The Camping Forum

[chrisn]

Hi all, I`ve looked on here many times for tips and advice etc and have been impressed with the knowledge of others on here so thought i should register rather than just lurk in the shadows.

I wonder if anyone can come up with a suggestion for this one?.... I have a sunncamp holiday 350s which i bought new about 12mnhs ago and used it many times last year and love it. Only snag is that when iwe go for 3-4 nights or more the setup/setdown time doesn`t bother me at all but we would like to use it for a few std weekend breaks this year and the time wasted putting up/down would be to much. I know i could just erect the cabin but we would realy like some kind or rain/sun shelter attached. I don`t believe such a thing exists (but may be wrong) that could zip on to cabin and have a simple pole arrangement for a quick pitch! Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated?? Chris

[nutgone]

My brother's got an old Conway trailer tent & he's having the same issues. He likes it for anything over about 3 nights, but anything less & it kind of dominates the weekend.
He's talking about getting a family sized canvas frame tent from ebay, but he still wants to lug the TT kitchen unit about with him (which I think is madness ).

I think, for your needs, without seeing any pics of your set-up, you could always look into a tarp with a few king-poles. Many tent campers use them, so I don't see why they shouldn't go on a folding camper/trailer tent. (will see what pics/links I can dig up).

[Rob-merlin1973]

Hi
Am i correct in thinking this is the one

 

[chrisn]

Yes thats the one.

[nutgone]

Virtually identical to my brother's Conway.

I really don't think there's any quick way around it. I said to him (& my sister-in-law) about leaving part of the awning/extension off (there's is in 2 bits) but they said once you've messed about putting one bit up, you might as well put it all up.

I do wonder of you could put up a tarp over the front, but TTs are very high, much higher than normal tents, so you'd need a very big tarp with some big king-poles & plenty of guy ropes. It would also be an issue in strong winds, such a large tarp.

But, as I said, it's an issue for my brother as well, so we'll have a good think about it & see what else turns up on here. I know he would like to take his 2 little boys to a few of the steam rallies this year, but his wife's not really interested, so she would gladly stay home with their youngest (a girl).
I've offered him one of my frame tents for these shorter camps, but he still wants his TT kitchen unit. I'll be interested to see if anyone can think of anything to make short trips viable in a standard trailer tent.

[chrisn]

A local camping supplier i get on well with thinks he may be able to find me a "spare" used (warranty i think) awning which i could modify to suit my needs. I was thinking maybe putting up 1/2 my existing frame. At least i can zip it to T/T then but if it had no sides (or maybe 1/2 sides) could the wind be a problem?? I presume a king pole is just upright pole guy roped down as this may be the other way to go?

[nutgone]

King poles usually come in paire, to hold up the front of a tarp (the back of the tarp is usually guy roped over the tent, using the front of the tent to make it's shape).

However, I think with a trailer tent you may need 3 king poles.

I think they usually have a "spike" (not sharpened) which pokes through eyelets in the tarp, where a guy rope is then attached to hold it all in place.

Someone must have a pic of a tarp set-up??? But from what you say, I think you've got the idea.

A shorter awning would probably be just as much faff as the larger one, but would be less pegs to bang in (I know from bitter experience that TT's have a LOT of pegging points , very hard work in hard soil).

When I get a moment I will see what pics I can dig up.

[nutgone]

Here's a tarp set-up, looking from the side.

this one has tarps front & back.

 

Thinking about it, you may well get away with just a pair of king poles.

[nutgone]

Another tarp set-up, joining a small utility tent to the larger, main tent.

 

[Gav]

I think they usually have a "spike" (not sharpened) which pokes through eyelets in the tarp, where a guy rope is then attached to hold it all in place.

Someone must have a pic of a tarp set-up???

Yes, the poles should have a spike.
I use bungees in the lines, especially for large tents. You can quickly hook on to get the tarp up (or down), and the bungee provides some give if it is windy.

A few more tarp pics.

[marshy]

you could always find a holiday 240 knackered to buy as long as the awnings gd and transfer it over as im sure the zips are identicle aswell as the width or not far off.
You could also buy the canvas and poles new from sunnflair but you would have to go through a dealer

[nutgone]

What you really need, with a trailer tent, is a kind of nail-gun that drives tent pegs in

Don't suppose anyone's invented one of those, have they???

[marshy]

they do drill pegs with an adaptor for a cordless drill?