We've just ordered a 5m Bell tent from soulpad and a Pro tarp from belltent to replace our aging (and slightly draughty) Gelert Stratos 4.
I would like to get delta anchors for the bell and tarp and after a bit of lurking around this forum I've found that I only need Delta's for the guy lines of which the bell has 14 and the tarp has 4. Is 14 delta's a bit overkill on a bell?
Lots of people on here swear by Deltas and I can see why. My own view is are they just too good. I think I would rather a peg come out or guy line slacken in strong wind than the peg not budge and the taught tent take a battering with the possibility of the tent being ripped to shreds rather than sagging or at worst collapsing. We use rock pegs all the time and have had no problems with them. As to the bell if you look at this pic, this was taken in 25-30mph wind if you look to the left of the 2 people walking you can see what the wind is doing to that tent whereas our Bell took it in its stride. So, are Deltas on a Bell tent overkill? In my opinion yes. But let me say I don't go wild camping and try to avoid anywhere where its likely to be really soft muddy ground, we like to enjoy and not endure camping. Geoff
Unlike most tents the pegs that come with the Soulpad Bell tents are good quality, you may want to upgrade the wire pegs for rock pegs but the V pegs work well so long as they are in correct.
I was considering a few Deltas but having survived 'Bertha' in Northumberland last summer I now see no need for them and will continue to use our rock pegs for groundsheet and V pegs for guy lines .
We did however take down the canopy just in case but the large toilet tent stood up to the weather well.
We watched this tent somehow survive with just wire pegs removed and I don't think it was even guyed out! I had threatened to peg it using some of our spares as they went out for the day but hubby told me not to as 'if they can't be bothered then neither should you!'
Tricky one to answer.
I'm a Delta convert, but what the above comments suggest makes sense. At some stage... subject to wind speed, wind direction, softness of the ground, down force of rain/weight of wet material, even what weight/furniture is in the tent... but at some stage, something has to give.
Hopefully, it's you... packing up and going home.
If not, who knows.
If the peg won't come out of the ground, will the guyline snap in two, or the knot that connects it to the tent come undone? Or, as Geoff hints at, will the guyline remain fixed to the attachment point... which in turn gets ripped from the tent!!
We are all using the best methods, and best equipment... until circumstances prove otherwise, which could well be too late!
On my last trip, I thought my new Karsten pegs would be fine, but the ground was so wet and soft, some of them threatened to pull out, and no doubt would have, if the wind had been more than "moderate". I changed the main ones for my stainless Delta's, as soon as I noticed the opened out peg-holes, and everything returned to being "rock solid".
... but do we want everything "rock solid"?
On previous trips, I have only had one related incident...
Out for the day, V. windy, V. rainy, came back to a collapsed tarp, spiked pole on ground (luckily not slashed through tarp or tent!!) and a broken "unbreakable glass"!
All down to using straight, 8 inch long "T shaped" (when looking through cross section) yellow plastic pegs from GO, high wind, and V soft/wet ground. I re-jigged, using Delta's, and all was fine for the rest of the trip.... but had the wind dropped? Who knows?
Until it goes t*t's up, I'll continue to use at least one of the 3 types of Delta's I have, for the guys, and the standard "Hard ground" pegs (the one's similar to 9" nails!) elsewhere. I guess 90% of the time, my Karsten pegs would suffice, but I may aswell keep them shiny and in the shed as, in my opinion, I already have better in my bag.
Erm... sorry... what was the question again?
Oh yeah... Personally, I'd get half a dozen, maybe a dozen at most, and spread them out between strategic guys on the Bell, and the rest on the tarp guys. But that's just me!
On the Bell anyway I would have thought the centre pole would be the 1st thing to go. Where the joins are on the pole we have in our peg bag large jubilee clips and long V shaped pegs should we need to reinforce where the joins are on pole (if that makes sense) Not had to use them yet, but they are there if the need arises.
Thanks for the helpful answers everyone. Think I may get a few rock pegs and maybe a handful Delta's just to have spare.
Tent should be here tomorrow so planning a nice romantic Valentines getaway somewhere in Somerset where the sun WILL be shining and the ground WILL be nice and dry
Deltas do hold extremely well. They will hang onto the soil better than wire pegs if it's soft and muddy or in grass with sandy soil beneath.
For example, I was once camped on a sandy coastal grassy strip in strong winds. All the Deltas on the guys stayed in place while all the wire pegs on the groundsheet worked themselves out of the ground. I was glad of the Deltas as the tent next to mine collapsed completely.
In rocky ground I find that rock pegs work better than the nylon Deltas. I like the Delta T bar rock pegs as the heads don't pull off when I tug them out of the ground. I have broken off several of the nylon caps on ordinary rock pegs.
As has been pointed out, something will always be the weakest point in your setup so if your pegs hold, you will have to look out for your pole, for example.
The guys are particularly important in a bell tent as they pull the tent into shape so they need to hold. I always take a variety of pegs with me, including Deltas. Unless space is an issue it's worth taking some along.
For many years I used the plain wire pegs that come with most tents and never had a problem with them pulling out. The main problem was that as soon as they hit a rock they bent and I was forever hammering them straight again.
As they became unusable I changed them for the much thicker type which you can buy in camping shops and they were better until I came across a particularly bad pitch and was unable to hammer them in without bending them. Fortunately the campsite shop sold rock pegs and I bought some and never looked back...they have served me well in all sorts of different ground.
I have tried other types of peg such as the flat steel 'V' shaped ones which I didn't like and they also bend in rocky ground, and plastic pegs which are ok but again bend in rocky ground.
I have never used Deltas but I have seen some of the yellow plastic ones very badly damaged by continual hammering and in the past photos have been posted on here showing them having pulled out of soft muddy ground so they are not infallible, but then no peg is...the red plastic tops on my rock pegs are nowhere near as strong as the orange plastic tops on my previous set (which I gave away with the last tent I sold and now wish I hadn't) and they keep breaking. I will gradually be replacing them with orange tops.
Quite often it is the user not the peg that is at fault. If a peg is hammered in at a good angle and hammered well into the ground, not a lot is going to shift it.
My Hypercamp Escala 4 has nearly 40 pegging points, and I use Deltas on 9 of them, and 9in angled steel pegs for the rest.
DK
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Topic: Delta anchors for a bell tent
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