Author Topic: Learning the hard way (Read 7651 times)

maurerless · « **on:** October 04, 2011, 07:48:12 PM »

We took out out the brand new CUB on the maiden voyage last weekend. Went to Patonga - great place, except the weather left a bit to be desired.

We were supposed to be out the whole long weekend, but the wind and rain picked up more than we anticipated. It ended up a full on thunderstorm and severe winds - a really big gust running from a different direction to the main winds picked up the entire annex and blew it clean off the CUB. We were really lucky because at the time the wind took off the annex, we were boiling the kettle for some tea. The annex landed in a crumpled heap right on the stove.

First panic was that immediate "ohs#it" moment when we realised the gas was still burning. Lucky, probably because everything was so wet we had a few seconds to get the canvas off the cooker and put out the stove flame. Not even a scorch mark on the canvas

The next 20 minutes were spent packing in the pouring rain - Being outside I was soaked through, my wife was marginally better off inside the camper, but the camper was really wet too as the rain and wind came in the doors. When we got home the mattresses were so wet, when we were standing them up to dry out, the water was literally running out of them. We were lucky that the annex zip undone rather than the fabric tearing so the only real damage (besides the pride) was a bit of velcro was torn off the end of one of the annex poles and a lost peg. All damage fixed after 5 minutes work at home...

What is interesting is that even though I seasoned the canvas by wetting and drying the canvas at least 6 times before we left (without a leak) the 40mm rain we had before the annex problem showed up 4 seams that leaked badly. Running a hose on the camper is not anything like real rain.

Lessons learnt?
1/ Use all the ropes to tie down the annex - two per pole.
2/ Buy some longer "soft ground" pegs so that when setting up in damp turf that hasn't settled in properly, the pegs won't pull clean out of the ground so easily.
3/ Either make sure it isn't going to rain too much before going out in a camper not proven to be leak proof, or carry a tarp to go over the whole campsite for the really bad weather.

But, it hasn't put us off. In all we learned heaps and are keen to get out again, although perhaps in nicer weather for the early days. As they say, experience is something you have immediately after something goes wrong

I know

but to be honest, my mind was elsewhere at the time.

Tony

Gunna Do · « **Reply #1 on:** October 04, 2011, 07:59:17 PM »

Just after we bought our seconhand Camp-o-matic we took it way for a weekend under less than perfect weather conditions. The rain was torrential by the time we picked our camping spot for the night, and the camping ground was a like a small lake. We set up not knowing how water proof the canvas was going to be, but were pleasantly surprised to find not a leak in sight.

This initial trip gave us the confidence to take the camper away in any sort of weather, knowing that we will be kept dry no matter how heavy the rain. Subsequent trip have also proven that the camper will handle windy conditions just as well as wet ones.

Don't let a little bad weather deter you from going away on holidays, just setup to suite.

Janbo · « **Reply #2 on:** October 04, 2011, 08:01:45 PM »

Sounds like a horrid time, but then again some hard learned lessons.... you may look back and laugh on day. We were camping at Robe one day with the tent, just as we arrived it started bucketing down, we were in an open site so no protection... having the bulldog spirit I battled on in the wind and rain to het the tent set up.... once I had got the tent up i took a couple of steps back..... the whole tent collapsed. We had to pack up and I was soaked... not happy, however we do look back and laugh now!!!

GGV8Cruza · « **Reply #3 on:** October 04, 2011, 08:03:22 PM »

It was an Oops moment and we all have them, we camp any weather and have learnt to make sure the camper is always set up for any weather especially when in the high country. You may only be out for an hours drive or just gone to bed and the front could hit without warning. You will be better prepared for next time

GG

gunna · « **Reply #4 on:** October 04, 2011, 08:15:54 PM »

Aw the fun of it
we were camped up at birdsville 2010 for the racers a good storm hit just about blew the annex clean of the cub
about 2 of 3 in the morning
all the roads got shut , we had to burrow in for about 5 days lucky i bought a new fridge that holds plenty of that brown stuff
ow had a bit of tucker to
wouldnt swap that w/end for the world do it all over again

sheeds

maurerless · « **Reply #5 on:** October 04, 2011, 08:32:26 PM »

It certainly hasn't put us off camping, or going out in bad weather. We just need to get a bit more familiar with how to set up properly.

We see a lot of people with tarps over their entire camp setup. Does anyone have any advice of what, or how to set this up properly? Initially I thought it is great idea, but now I'm thinking that doing it will never allow the canvas to season properly. Is it something that gets set up every time, or only for the longer stays, or rainly weather??

How do people usually prepare for the windy, rainy weather?

Tony

hargs · « **Reply #6 on:** October 04, 2011, 08:32:26 PM »

Not exactly what you want from a camp......we are hoping to head somewhere this weekend .......close-by .....the forecast looks a bit iffy.
so will be noting your lessons learned.

maurerless · « **Reply #7 on:** October 04, 2011, 08:33:59 PM »

My daughter hasn't been able to come with us, so we were looking at heading to Wombeyan Caves this weekend so she could get out as well.

Looking at the weather we may opt out - The weekend is forecast for windy and rainy weather.

Kit_e_kat9 · « **Reply #8 on:** October 04, 2011, 09:29:57 PM »

I don't call it learning the hard way, I call it camping. Weather is only what you make of it. EG: Weekend just gone ... gorgeous till 3pm then rainy, windy and rather cold. Did we pack it up and go home? No Way! End wall, couple of tarps for walls and an early night after dinner made our weekend away well worth it. Do it again ... everytime! At least it didn't hail and stay as a torrential downpour like our Xmas trip up Jimna way ... but we stayed for the 3 days we had designated for the trip. Getting flooded in is always fun.

Make the best of it and it will simply become a great trip.

If you set up the awning, always do it properly.
A tarp over the bed will help with the water on bed issue.
Once you start the camper pack up, do it as quickly as possible when raining and make it the last thing you do (together).
Always pack wet weather gear, some warm clothes and the swimmers, no matter the weather.

Kit_e

Mallory Black · « **Reply #9 on:** October 04, 2011, 09:48:26 PM »

For extra insurance we always "tarp up" over the whole outfit for anything more than an overnight
We like the extra shade on a hot day and the extra little bit of insulation on cold nights that it provides as well as protection from bird/bat poop, tree gunk and general security against water ingress although we have been pleasantly surprise at how waterproof our chinese tent acutally is.
we carry a 14'x20' lightweight silver backed tarp that goes over the lot and a similar 8' x 14" for the overnighters. they are quite light and have eyelets not those dumb D rings that seems tob e the rage for a lot of big tarps

For extended beach camps we have a more solid tarp that can stand up against a blow if there's enough poles and ropes holding onto it. Prety comfy way to go and not a lot of hassle for 2 people to do after a few goes

Mallory Black · « **Reply #10 on:** October 04, 2011, 09:50:58 PM »

PS bought the tarps from Sherry's in Elizabeth St Brisbane, they seem to be the only camping supplier I've seen that have them in the prefererd sizes/weight that have eyelets

Nomad · « **Reply #11 on:** October 04, 2011, 10:00:31 PM »

I am a lazy camper..............basically if the weather looks a bit average I will tarp up and stick poles on each corner and rope and peg those over the camper. If I am on the beach, and its looking windy and crappy I will peg the tarp close to the ground toward the wind, usually SE 90% of the time, with sand pegs and use occy straps to hold them about a foot off the ground and am then happy to leave the calm side a bit exposed, but stick an occy strap in that side as well to equalise the hole thing a bit and all will be sweet. I use a 5*6 metre tarp

bobnrob · « **Reply #12 on:** October 05, 2011, 03:53:03 AM »

I'm with Kit_e, it's called camping

We went away last w/end for a 2 night stay.
1st night it rained, next day cloudy - cold - miserable, that night it pelted down & blew hard, I got up twice to re-secure a couple of different ropes.
Now got 'Man Flu' and a throat that feels like it's ripping apart everytime I swallow...breaking my neck to go again

hargs · « **Reply #13 on:** October 05, 2011, 06:05:52 AM »

Our camping is somewhere to stay and sleep next to the activity of fishing ............he must fish !!!!!! so we are always camping waterhole or coast. That's OK but I do miss the bush camp next to quiet stream.........no fish........or just a remote fishless camp. Sometimes if we are camping for more than a few weeks himself gets fished out and I get my camping style in for a night or two.

bussoboy · « **Reply #14 on:** October 05, 2011, 11:08:27 AM »

Quote from: maurerless on October 04, 2011, 08:33:59 PM

My daughter hasn't been able to come with us, so we were looking at heading to Wombeyan Caves this weekend so she could get out as well.

Looking at the weather we may opt out - The weekend is forecast for windy and rainy weather.

we camped at Wombeyan a couple of weekends ago, it was our hard floors campers first trip, it poured for most of the weekend and we packed up in the wet and had to dry it out when we got home. i still enjoyed the weekend and learnt some good leasons for our next trip

I don't mind it being wet & windy when camping, my wife hates it but the only time i get annoyed with the weather is when everyone around me is complaining about it

maurerless · « **Reply #15 on:** October 05, 2011, 08:17:50 PM »

Quote from: Kit_e_kat9 on October 04, 2011, 09:29:57 PM

I don't call it learning the hard way, I call it camping. Weather is only what you make of it. EG: Weekend just gone ... gorgeous till 3pm then rainy, windy and rather cold. Did we pack it up and go home? No Way! End wall, couple of tarps for walls and an early night after dinner made our weekend away well worth it. Do it again ... everytime! At least it didn't hail and stay as a torrential downpour like our Xmas trip up Jimna way ... but we stayed for the 3 days we had designated for the trip. Getting flooded in is always fun.

Make the best of it and it will simply become a great trip.

If you set up the awning, always do it properly.
A tarp over the bed will help with the water on bed issue.
Once you start the camper pack up, do it as quickly as possible when raining and make it the last thing you do (together).
Always pack wet weather gear, some warm clothes and the swimmers, no matter the weather.

Kit_e

I have often said "There is no such thing as bad weather, just a poor choice in clothing."

I agree whole heartedly about staying through bad weather too, but the caveat is that the setup needs to be correct - hence learning the hard way. Your comment about setting up the awning properly is key - at the end of the day I didn't set up correctly (didn't use enough ropes, or the correct pegs for the ground conditions) and I paid the price.

Also as this was a maiden voyage I didn't have extras for a windbreak wall, tarps over the campsite or even tools to repair the damage that made it impossible to set up again. Had it simply rained and we weren't so sodden after the wind ripped up the annex, we would have stayed on.

Even my Gore-tex storm jacket was sodden inside and out after packing in the rain.

Have we been put off going out again? NO WAY!!!

maurerless · « **Reply #16 on:** October 05, 2011, 08:20:40 PM »

Quote from: Mallory Black on October 04, 2011, 09:48:26 PM

For extra insurance we always "tarp up" over the whole outfit for anything more than an overnight
We like the extra shade on a hot day and the extra little bit of insulation on cold nights that it provides as well as protection from bird/bat poop, tree gunk and general security against water ingress although we have been pleasantly surprise at how waterproof our chinese tent acutally is.
we carry a 14'x20' lightweight silver backed tarp that goes over the lot and a similar 8' x 14" for the overnighters. they are quite light and have eyelets not those dumb D rings that seems tob e the rage for a lot of big tarps

For extended beach camps we have a more solid tarp that can stand up against a blow if there's enough poles and ropes holding onto it. Prety comfy way to go and not a lot of hassle for 2 people to do after a few goes

Hmm, so I'm taking from this that tarping up also requires extra poles and ropes etc. Don't simply drape another tarp over the top of the CT and try to tie it down at the corners...

maurerless · « **Reply #17 on:** October 05, 2011, 08:26:56 PM »

Does anyone have any tips about canvas tension in the wet?

It appeared to me that the CT canvas got tight when it got wet. Should I be loosening things so as to not stretch out the seams and risk leaks, or keeping tight to allow better water runoff?

sablesoft · « **Reply #18 on:** October 05, 2011, 09:19:49 PM »

Quote from: maurerless on October 04, 2011, 07:48:12 PM

We took out out the brand new CUB on the maiden voyage last weekend. Went to Patonga - great place, except the weather left a bit to be desired.

Lessons learnt?
1/ Use all the ropes to tie down the annex - two per pole.
2/ Buy some longer "soft ground" pegs so that when setting up in damp turf that hasn't settled in properly, the pegs won't pull clean out of the ground so easily.
3/ Either make sure it isn't going to rain too much before going out in a camper not proven to be leak proof, or carry a tarp to go over the whole campsite for the really bad weather.
Tony

Hi Tony,
I carry the standard Cub 230mm pegs, OK for light jobs, I also carry 300mm and 380mm pegs which are much stronger, I select which pegs according to how hard the ground is.
I also replaced all my annex ropes with thicker (stronger) ropes with springs to get better tensioning, and don't forget to put 3 guy ropes on the back of the main tent if it looks windy, It also allows more tension on the guy ropes without bending the main tent hoop.

The Guy ropes and pegs Cub supplies are only for fair weather use.

I also carry a tarp I can put over the whole tent to help hold it down , keep rain off for a dryer pack-up , KEEP bird Shit off the canvas if I am under a tree.

Ray

Kit_e_kat9 · « **Reply #19 on:** October 06, 2011, 07:07:07 PM »

Quote from: maurerless on October 05, 2011, 08:26:56 PM

Does anyone have any tips about canvas tension in the wet?

keeping tight to allow better water runoff?

I like your attitude to camping! Stick with it.

I'd go with this one "keeping tight to allow better water runoff". Water weighs enough to break things if left to pool and you can also get drowned when trying to remove it. Because you've set it up to run "off" where you prefer it too (not where you like to access the car or the CT door or near the fridge

for example) whack a bucket under the worst of it and use this for showers or dishwashing or getting wet grass off before entering the CT or getting mud off places you wish to access or hosing down the kids ... you decide.

Last weekend, we threw up an end wall to keep the access door dry, and then linked a tarp's lugs over some poles and tied it off to the pegs. It let some wind and a bit of spray through, but we were out of the worst of it. Thankfully the "weather" always seem to come from the SW in my experience, and we were set up so that the drivers side of our CT took the brunt. Probably have issues if it was the other way around, but nothing a few more tarps couldn't have fixed I guess.

Do you have a draught flap for all along the CT which covers the wheels? Of all our extra canvas kit (2 end walls, draught flap and kitchen infill), we've found this to be an excellent investment. We don't have a front wall to date, maybe one day, but it's not high on the lid of modifications.

We have never put a tarp over our CT for any reason to date, but we also haven't stopped anywhere for more than 2 nights, 3 days. I don't see any bird Shit on it (we don't set up under trees) but we have gotten a little bit of natural "debree" as well as the odd mark here and there but are not overly worried, as we can check it everytime we fold it up and take care of anything we are concerned about.

Kit_e

maurerless · « **Reply #20 on:** October 06, 2011, 07:54:15 PM »

Quote from: sablesoft on October 05, 2011, 09:19:49 PM

Hi Tony,
I carry the standard Cub 230mm pegs, OK for light jobs, I also carry 300mm and 380mm pegs which are much stronger, I select which pegs according to how hard the ground is.
I also replaced all my annex ropes with thicker (stronger) ropes with springs to get better tensioning, and don't forget to put 3 guy ropes on the back of the main tent if it looks windy, It also allows more tension on the guy ropes without bending the main tent hoop.

The Guy ropes and pegs Cub supplies are only for fair weather use.

I also carry a tarp I can put over the whole tent to help hold it down , keep rain off for a dryer pack-up , KEEP bird Shit off the canvas if I am under a tree.

Ray

Hmm, interesting. CUB supplied us with 10x300mm pegs for the 10 guy ropes and a heap of 230mm pegs for the base of the annex walls. I only used 1 rope per pole on the annex (with the 300mm pegs) and figured I should have used 2 ropes per pole after the annex took off in the wind. I may not have been clear in my original post, but the camping area was recently turfed and the grass was still bedding in, plus the turf was already soft because of rain through the week before we arrived.

I'll have to look next time I get the CT out, but the main tent on the Spacevan doesn't seem to have anywhere to attach guy ropes. I'd have attached them if I found them - I was wondering what the "extra" ropes were for. I was also wondering about putting too much tension on the annex and pulling over the main tent. It seems to have been okay so far and I think we will always put on the annex - even just for extra shade.

Thanks for the tips

Tony

maurerless · « **Reply #21 on:** October 06, 2011, 08:11:09 PM »

Quote from: Kit_e_kat9 on October 06, 2011, 07:07:07 PM

I like your attitude to camping! Stick with it.

I'd go with this one "keeping tight to allow better water runoff". Water weighs enough to break things if left to pool and you can also get drowned when trying to remove it. Because you've set it up to run "off" where you prefer it too (not where you like to access the car or the CT door or near the fridge for example) whack a bucket under the worst of it and use this for showers or dishwashing or getting wet grass off before entering the CT or getting mud off places you wish to access or hosing down the kids ... you decide.

Last weekend, we threw up an end wall to keep the access door dry, and then linked a tarp's lugs over some poles and tied it off to the pegs. It let some wind and a bit of spray through, but we were out of the worst of it. Thankfully the "weather" always seem to come from the SW in my experience, and we were set up so that the drivers side of our CT took the brunt. Probably have issues if it was the other way around, but nothing a few more tarps couldn't have fixed I guess.

Do you have a draught flap for all along the CT which covers the wheels? Of all our extra canvas kit (2 end walls, draught flap and kitchen infill), we've found this to be an excellent investment. We don't have a front wall to date, maybe one day, but it's not high on the lid of modifications.

We have never put a tarp over our CT for any reason to date, but we also haven't stopped anywhere for more than 2 nights, 3 days. I don't see any bird Shit on it (we don't set up under trees) but we have gotten a little bit of natural "debree" as well as the odd mark here and there but are not overly worried, as we can check it everytime we fold it up and take care of anything we are concerned about.

Kit_e

Hey Kit_e,

We took the option of the annex with all the walls - except half the outside wall is mesh. The awning included the draught skirt to go under the camper too. Here's a pic from the factory during handover. I was going to take more pics during the trip but the storm got in the way

Last weekend I had set up all the walls, similar to your set up, to try and stop the wind and rain. The fridge is inside, so not a problem accessing during rain. The thing I may have done wrong was to shorten the poles on the annex, to assist in water runoff - the canvas roof was still tight, but the annex walls were not and pegging them down was difficult.

The gust that hit came directly from the side and into the mesh, whch gave positive pressure under the awning and lifiting it from that side. That corner is where the zip on the roof runs to so the zip just undid, rather than splitting.

We may turn into "fair weather campers" for a few months until we settle in and are more used to the camper. I'm used to tent camping, but my wife is a little more germophobe and I'd like to ease her in to the worse weather so in the long run I get to go more often

I like the idea of a bucket to catch rainwater - good for extra water while away.

Thanks for the tips

Tony

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Author Topic: Learning the hard way (Read 7651 times)