Exped Vela I Extreme - Pitching (with pictures)
Posted: Thu 07 May, 2009 9:46 pm
I've been looking for a light-weight tent for my solo (or self-catering) walks for quite some time, rather than lugging the large two-person MacPac Olympus with me (which is a fantastic tent for when sharing, but just a bit heavy for solo walks).
Finally I made a decision on Monday, and 3 days and a mere AUD$367 later my new Exped Vela I Extreme was delivered to my door. It looks like a fantastic tent so far (only had it set up in my lounge room for now) with a lot of nice little touches. I'll write up a proper review once I've used it "in the wild".
However, I do have one concern. I'm having trouble pitching it such that the tension on the fly is correct. The fly seems to be nice and tight at the head end, but rather loose at the foot end. In order to get it right, I had to get the tent tension fully loose and the fly tension fully tight at the foot end, and visa versa at the head end, plus put a fair bit of tension on the middle pole strap (that goes under the tent). When I say "fully tight" and "fully loose", I mean that there is no more slack on these adjustments at all - none.
Does anyone else have this tent, and have they found similar issues? Am I doing something wrong? It looks like it will work fine this way, but it just seems that there should be more slack in the adjustments than this.
I found the 3 lines of setup instructions to be somewhat inadequate (maybe I'm just dopey). It's not hard to set up, but they could have been a bit more verbose than that. Eg, should everything be loosened off before pitching, and tightened afterwards? A couple of diagrams wouldn't go astray either. Eg, I assume the pegs go through the round metal rings, not the metal clip, and not just against the string or the strap, but there's nothing definitive in the instructions about this, and it's a bit different to the tents I'm used to.
Does anyone really use this tent with just the minimum 2 pegs? This was fine in the lounge room, but I imagine that out in the wild, you'd want to pitch with at least 4 pegs.
I must admit, I was a bit concerned about the draw-string (no zip) fly doorway at first, but having opened and closed it a few times, I'm impressed. It looks like it's going to work really well. Huge vestible!
Any other tips and tricks for this tent would be much appreciated (although there don't seem to be many people out there using them in Tasmania - or Australia?).
Finally I made a decision on Monday, and 3 days and a mere AUD$367 later my new Exped Vela I Extreme was delivered to my door. It looks like a fantastic tent so far (only had it set up in my lounge room for now) with a lot of nice little touches. I'll write up a proper review once I've used it "in the wild".
However, I do have one concern. I'm having trouble pitching it such that the tension on the fly is correct. The fly seems to be nice and tight at the head end, but rather loose at the foot end. In order to get it right, I had to get the tent tension fully loose and the fly tension fully tight at the foot end, and visa versa at the head end, plus put a fair bit of tension on the middle pole strap (that goes under the tent). When I say "fully tight" and "fully loose", I mean that there is no more slack on these adjustments at all - none.
Does anyone else have this tent, and have they found similar issues? Am I doing something wrong? It looks like it will work fine this way, but it just seems that there should be more slack in the adjustments than this.
I found the 3 lines of setup instructions to be somewhat inadequate (maybe I'm just dopey). It's not hard to set up, but they could have been a bit more verbose than that. Eg, should everything be loosened off before pitching, and tightened afterwards? A couple of diagrams wouldn't go astray either. Eg, I assume the pegs go through the round metal rings, not the metal clip, and not just against the string or the strap, but there's nothing definitive in the instructions about this, and it's a bit different to the tents I'm used to.
Does anyone really use this tent with just the minimum 2 pegs? This was fine in the lounge room, but I imagine that out in the wild, you'd want to pitch with at least 4 pegs.
I must admit, I was a bit concerned about the draw-string (no zip) fly doorway at first, but having opened and closed it a few times, I'm impressed. It looks like it's going to work really well. Huge vestible!
Any other tips and tricks for this tent would be much appreciated (although there don't seem to be many people out there using them in Tasmania - or Australia?).