Hi all,
I am the proud owner of a Eldorado, bought secondhand a few years ago. I've used it several times and love it but am still not sure I am pitching it correctly.
I have followed the suggestions given on several previous threads re laying out groundsheet and pegging tent at corners, putting in poles and pegging out guys in a complicated order. I have managed to pitch it without a saggy bottom (hurrah!) but find that no matter what I do it is impossible to peg down the front all the way to the ground. The door in particular seems to hover about 5 inches off the ground. Is this normal?
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Hi,
Yes, I have seen it, thanks. I noticed that they pegged the front down at the doorway before putting the poles in, but when I did this the tent lifts up those pegs from the ground!
Although the main pole is height adjustable it is on its lowest setting.
If you're pitching correctly and on level ground and it's still around 5 inches off the ground at the front then I'd hazard a guess that the cotton canvas has shrunk a bit.
With it not having a SIG, it's the same principle as a frame tent in that the canvas should sit about an inch above the ground then the mud flaps lap inside and are overlaid by the groundsheet. The canvas shouldn't touch the ground, but neither should it be 5 inches above it.
It's easy enough to remedy but it does take time and a little patience: pitch the tent and use some additional elastics or pegging rubbers (or, better still, ladders) to extend the reach of those on the front (don't overstretch the originals) and peg out as squarely and as tightly as you can (no baggy bits!). Now get the hose out and give it a really, really good soaking. The water should bead and run off but persevere and get as much on there as you can. Then try to peg it out a bit tighter, just a bit at a time (this is why pegging ladders are good, fitted to the D rings or the original pegging elasticity. Then hose again, extensively. Then tighten the pegging.
You're essentially stretching the canvas back into shape. When it's satisfactory and soaked as much as possible, tightly peg it out using the original pegging rubbers (which should now be at the correct level) and let it dry out. Make sure you double peg if necessary, so it can't pull the pegs up and out when it dries. Use good pegs.
If it is a shrinkage issue - and it does happen with cotton canvas tents which have been allowed to dry whilst unpitched - then you'll be able to sort it out.
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P.S. If your tent has D ring attachments for pegging, then Isabella pegging elastics are brilliant replacements or alternatives as they just slip into the metal D ring. I actually prefer them to the standard thick rubber band pegging hoops on canvas frame tents as they seem stronger, give a bit more reach and a bit more give.
These fit into the D ring attachments on Cabanon frame tents, do you have the same fittings on your Eldorado? The following pic shows a plastic D ring on an awning but the fitting method is the same as these just slot through and the plastic bit of the pegging elastic sits in the D ring:
Thank you, that is very helpful. I had wondered if it might have shrunk. It is usually dried out unpitched as we don't have space in the back garden. It is currently pitched in my in-laws' garden so that I could fiddle with it (not much fun in the current heat!)
The elastics are just attached directly to the tent with cotton tabs, unfortunately, and not D rings as those Isabella rubber rings look really good. A few of the elastics are looking a bit past their best, I wonder if I could attach D rings to the cotton tabs?
Have you put the door poles on the lowest setting?
I have not yet managed to pitch mine without saggy walls at the back - but I have realised that I am not checking that I have the centre poles and the door poles on the same height setting.
I am having a calm early set up on Monday to pay attention to my pitching technique. Usually I am far too busy when camping to faddle around with the perfect pitch.
Hiya,
Yes, the door poles were on the lowest setting, it was impossible to get them in on a higher setting. It looks as though the main problem I had was that the front, particularly the door, had shrunk. I followed the instructions given by lidds0 and managed to stretch the canvas a bit which has helped although it is still not perfect.
I know what you mean about not usually having the time to try and get a perfect pitch when camping, good luck with sorting it out on Monday!
on mine this problem was there from new I contacted hypercamp and was told the solution was to angle the front poles to each side which works well I have also just pushed the poles a few inches into the ground this also works well I think some were poorly made as others don't have this problem and its not canvas shrinkage on mine because if it was some of the wet weeks I have had away in it it would have stretched back.
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The canvas part of the doorway of my Eldorado is also couple of inches (nowhere near seven 'though) above the ground. But there's still plenty of scope to tuck the mudflaps under the poles, and under the groundsheet in the front area.
That arrangement has coped fine with some "challenging" front-on heavy rain in Snowdonia at the start of June.
Angling the front poles to reduce the height, in conjunction with the canvas-stretching covered further in the thread sounds like a sensible way forward.
So having pitched my Eldorado on Mnoday, my front door was hovvering about 8 inches off the ground
It didn't get wet last time I pitched it when the bottom of the door was at ground level.
And I still couldn't get straight back walls - I think there is too much tent on the back section - the bit that the guys are attached to almost reaches the ground. This has been an issue on one side of the tent ever since I first pitched it, but I assumed my faulty pitching was the problem.
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Topic: Hypercamp Eldorado problem
via mobile 26/8/2019 at 8:31am
