Hi there,

I have a tunnel tent and it is wobbeling quite a bit in the Wind. But the real trouble is: the connections from the tent to the cords are rather flimsy. Some of them tore off as soon someone stumbled over the lines, had to saw them back on. Ans some direct the lines into a funny angle, so that the force when the tent is tied up just goes to one end of the seam. So all together not the best solution, hence I don't really like to tie my tent up in the first place.

Some ideas/recommendations?

Morbo

To which tent do you refer?

Hi Steffan

> Some ideas/recommendations?
Yes - post some good photos of the tent!
Bad guy rope attachments ... whew!

Cheers

Tatonka Orbit 2 its name is, will make fotos.

There they are, maybe I should incorporate eyes somehow, so the load is distributed evenly into the seam and the load transferred smother...

Cheers,

Steffen

I'm a little surprised they tore out just from someone stumbling over the guy line. Did you back stitch at the ends of all your seams to prevent unraveling?

Also, what I typically see on grosgrain attachments is the grosgrain overlapping the tent material by about an inch and a half and stitched on with an x in a box pattern and maybe also some bar stitching. I can't tell from your photo's if that's what you did.

I think a bit more sewing is required! It looks as though the guy ropes are held by a single line of stitching in the second photo. This might be OK for fine weather, but NOT for bad weather.

The Tatonka brand is not really meant for serious use from my limited experience. It seems more suited to fine weather and low-lands. It may be that you will need to do a lot of reconstruction to improve the reliability.

Cheers

@Herman: that's how they are, just a single seam line on the very edge. Was not me, that's how it is sold. Yes, should fix the black bits properly, but also should redesign the triangular bits.
@Roger: When I bought it I was impressed by the silnylon gadget because my older tent just flooded. And I wanted space, hence a tunnel tent. Did not check the connections, thought, its not that cheap, should be OK. And the retail guy said, its OK for alpine. Seems to be more a fair weather model, but tunnel tents as such are not that stable as igloo likes are anyway.
Now, I am more concerned how to design these triangles. By now they are like this:
.
Ore shape the triangles more to the direction of the guy ropes=forces, so the load on the seam between tent and these triangles are distributed more even

Or better eyes so the force "finds" a proper way


BTW, tried the Mcnett TentSure, did not really rain last week, so could not try it. But was quite windy on Bogong High Planes. You guys have to wait on that one....

Thanks,

Morbo

edit: fixed some spelling and grammar mistakes

Edited by Morbo on 01/05/2009 17:54:17 MST.

Would it be too difficult to open the seams enough to put a.nylon tape loop around the pole sleeve, so the strain is transfered to the pole? Then goop it up with Silnet.

guess I can use the pole sleeve without interfering with the tents main body, i.e. don't have to worry about sealing it.
But then, if I punch a hole into the sleeve, how to avoid whatever I put in there from sliding up and down the sleeve and make the hole bigger? Also, the poles still need to slide in nicely.
Apart from that, sounds like a good idea and the sleeve is about 35mm wide, plenty of space.

Pole sleeve, how it is attached

layers

Hi Steffan

Your redesigned guy rope anchors are the right shape. (I use that shape myself.) The bits of webbing are probably better than the eyelets as they distribute the load better.

My suggestion is to get a seam picker and undo the hems around the anchors and remove the anchors. Reshape them how they should be and sew them back in. Make sure the webbing is well sewn to the anchors. Ah yes - use lots of fine pins to hold everything together before you sew.

Do not try to wind the webbing around the poles - it doesn't work. Sewing the anchors to the seams is enough. I think you sketched this correctly.

Then when it is all sewn back together, use some silicone sealant (most any sort) to seal the stitching. You can apply it on the inside and outside, thinly.

Cheers

Edited by rcaffin on 01/06/2009 03:02:21 MST.

you mean in that one:



The one at the bottom is quite OK, should just fix the top one. Simpler may be, just trim it back and sew a patch with the proper shape onto it, this way I avoid interfering with the tent's skin, less troublesome for me and the tent. Some parts seem to overlap and its done quite well, better leave it...

Cheers,

Steffen

edit:try to relink the picture

Edited by Morbo on 01/06/2009 04:58:44 MST.

Steffen, since the tieouts are already attached, and you're happy with the seams, why not just unpick the piece of webbing from the tie out. Then you can fold the tieout, until the shape is correct, and then sew the loop of webbing back in. It's probably not quite as elegant, but a lot less work, with much less potential for disaster.

Where on Bogong where you?

Rod

ok, I turn it from something like this

into something like that

the black bit is the webbing, the green bit the tie out suppose? (English not being my 1st language). Guess I will redesign the webbing a bit as well, its just too small, surprisingly the seams did not fall off already...

@Rod: been camping around Cope Hut on 28-30 Dec, then it became so windy, wind constantly changed its direction, tent poles bent like crazy, so I better left. But apart from that (and people everywhere) was great.

Cheers,

Steffen

what if I make one loop just attached to the green bit and the tie rope goes trough this loop? So then it should follow the direction of the tension?

The redesigned guy rope anchor (yellow?) is just what I meant. But do add more than one line of sewing! A longer bit of webbing might be a good idea too.

If you can do this by only working on the triangle, without touching the tent seam, so much the better.

As for the redesigned guy ropes - I don't think I understand what you mean exactly. The original guy rope idea seems fine to me.

Cheers

Edited by rcaffin on 01/07/2009 02:55:39 MST.

no, I meant one loop of rope, the red one, is connected to the web. The yellow one is the one to the peg. As it is drawn here is just for better understanding, of course will the red one tighten in real life.


Or just point out, which picture is the right one!

Steffen,

Genau so. I don't really like your idea with the loop,as I think it will concentrate the forces. Try it on a scrap piece to see what I mean.

Rod

Hi Steffan

Personally, I favour the earlier webbing version. It can be sewn to the fabric anchor so much better, with several lines of stitching. See if you can get some light narrow webbing maybe.

Cheers

Hi Rod,
yes, the loop version would concentrate the load on to the 2 points where the line is attached to the web and from there more or less to the starting points of the seam from web to tent, which are the weakest points in the seam. Won't last long. Should rather try to distribute the stress evenly onto the seam. Was just an idea, at least there would be always tension on the loop (red one in the picture), by now the upper anchor is always somewhat floppy and the tension just on its upper corner/end of seam to the tent, not nice.

@Roger: Got some 25mm ribbon at Disposals, will put the tent in my backyard next week and start playing around. Has not to be ultralight...

If the Admin is reading this: would be nice if one could read the rest of the thread while posting the last entry as they do in other forums...

Cheers,

Steffen.