Back Under Canvas

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Re: Back Under Canvas

Post by PanBiker »

I received the replacement rear airbeam for the tent yesterday, here it is:

Image

It's rolled up here apart from the end with the valve assembly and made from a high grade polythene. When installed this is encapsulated in a heavy ripstop nylon tube which is zipped along about 90% of its length to allow installation. The assembled beam is itself captivated in a sewn in channel of the outer flysheet canopy making it an integral part of the tent. The valve assembly has three stages, the bottom ring is what secures it through a stitched in port through the flysheet, the second level of the valve can be unscrewed for deflation, the one way valve itself is in the third stage and has a sealing screw cap, you unscrew this to inflate the beam. All of the stages of the the valve have integral safety loops so you cant loose any of the parts when you unscrew them. The pump for the beams has an automatic bypass valve that limits the pressure to 7psi
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Re: Back Under Canvas

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Makes our ex WD 'two man bivvies' in the 1940s look antediluvian! Wooden tent poles in sections with brass ferrules, a spike on top of the pole which engaged in a sewn grommet at the peak and string guy ropes. The tent material was heavy green canvas duck that took ages to dry. I remember that in heavy rain when they sprang a leak the trick was to run your finger down the inside so it dripped on the grass. The groundsheet was separate and smaller than the tent. I'll bet they were using the same construction in the Crimean War!
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Re: Back Under Canvas

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The rear beam change will have to wait. We have made the executive decision now the tent is dry to pack all the gear away until Spring. The change in the weather and notwithstanding the Covid restrictions have put paid to an early Autumn trip out. We will see what it looks like in Spring. We have most of our ancillary stuff in plastic boxes with lids which makes packing and storage a lot easier. We have moved all our camping gear out of the landing cupboard and now keep it in the small spare bedroom, more room to move about in there. I have all our boxes sorted and upstairs, just the tent to go now and a few items still in the top box on the car. These are mostly flat stuff, table, camp kitchen, stove etc. I will take the top box off and the roof bars and they will go up there on the first fine day which we may get with a bit of luck tomorrow or over weekend.
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Re: Back Under Canvas

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That sounds sensible Ian.
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Re: Back Under Canvas

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Yesterday was bob on for emptying the roof box and getting it off the car. Bars have gone upstairs, box is waiting until we have stacked and stored all the other stuff properly. I have kept our can of waterproofing spray out as one of Sally's kagouls needs a treatment.
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Re: Back Under Canvas

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Just booked for four nights up at Robin Hoods Bay. Will be able to get the new air tube deployed in the Horizon. Lent the top box to Neil for a few days but that is now back, will need to get the roof bars off him though. :smile:
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Re: Back Under Canvas

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That's journeying to foreign parts Ian!
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Re: Back Under Canvas

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Not really its in Yorkshire and we have been before. :extrawink: It was the venue for our first back to camping session. It's a nice site and had availability which was the crux of the matter. I checked loads of sites and couldn't find any others that I checked that had consecutive days available. Just at the tail end of the school holidays, (after the last weekend for many) so we are hoping it will be reasonably quiet on the family field.

Middlewood Farm - Robin Hoods Bay
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Re: Back Under Canvas

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I'm fairly sure when I booked our camping trip that we were allocated a pitch on the family field which is the smaller of the two. My confirmation emails says we are on the main camping field, winner. :smile: Lots more room on that one. Confirmation when we check in no doubt.
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Re: Back Under Canvas

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Monday to Friday was done on the site at Robin Hoods Bay. As it said on the email we were on the main field despite what the original booking said. Better anyway and we prefer that field as there is a lot more room.. Well organised toilets and facilities cleaned regularly, closed mid morning until mid afternoon for cleaning, unisex toilet available if required. We were pitched next to a row of pods the nearest of which had two changes of occupancy while we were there. It was grey and overcast for the duration with intermittent drizzle. Thursday was OK and the sun was out so we went for a drive up to Falling Foss and a walk through the woods. Mid afternoon we walked down to Robin Hoods Bay through the fields, the path comes out next to one of the chip shops so it was rude not to participate. We ate our tea on the rocks by the slipway, beach was pretty busy but not overly rammed.

Radio wise it was a bit of a disaster. I could not get any drive out of my multi-mode transceiver on SSB. I thought it could have due to the WiFi mast that was on our power pole but that is not the case. I have checked the transceiver off site and it is still the same, fine on FM but stuffed on SSB. :sad: I will have to have a look at that to see if I can effect a repair.

Striking camp took a couple of hours and we left the site at about 10.30am yesterday. Uneventful drive back, same way as we came. Pickering, Thirsk, Ripon. We stopped at the EH site at the top of Sutton Bank for lunch and a break from driving. Got home mid afternoon. Unpacked essentials and the stuff that needed washing etc. Rest of the car to empty today.

Despite the grey skies for most of the duration it was a nice break.
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Re: Back Under Canvas

Post by Stanley »

I thought you had gone q1uiet on the radio front. Hard luck. You'll find the problem when yo get home, after all it was working when you went wasn't it?
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Re: Back Under Canvas

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The antenna was fine Stanley but to be honest I didn't check the transceiver. It was perfectly fine when I upgraded the internal batteries. I had no reason to suspect that there was any problem so just checked the charge on the batteries and away we went. Best laid plans and all that. I will report in the AR threads of what I find.

Back on topic for this thread, I will have to take the tent up Letcliffe next fine day. We didn't pack it right, we took the inner tent out and I forgot to pack it back with the outer canopy. I know I can do a better job and get it smaller than it currently is.
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Re: Back Under Canvas

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That could be in the next couple of days Ian.
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Re: Back Under Canvas

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I checked on the compression bag for the tent to confirm what I thought, there is no actual repacking instructions for the tent. I took the opportunity to watch a generic tent packing video on YouTube presented by a member of staff of one of the big camping suppliers. I couldn't find one for my particular tent but chose one for a six or eight person air tent with five air-beams, we only have three :extrawink: . The deflation and repacking would follow the same principles. I recognised almost immediately where we had been going wrong, we folded and we should have rolled!

Folding and refolding will never result in the correct dimensions to fit the bag so we have always struggled a bit with the final packing into the Easy Pack :smile: bag. Watching the video the trick is to deflate from the back beam forward, this automatically chases any trapped air out of the collapsing canopy, you finish with the front beam. When you use a footprint groundsheet as we do the bottom of the outer tent remains clean so you can safely fold underside to topside without soiling the canopy. This is the crux of the matter, we have always folded so the upper canopy is encased within the sewn in groundsheet. This is standard procedure for a tent with sewn in groundsheet that sits directly on the ground with no footprint. The footprint is the game changer. The final trick is to set the width that you want the final pack to be on the first fold, you start this on the side opposite the air-beam valves which of course are open. You continue to fold maintaining the width you need at the same time driving all the air from the tubes at each fold. You finish the folding at the valve side so you now have a single long rectangle of the correct width to fit the storage bag or compression wrap which is what our tent has. Simple matter then to roll as tightly as possible from one end at the same time as driving any remaining air from the bundle. Sit the final bundle on the compression wrap, pull up the end flaps and secure with the compression belts, repeat with the side flaps which have the carrying handles, job done. Glad I watched that video, we refolded the inner to the same width as the rectangle and rolled it in along with the main canopy. The tent is now repacked and is the smallest we have ever done it since we got it. You live and learn.

A picture is worth a thousand words so here is how to do it correctly:


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Re: Back Under Canvas

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Will start checking our camping gear for our next trip. It's all in one place in the single bedroom upstairs. We have a list as an aide mémoire which I will print out. I have a separate list for the radio gear that I normally take. I will have to add the new mast and guys to that one.

Our next trip will take us up onto the Cumbrian coast on a site at Haverigg. I have managed to get a grass pitch with electric hook up. Not on our original dates but slightly later which is not really a problem to us as we can go whenever the mood takes us.

It's a two stage process, bring it all down into the back living room and check it off at the same time. Most of the smaller stuff is in plastic boxes for easy transport and storage. Tent and footprint always go in last as they are the first out. I have lent the roof-box to my mate Neil. It's going up unto the NE coast for it's second trip this year first. It will come back to me with the roof-bars next week.
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Re: Back Under Canvas

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Neil has just been round and we have moved the roof bars and top box back over to my Hyundai. Sally is jam making to clear the backlog of pears that we have before weekend. I will start steady away bringing the gear down. I can check each box over as I go. I will print two lists out, one for checking and one for loading, (I have them marked for destination, RB, B and RS) Roof Box, Boot, Rucksack. I guarantee that once I have it all down it will not look possible to fit it all in and on the car! All part of the fun. :laugh5:

Sally has packing lists for clothes, toiletries and the basic foods and other sundry stuff that goes with us. :smile:
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Re: Back Under Canvas

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Sounds like a military operation...... :biggrin2:
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Re: Back Under Canvas

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I wouldn't know never having accepted the Queens shilling but I think I get your drift! On a wing and a prayer it does mean that we stand a bit of a chance of not forgetting anything! I have already asserted where the tent pegs and pump for the air beams are. I always pack them remotely from the tent as you need them before you even start and without them its a bit of a non event. :extrawink: All the tent stuff will be the last thing packed so its first out. :smile:

Looks like the weather is due to change. No worries, the tent has a 4000mm hydrostatic head and skin is waterproof. That is the equivalent of Billy's "get yourself a raincoat" :laugh5:
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Re: Back Under Canvas

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Yes the glass is dropping and we have winds in the five day forecast.
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Re: Back Under Canvas

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Our air tent goes with the flow so to speak so winds are no problem, there is nothing to break. Looking at the forecast I may pack the roof box today, might as well do that in the dry. Weather dollies who have already declared Autumn are edging their bets and are saying that there could be breaks in the rain tomorrow. I only need 15 minutes to get the tent up and it would be good to get the footprint down in the dry as that ensures that the underside of the sewn in groundsheet on the main tent stays dry. Much better when packing up, unless of course it is chucking it down when breaking camp! That would invoke another deployment once we got home.
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Re: Back Under Canvas

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A bit later. I have taken the opportunity to pack the lot. We have a couple of extra boxes and I needed to check the position was workable in the back. We normally take our staple foods in a shopping bag but we have a spare 35L hard box with a lid. I have offered it up and in place it will leave room for the only outstanding bits, Our two holdalls for clothes and a cool bag to get the perishable stuff up onto site. That's only for transport as we have an electric cool box once camp is set up and the tent is hooked up to the power pole. Sundry floppy stuff like towels and coats and the like are always packed last as they can be used to stop stuff moving about. So, it will all get up on site dry. I only need a window of opportunity :sunny3: in whatever weather we get and the jobs a good un! :smile:

Destination: Harbour Lights
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Re: Back Under Canvas

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Our trip went well, packing the car the day before was a good move. It meant we could get a good start on the day after breakfast at home. The journey was uneventful and a nice fine run up the A65 to Crooklands and then a turn left to miss Kendal and pick up the A590 Southern Lakes bypass, It meanders Northwards a bit before dropping back to the coast road and bypassing Barrow. We skirted Millom and arrived on our campsite at about 1pm, Sally had packed sandwiches so that we had something to eat before we set up camp.

The site is 100 yards from the beach and adjacent to another large site that has static caravans. Our grass pitch with electric was on the periphery of the site and not far from reception and the amenities which were just at the other side of the central open field that had the standard grass pitches. A periphery track ran all the way round the central field and served all the pitches including the hard standing ones at the other side of the site.

It was still fine so we managed to get set up in the dry, always a bonus. :smile: It took a little longer to pitch the tent than normal as the grass pitch was quite stony under the topsoil. I have decided to invest in a set of hard ground pegs for future trips. I am going to sort through all my current mix of pegs and bin the weaker variants.

Weather on the whole was mixed but apart from one blip of a late afternoon thunderstorm on Tuesday remained warm and sunny throughout the day and into the evenings. It was very warm during the days with wall to wall sunshine. Extremely heavy rain set in every night bar our last night which was welcome as we managed to pack up in the dry as well! Monday night into Tuesday (1am) was dramatic we had a proper full on thunderstorm directly overhead for about an hour, the torrential rain that went with it was deafening in the tent as you hear every drop when there is only less than 1mm of nylon between you and the storm. The lightning was impressive and you could feel the thunder shaking the ground. I had one front corner peg that threw its outer flysheet fastening during the storm. Consequently the waste bin was knocked over and some stuff that we left out was buffeted off the table in the gusts. Pleased to say though that the tent turned everything that was thrown at it and we remained dry and cosy. Perils of camping next to a load of mountains I suppose. We have camped in higher winds but that was getting there :extrawink:

Not much luck on the radio apart from a single radio amateur who was part of a walking group who were traversing a few of the Wainwright's. I worked Phil, (G4OBK/P) on three separate summits on Monday, ( Stony Cove Pike, High Street and The Knot).

I packed a bit of stuff on Tuesday afternoon, (camp kitchen, cooker, food etc) as we decided to go to the chip shop for tea to save the hassle of cooking and then the washing up that would produce. We just left the electric cool box plugged in and the cereal out for breakfast yesterday before we packed up.

As I said earlier it remained dry overnight on and into Wednesday. Bottom of the tent groundsheet was wet when we packed as the footprint underneath was wet with a few puddles when we folded it up. Because we didn't have a dry footprint platform to work from we didn't get it folded properly so I will repack if we get a decent dry day. All packed by 10.30 so we got a brew from the site cafe before setting off back home. Very light traffic really on the way back despite the Westmorland Show on just the other side of Crooklands, parking for that covered both sides of the A590, quite a big event. We stopped once to get a bit of lunch as the cereal breakfast had worn off by then. We arrived home around 1.30pm. :smile:
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Re: Back Under Canvas

Post by Stanley »

Glad you had a good trip Ian and that the tent looked after you....
Talk of re-packing the groundsheet reminds me that when we used to go camping with St Paul's choir our tents were all ex-army green canvas and when we got them out to use them they always had a peculiar smell of damp, mildew and something else, perhaps the preservative they were infused with.
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Re: Back Under Canvas

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I wasn't very clear in my post Stanley. It was the tent that we didn't get packed properly because of the puddles on the footprint groundsheet. A bit of rolling about required when packing to make sure you have driven all the air out of the beams. A lot more pleasant if you have a dry platform to work from. No problem, I will take it up Letcliffe on the next dry day to make sure all is completely dry and do a better job of the folding, rolling and packing. I don't think we will be camping again until next year now. :smile:
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Re: Back Under Canvas

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I have just ordered a set of twenty hard ground pegs, they come with a peg extraction tool in the kit. I also ordered some plastic groundsheet pegs, they are packed in fours and I need six for the footprint groundsheet, fortunately they were on a BOGOF so I ordered two sets. In addition to the two for one item my Go Outdoors discount card gave me a £17.00 off the order so the whole job lot came in under £20.00.

The groundsheet pegs are a better bet than standard metal pegs as they are of a plastic stud design, a bit like an oversized dome headed nail, they have an integral loop on the dome head for extraction and are manufactured in DayGlo plastic.

I will sort the dross of bent and weaker pegs from my existing stock today and shove them in the recycling. :smile:
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