads of near-horizontal rain into the tent.
These two plastic windows (one on each side at the front end of the tent) are held down by a single piece of velcro, but it's quite a stretch to pull them down far enough.
It seems even harder once the tent gets wet, and I suspect pulling everything taut against the storm also didn't help. As a result there wasn't a lot of velcro holding the outer window in place, and the high winds simply got underneath the plastic and pulled it open.
Result - one very wet carpet and a lot of wet kitchen gear.
I've seen others comment before on the tightness of these outer windows and how hard they are to hold in place - so am I simply pitching the tent incorrectly, or has anyone done anything to improve the hold of the velcro (I'm thinking of sowing extra velcro tabs in, or possibly using bulldog type clips guyed directly to the floor)?
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This will be interesting to follow. We used our BL6 for the first time last week. Despite the wind and rain we did not get any water in through the windows.
However the front right window (right when standing in the tent facing forwards) is taught with the velcro on the flysheet not being a good match to the velcro on the window. I have noticed other posts/reviews complaining about this particular window.
The side doors have three pieces of velcro along the bottom yet Outwell chose to put one central piece in the centre bottom of each opening window - it does not seem to make sense to us as the windows seem to need more securing along the bottom. At the moment we are not wanting to makeany modifications s the tent is new and don't want to invalidate any warranty.
Your idea of a guy line is an interesting one and, though I have never used any, the clingons others have posted about could be the answer here as they should not damage the canvas and as the guy ropes ar just to keep the window in place there should not be any stress on the window either, saves having to sew on more velcro.
At the risk of hijacking the thread (sorry) how does the black weather fla sit on your front door. On ours it does not sit flush over the zip for the bottom half of the door but sticks out at right angles. I feel that if we left it pitched without the canopy and it was raining then water would get to and through the zip.
Cheers,
David
Edit - Mike beat me to it re the clingons as I was typing a long post rather labouriously.
OK this use to annoy the hell out of me with our BL and also our WL but I have the answer to window problem and also the tight main door that some people experience.
Its the fixed length's of shock cord that run around the skirt of the tent that causes the problems. Pitch the tent on a perfectly flat pitch and your windows and doors will fit OK, not perfect but OK. Now pitch on the average site and the ground undulates which causes the tent to sit irregularly on the frame and as you drive a peg into the ground to hold these shock cords in place the panel above becomes over tight and the window no longer lines up with the section below.
Replace all of the fixed length shock cords around the tent with these and you will be able to correctly adjust the tension of each panel according to the rise and fall of the ground and get a perfect fit on your windows and doors. It will also have an effect on the whole tent and make it sit so much better on its frame.
Things will line up, windows will fit and door zips run smooth.
Good luck all and happy camping
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For those of you who still want to secure your window panels a bit better than Outwell designed them to be, and lets face it its not a great design, I have added a few simple additions to our Classic Outwells that stops them flapping about in the wind, even though they now line up with the Velcro strips.
Under the window panels I have stitched 2 rings, the same as the bedroom pods are suspended from, either side of the Velcro about half way between the window panel edge and the Velcro strip. Then I have stitched a 2 inch long section of elastic which is doubled over and fitted with a pin, again like the bedroom pod fixings, just above the ring so that the elastic and pin when fitted into the ring holds the window panel in place neatly yet secure enough to stop it from flapping about.
The bits are cheap, use a good quality cotton and as small a needle as possible and you will not have any issues.
You can get all the bits you need from these guys:
I have also fitted snap clasps to the bottom of our side doors which has stopped them flapping about as well as needing to peg them down separately to the inner panel.. . . Much neater !!
We have the Bear 4 and I am trying to think if our windows are zipped windows. I thought they were but we didn't get out in it last year for OH's broken bone, so can't fully remember..
I am sure they are zipped though, it's a 2010 model if that makes any difference.
Quote: Originally posted by steventhehamster on 13/6/2012
We have the Bear 4 and I am trying to think if our windows are zipped windows. I thought they were but we didn't get out in it last year for OH's broken bone, so can't fully remember..
I am sure they are zipped though, it's a 2010 model if that makes any difference.
Or am I being thick and misreading the thread lol
The BL6 windows have zipped mesh inside, but the outside plastic windows are held down to the outer flysheet with a single tab of Velcro. So if that doesn't hold there's only insect mesh between you and the storm!
To clarify the Bear Lake 6 has a curtain held up by velcro, then a fly mesh screen that zipps all the way round the two sides and bottom top is attached to the tent. The outer plastic window is sown onto the tent at the top (obviously), has a zip down each side then is held in place by one central velcro strip on the botton length.
We did not have many problems with flapping or rain coming in but the velcro was not matching up very well and seemed no where near enough to secure the window properly. The door bottoms (which are not much wider than the windows) have three strips of velcro and make a much more robust/secure connection to the tent.
Cheers,
David
Post last edited on 13/06/2012 19:55:54
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Topic: Bear Lake 6 - how to secure side windows?
