Dont know which topic to put this under-but how do you erect a Tent

[Buddy]

We have just bought an ARIZONA 4 berth tent and its like Laurel and Hardy trying to erect it.Do you pitch the inner tent first and the put the outer tent on after or what?Thank God we attempted a trial run in the back garden first.Could someone please help before this lack of erection is cited on the divorce papers-LOL!!

[Jay70]

Hi Buddy,  It really depends on what type of tent it is i.e frame tent/ ridge/ dome/ tunnel.  Have you bought it second hand with no instructions? A frame tent is put up frame first normally and then the inner compartments are hung from the frame.  A ridge tent has the inner erected first and pegged out and then the flysheet is placed over the top. Some newer tunnel type tents have the inner already attached to the outer and its just a case of putting in your poles and pegging it out.  If you bought it frome a decent camping shop they can give you help as the one did where I bought mine from.  The worst thing you can do is buy it on-line as you probably wont get any help.  There are quite a few camping websites which have forums which may well be able to help as this is avery common problem.

[corganiser]

If it is a large frame tent then all I can say is been there, done that.

Can't help you regarding your first erection but a useful tip is once you've got it up, mark the poles on each side of every juction with a reference number.

i.e everything going into the first juction is numbered 1, everything in the next is numbered 2 and so on. It will save you hours on every subsequent erection.

[Oor Wullie]

Lack of erection cited in divorce paper....lol.

Will

[Solarjunkie]

If it's a frame tent - put up the top only first, so it's about waist high. Much, much easier to throw the canvas over at that point, then just snap in the lower parts of the legs.

This took some time to work out! And yes, do mark the joints - we used different colour combinations of strips of insulating tape.

[toecrusher]

sounds a bit like our tent, in which case you need to erect the outer frame first in order to attach the inner tent inside. we have been married 20 yrs and camping for about 10 yrs, most of our major arguments have been when putting up the damn tent!!! i agree its a strong contender for divorce

[Extrachilli]

Hello Buddy, If your tent is the Arizona made by Freecamp, I have seen a picture of it and you should be able to pitch it from the following instructions:

The tent pitches outer first, so lay that on the ground (outer side up) with the door zips fastened. The fibreglass poles should be shock-corded, making them easy to join together. When joined together you should have four completed sections of equal length. The remaining aluminium tube type poles should be joined together to form two complete sections of 1.5m, with a point at the top - place these near the door opening. Feed the fibreglass poles through the sleeves running across the tent and secure the ends in the hole on one side of the tent. With one end of the pole secured in the hole, flex the poles and secure the other end in the hole on the opposite side of the tent. There will probably be two holes, use the inner one as the outside ones are for your pegs. The pressure from the flexed poles should keep them secured in the holes (With some tents, a ring like that used on a keyring is also used to secure the poles).Don't worry about the poles falling over, just leave them on the ground and repeat this for the other three sections. Next, get a peg in at each of the four corners. Don't peg the doors yet (make sure you only peg at the base of a pole for now). See next post for the rest, I have gone over the post limit...

[Extrachilli]

Here is the rest...

Now raise the tent by pulling on the guylines at either the front or back of the tent, depending on the direction the poles are lying in. When the pole section nearest to you is nearly vertical, peg the guylines in the ground (The other poles may fall inwards). Now go to the other end of the tent and repeat, pulling the outer tent taut. You can now make some adjustments to the guylines to ensure the tent is rigid and upright. Peg the rest of the tent and pull out the door section and peg it with the doors zipped closed. Do not over stress the zip areas. You can now secure any remaining guylines and admire your outer tent. Fitting the inner tent is usually a simple case of attaching clips and hanging the inner. It may be stating the obvious, but start with the back of the inner tent at the back of the outer tent, with the doors facing out, leaving yourself a nice little sitting area at the front of your tent. If you want the front of your tent open, the doors can be unzipped and supported by the two aluminium poles to form a canopy. This is done by inserting the upright poles through the eyelets on the bottom edge of the door and securing with a guyline looped over the top of the pole. These type of tents resist the wind best when pitched side on to the wind. Happy Camping!

[Buddy]

Thank you everyone for your replies in particular Extrachilli for going to such lengths to help.Wont attempt until this rain stops p**ing down-great camping weather!!!