MySwag.org The Off-road Camper Trailer Forum
General => General Discussion => Topic started by: zedd on October 27, 2014, 07:50:15 PM
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Hi,
We have just cut short our first trip in our new Cub Camper - Spacematic Drover Off Road. We enjoyed 5 lovely days there, but today had a horrible experience. We found many faults with the Cub's Deluxe Annex. The set up is totally inadequate for strong winds. The poles are attached with c clips which keep popping off the poles. There are also not enough eyelets on the bottom of the annex walls to keep the wind out. Strong winds just pull out the pegs. At least 2 more eyelets on the shorter walls and 3 or more on the front - long side are needed. More Velcro straps around the poles are also a must. AS are, more Velcro straps on the roof to go around the poles. The Velcro spreader poles which are attached to the poles also not a good idea as they just break away in a strong wind.
We got very strong winds so we pegged down the annex walls. Tightened the guy ropes. Placed heavy bags on the inside flaps of the walls to stop the wind coming in. To no avail. The wind got stronger the pegs pulled out. The wind got in and the Velcro on the spreaders separated and the whole annex collapsed. To make it worse the whole trailer lifted and rocked.
We removed the annex - everything, walls and awning and the wind still lifted the back of the cub trailer - opposite the bed. My husband had to climb up onto the tool box to try and get the winch strap back onto the roof while I held onto the back bow bar from the outside. We ended up waiting for gaps in the wind gust to pack up the trailer as we thought the whole lot would rip off the frame.
Our Dingo Off Road trailer, soft floor camper trailer took the same winds in Eden and we didn't need to pack up. We now feel that almost $40,000 is wasted. I am no longer confident with this trailer. Shame we gave our son our old camper. We are trying to think of modifications that we can make to this trailer. Anyone else had the same experience? Your suggestions greatly appreciated as to how to modify the poles etc.
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Bummer about your camper.
We had to pack ours up (Outback Sturt) in the middle of the night (lucky I had work lights on the ute) when 110kph winds came thorough just north of Adelaide last year. The top of the camper above the bed was being forced down, because of the wedge shape, until it was nearly touching my face. The pegs were just pulling out of the saturated ground.
In other places when we knew bad weather was coming we took the awning off and used extra poles in corners of camper to keep shape, with guide ropes off to secure down. This seemed to do the job. I have never been a fan of the c-clips, and my camper only has side annex poles no bracing poles out from camper.
It should not be too hard to get extra eyelets put in the canvas, infact I think you can get the eyelets fom spotlight etc.
Good luck with you fixes.
James
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Hi,
We have just cut short our first trip in our new Cub Camper - Spacematic Drover Off Road. We enjoyed 5 lovely days there, but today had a horrible experience. We found many faults with the Cub's Deluxe Annex. The set up is totally inadequate for strong winds. The poles are attached with c clips which keep popping off the poles. There are also not enough eyelets on the bottom of the annex walls to keep the wind out. Strong winds just pull out the pegs. At least 2 more eyelets on the shorter walls and 3 or more on the front - long side are needed. More Velcro straps around the poles are also a must. AS are, more Velcro straps on the roof to go around the poles. The Velcro spreader poles which are attached to the poles also not a good idea as they just break away in a strong wind.
We got very strong winds so we pegged down the annex walls. Tightened the guy ropes. Placed heavy bags on the inside flaps of the walls to stop the wind coming in. To no avail. The wind got stronger the pegs pulled out. The wind got in and the Velcro on the spreaders separated and the whole annex collapsed. To make it worse the whole trailer lifted and rocked.
We removed the annex - everything, walls and awning and the wind still lifted the back of the cub trailer - opposite the bed. My husband had to climb up onto the tool box to try and get the winch strap back onto the roof while I held onto the back bow bar from the outside. We ended up waiting for gaps in the wind gust to pack up the trailer as we thought the whole lot would rip off the frame.
Our Dingo Off Road trailer, soft floor camper trailer took the same winds in Eden and we didn't need to pack up. We now feel that almost $40,000 is wasted. I am no longer confident with this trailer. Shame we gave our son our old camper. We are trying to think of modifications that we can make to this trailer. Anyone else had the same experience? Your suggestions greatly appreciated as to how to modify the poles etc.
First up, welcome to myswag. Secondly, sorry to hear of your woes.
May I humbly suggest that instead of posting this all over the internet (this is not the only forum I have read this same story on today) that you contact the dealer who sold you the CT or the manufacturer and ask them for assistance. Surely it is not the first time that a Cub Camper has been set up in strong winds. Maybe you didn't have it set up correctly. Maybe there is a simple and easy fix that you are not aware off.
Good luck
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Hi,
We have just cut short our first trip in our new Cub Camper - Spacematic Drover Off Road. We enjoyed 5 lovely days there, but today had a horrible experience. We found many faults with the Cub's Deluxe Annex. The set up is totally inadequate for strong winds. The poles are attached with c clips which keep popping off the poles. There are also not enough eyelets on the bottom of the annex walls to keep the wind out. Strong winds just pull out the pegs. At least 2 more eyelets on the shorter walls and 3 or more on the front - long side are needed. More Velcro straps around the poles are also a must. AS are, more Velcro straps on the roof to go around the poles. The Velcro spreader poles which are attached to the poles also not a good idea as they just break away in a strong wind.
We got very strong winds so we pegged down the annex walls. Tightened the guy ropes. Placed heavy bags on the inside flaps of the walls to stop the wind coming in. To no avail. The wind got stronger the pegs pulled out. The wind got in and the Velcro on the spreaders separated and the whole annex collapsed. To make it worse the whole trailer lifted and rocked.
We removed the annex - everything, walls and awning and the wind still lifted the back of the cub trailer - opposite the bed. My husband had to climb up onto the tool box to try and get the winch strap back onto the roof while I held onto the back bow bar from the outside. We ended up waiting for gaps in the wind gust to pack up the trailer as we thought the whole lot would rip off the frame.
Our Dingo Off Road trailer, soft floor camper trailer took the same winds in Eden and we didn't need to pack up. We now feel that almost $40,000 is wasted. I am no longer confident with this trailer. Shame we gave our son our old camper. We are trying to think of modifications that we can make to this trailer. Anyone else had the same experience? Your suggestions greatly appreciated as to how to modify the poles etc.
Welcome to the forum. I'm sure there are some members here willing to offer advice and help with your predicament.
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Beat me to it KB ;D
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Not sure about the winds you had but we have had some strong winds and haven't had anywhere the dramas you have had. We also seem to have rain at some stage we camp so I just put a tarp over the whole annex and camper to start with and peg the whole lot down. Finding right pegs for the different soil types etc sometimes you do have to re peg but went I set up the Camper I make sure it is done for a storm.
As KingBilly suggested contact the dealer who sold you the CT or the manufacturer and ask them for assistance as to the best setup for strong winds as to the set up for the poles and pegging down.
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There also a good chance that you have exceeded the design limitations for the camper, everything has its limits, the camper is no exception.
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If you want another soft floor for that thing you have no confidence in, I'll swap ya..
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If you want another soft floor for that thing you have no confidence in, I'll swap ya..
me too but i will up my offer and throw in 6!! yes thats correct 6!! of those reuseable techniice sheets but my offer is only for a limited time so act fast
this post proudly sponsored by the machine that goes bbbiiiiiiinggggggggg
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If you want another soft floor for that thing you have no confidence in, I'll swap ya..
Grrrr!
Now why did I not think of that option. ???
If the OP is not interested in the 2 offers above, I'll swap ya mine which still has the bent poles from our last night on Straddie where we coped it side on, and only 2 annex poles got a bit bent. The tent etc held up beautifully.
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Welcome to MySwag. Gezzz that wind ripping into a CT Theres a big sail area there so when it blows it catches & away you go . l haven't ever had that trouble in my Cub Supermatic Escape ,but your Drover would be heavier off road chassis & all . Must have been a real monster blow & sounds as though you copped a flogging . As has been said everything has limits now you know the Cubs .Mother Nature always tells you when its time to go home . l wonder if there were others out there with the same problem ??? . Hope fully things will get better :cheers:
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Throw the pegs away that they gave you and go buy yourself some nice thick 25cm long ones as they will bite a lot better
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? Best of Zed ? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pdkvR61kDo#)
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I will be contacting Cub Campers today. And yes I have posted on different sites because I wanted to get some ideas from people with a similar experience.
I think other people just tend to fix the problems themselves. If more people actually complained, then Cub would realise that their annex system needs modifications and does not come up to the standard of the trailer. We spent a lot of time researching camper trailers before we bought it.
Some people have given me ideas which I will be trialling. The next time we encounter strong winds, we will be taking the awning and annex off. This is inconvenient, as that means table, chairs and kitchen etc all have to be packed up too. However, I still worry about the trailer lifting off the ground. Someone actually said they have attached chains and anchored these to the ground with large pegs.
I have since checked the wind speed and 10 kilometres away the wind gusts were reaching 78kph and that was more inland than where we were camping.
The trouble is that we also had to pack it up in that wind and we were so worried that the gust would just rip it to bits as we winched it closed. especially when it was vertical just prior to the downward closure. I think we were extremely lucky and I really don't want to go through that again. The winch was fantastic and handled the wind up with ease.
And yes you will see this post on other sites too.
Thanks to all your suggestions, even the trade-in offers. May give this camper trailer to our son and grab the other one back! I'm sure he'll love the swap.
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78kph, or roughly 42 knots is at the lower end of a strong gale force wind. That pretty blowy in anyones book.
If you were camping closer to the coast then in all likelihood the winds could have been even stronger than that.
Winds of 90kph will break trees, damage buildings and blow the proverbial dog off a chain. A canvas structure would fare poorly in those conditions.
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On a serious notes these things can handle some serious weather but not all weather so some tips
Look up the prevailing wind direction when you set up i find putting the ass of the camper into the wind gives me the best sleep
As for the awning if it really blows up i would remove the walls as this will then let air pass through rather than catch a big sail then lower you awning poles a bit so the canvass annex roof is angled towards the ground
As for pegs unfortunatly the ones that came with it are probably only good for fair weather i bought a couple of 30cm monsters for the really bad nights and use these for the corner ropes and they work well. I also have these angled metal ones that are a cross between a normal peg and a sand peg for soft ground.
Ropes if they are not provided go get some guy ropes that have a spring system in the base this keeps constant tension on the rope and will stop it pulling the peg out. If the spring is not there the peg will pull out due to the shock load coming and going on the rope
As for the base lifting up i would say this may be happening because the gas assist strut is brand new and maybe doing its job a little to well. You will find that the floor will get a little heavier as the strut wears in. If this bothers you the feet that go down onto the ground should have a hole in them so drive a peg through these and you will be fine
To be honest though these things are not all weather and yes as you on a really bad night i have had to do a 4am packup as well. When travelling i become interested in the weather and if it is going to be bad i will look for a hollow or a corner at my destination out of the wind. I have learnt the hard way to the tune of a ripped fiamma awning that sometines that spot right on the beach is not the best idea when my friends are 1 back in the dunes wondering what all the fuss is about
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Im betting the Cub would have held up better than a soft floor trailer...
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Good luck with it Zedd, Been in a few high winds during storms [ on the beach ] and had to quickly belt in 500mm pegs and run extra ropes to anchor the trailer in the pouring rain inthe early hours ..
As to your guy rope set ups on the Awning, if they have springs on them can I suggest ditching them . and fit a rubber O'ring type of bungy . reason being in high wind the springs will pull up till they go solid and it can either help pull the pegs out of the ground or tear or break / bend something else ..
Ive used O'rings for 10 years without a breakage, they allow the wind to move things around without damaging thingsbecause of the " give "in them . My dad used to use car tyre inner tubes cut into bands on our caravan annex back in the sixties to eighties and with stood many a bad storm other annexes didnt .
You should be able to get them from a place that has concrete pipes plumbing supplies or fleabay for about $2 ea [ O- ring pipe seals ] .. aprox 150mm diameter and 12 mm thick.
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A trick I use for large tarps is to run ropes over the whole canvas and firmly peg them down if there is strong wind coming. This stops the wind lifting up the canvas. You can use pegs as large as you like and rope as thick as you like.
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A trick I use for large tarps is to run ropes over the whole canvas and firmly peg them down if there is strong wind coming. This stops the wind lifting up the canvas. You can use pegs as large as you like and rope as thick as you like.
Great idea - I have a large tarp which I haven't had to deploy as yet. Will ensure I adopt this approach.
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Will look into the rubber rings. I like the sound of them. They make sense.
If I ever come across winds like this again I want to be prepared. We will be buying extra guy ropes that's for sure and I will lash everything down.
At least our two dogs didn't get blown away, we threw them into the car.
I really appreciate the suggestions made by everyone. Thank you.
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At least our two dogs didn't get blown away, we threw them into the car.
This could be where you went wrong. By not being able to measure the distance the dogs travelled in the wind, you were unable to determine the length of pegs required to secure the Cub.
In the back of your handbook you will see the formula:
L = (M x D)/S where L = peg length, M = dog mass, D = distance travelled by the dog and S = number of Slabs on the floor of the Cub.
Cheers,
Rohan. :cheers:
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Sorry to hear about your dramas. My 2c...
Buy some bigger pegs.
Put springs or rubber O rings on your ropes.
You can buy eyelets from Bunnings/ spotlight etc. easy to add more.
Or get a canvas guy to do it. And maybe add some more Velcro.
Maybe buy some better support poles with different connectors if it concerns you.
Those a pretty heavy winds to be in.
As far as the actual camper lifting.., the awning will act as a sail. So some options here...
Take awning down.
Don't camp in a gale force winds. :)
If you must.. As said above. Think about the direction your camper faces vs. probable wind direction.
You could tie the camper down with chains/ropes and the new bigger pegs you got for the awning.
But a better long term option is to eat more.., way more...
That will add weight to the camper.
It has several other benefits.
1. Food is yum.
2. If you all get huge. It will be warmer in winter, and provide shade in the sun. (In case it's sunny and windy and impractical to use an awning.)
3. Buying food helps farmers.
Edit... And definitely speak to cub for their suggestions.
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This could be where you went wrong. By not being able to measure the distance the dogs travelled in the wind, you were unable to determine the length of pegs required to secure the Cub.
In the back of your handbook you will see the formula:
L = (M x D)/S where L = peg length, M = dog mass, D = distance travelled by the dog and S = number of Slabs on the floor of the Cub.
Cheers,
Rohan. :cheers:
Must remember this formula... :cup:
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I knew there was a reason for taking the dogs with us. I just forgot their purpose in the panic. Next time we will put the formula to the test. I'm sure our staffies would love the challenge.
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This could be where you went wrong. By not being able to measure the distance the dogs travelled in the wind, you were unable to determine the length of pegs required to secure the Cub.
In the back of your handbook you will see the formula:
L = (M x D)/S where L = peg length, M = dog mass, D = distance travelled by the dog and S = number of Slabs on the floor of the Cub.
Cheers,
Rohan. :cheers:
Is that equation in imperial or metric units? Makes a significant difference whether the dog mass is measured in kg or slugs.
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Zedd Can you post up pics of the drama ???
l always remember what an old tramp steamer Capt told once on the subject of Sail Power . He said that " A good screw beats a blow job any day " ;D ;D ;D :cheers:
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We had our Drover (now departed) out in horrendous wind last year on the way back from Central Aus. For the trip we had tied the awning roof up onto the roof of the camper, it flapped around alot(and I mean a lot), but the next day when we got up (still windy), all was ok, no rips, no bend poles etc. I must say, we expected issues, but as a testament to the CUB, it held up really well.
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Good luck with it Zedd, Been in a few high winds during storms [ on the beach ] and had to quickly belt in 500mm pegs and run extra ropes to anchor the trailer in the pouring rain inthe early hours ..
As to your guy rope set ups on the Awning, if they have springs on them can I suggest ditching them . and fit a rubber O'ring type of bungy . reason being in high wind the springs will pull up till they go solid and it can either help pull the pegs out of the ground or tear or break / bend something else ..
Ive used O'rings for 10 years without a breakage, they allow the wind to move things around without damaging thingsbecause of the " give "in them . My dad used to use car tyre inner tubes cut into bands on our caravan annex back in the sixties to eighties and with stood many a bad storm other annexes didnt .
You should be able to get them from a place that has concrete pipes plumbing supplies or fleabay for about $2 ea [ O- ring pipe seals ] .. aprox 150mm diameter and 12 mm thick.
Been trying to find these on fleabay with no luck. Any one know where I can find them online?
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Just buy some shock cord and make your own. 5m for $6.50, anywhere
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G,Day Campa...
Mate irrigation places or pipe suppliers that carry concrete storm water pipe in that 150mm [ 6" ] size [ cheapest option ] are the ones in the pics , Other options are Blackwoods, Enzed , seen them on ebay before, alibarba .
Metal Baeur fittings rubber O - rings might be a couple of mm thinner and might be dearer [ not sure ] but are available in that 150mm [ 6" ] size..
13" or 14 " car tire inner tube cut into 50mm wide bands work just aswell too, though not as tidy to look at. :cheers:
If you look real close [ windows media zoom ] next to the red fuel tank you will see an inner tube band on the annex rope ... And yes thats a scrawny little O'l me ..circa 1970 at Etty Bay out from Innisfail .
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Hi,
We have just cut short our first trip in our new Cub Camper - Spacematic Drover Off Road. We enjoyed 5 lovely days there, but today had a horrible ....
We got very strong winds so we pegged down the annex walls. Tightened the guy ropes. Placed heavy bags on the inside flaps of the walls to stop the wind coming in. To no avail. The wind got stronger the pegs pulled out. The wind got in and the Velcro on the spreaders separated and the whole annex collapsed. To make it worse the whole trailer lifted and rocked.
Hi,
The ropes and pegs Cub Campers supply are not suitable for strong wind conditions.
This is is what I put together over the years for camping with my Cub Escape Off Road camper, I have camped successfully in some strong winds.
I replaced all my ropes with good quality 8mm rope (lime green rope to match my cub escape) and used the yellow plastic Supa-peg rope runners and strong guy rope springs (the string adds some give in the guy rope and will work better in strong wind then a guy rope with no give.).
http://www.supapeg.com.au/store.php?cPath=27_45 (http://www.supapeg.com.au/store.php?cPath=27_45)
I purchased 16 x 300mm steel pegs, 16 x 380mm steel pegs, 16 x 380mm sand pegs, 16x 230mm plastic pegs (annex walls) now depending on how hard the ground is and the wind strength, I have pegs to suit most conditions. The 230mm plastic pegs hold the tent walls down better than the 230mm steel pegs.
I also carry a good quality 16 ft x 24 ft silver/green tarp to put over the Camper and annex, If there is strong winds then I have 22 tie down points to keep the camper in place, also keeps the water out if raining and can be lifted above the canvas with 6 extra poles I carry to help keep the camper cooler on hot days. I bought the tarp originally to protect the cub canvas from bird dropping and tree gum droppings etc, lot easier to clean than canvas.
Below is a picture of my Cub Escape setup on the Fraser Island beach front when there was strong winds every day. the picture shows the tarp set above the canvas to allow a air space, in strong winds I pull the tarp down on to the camper and annex roofs and put a guy rope on every D ring on the tarp.
HTH
Ray