Wilderness Eq' second arrow tent.

[iaindtiler]

Having just bought the second arrow tent, thought i'd have a practice run at pitching(thankfully). Am a little confused!!! . The star style pegs with pull cords are first confusion point. how to use? And it came with 7 pegs , yet there appears to be more than 7 pegging point!! Surely you have to peg the pole end points as well as the guy ends?? Sorry for my ignorance on this topic, but any help would be much apprieciated. am usually not this thick Iain

[alliecat]

Hi Iain,
looking at photos on the net, 7 pegs looks right. 2 at the front, 1 at the back, and 2 on each side for guylines. With tunnel tents there is no need to peg the poles down. It might look like not enough but a well staked out tunnel is very stormworthy.

Cheers,
Alliecat

[johnw]

The star style pegs with pull cords are first confusion point. how to use?

Iain, There is a notch about 1/2 inch or so from the top. The bungee cord loops at the staking points just slot into that. Can seem a bit flimsy but holds fine in my experience. Just make sure you have the pegs at an angle in the ground, top pointing outwards, as you would with other types of stakes. The pull cords are just for extracting the pegs and make them easier to locate when removing.

And it came with 7 pegs , yet there appears to be more than 7 pegging point!! Surely you have to peg the pole end points as well as the guy ends?? am usually not this thick

Not thick at all. I had the same issue when I bought mine a number of years ago. Unfortunately you will need to get 4 more pegs for the guylines. WE don't supply them with the tent. Don't ask me why . I complained to the retailer and they confirmed that WE only provide enough for the 7 staking points. They could see my point that I felt this was unacceptable and gave me 4 aluminium shepherds hook ones for free. I've since used these for the guylines (guys not always necessary on that tent in mild conditions, but I was very thankful for them during a big blow in Tassie on one occasion). The tent is actually very quick to erect with the integral pitch once you've had a few goes. Also very robust in my experience, if a little compact for 2 people and a bit heavier than some later tent designs (recently tried out my Terra Nova Laser Competition 1 which is about a third of the weight). I may use the 2nd Arrow for a car camping trip next weekend as it's a bit more luxurious and I don't have to worry about what I need to carry!

The image at the top of the page linked below shows the staking/guying points (larger image shows correct pitching very clearly). There are staking loops adjacent to the pole ends with this design - noting alliecat's comment above, other tunnel tents may differ. A lot of other info there too worth reading that may help with other questions. Pitch small end into the wind is something I've found worth remembering.
http://www.wildequipment.com.au/tent_detail.php?Code=WE2AUL

[alliecat]

Ah yes. I was just going by the photos and the fact that my hilleberg nallo doesn't use stakes at the pole ends. It's a bit rubbish that WE doesn't include enough stakes for all the points. Very poor on their part. The guys are an essential part of a tunnel tent - I would always stake out the guys.

Cheers,
Alliecat

[tasadam]

Indeed, the Nallo comes with 16 pegs, 8 skinny & 8 V shaped.
I have seen the 2nd arrow in use, and know enough about it to know these two things:
It's a strong, small, heavy tent;
Based on my experience with other tunnels, I wouldn't own one.
But, each to their own, it's a popular enough tent, so has obviously earned its following.

[Ent]

At the risk of high jacking the thread but it seems to be a common theme tents not coming with all guy lines and pegs. My MSR Nook came with only five pegs and no guy lines yet it has plenty of provision for more and the demo video shows the optional guy lines.

As mention Hillebergs come with the full complement, eighteen on the Katium. Under good conditions you can get away with four. Hilleberg leave it up to you to subtract extra.

On WE I believe that they come in a few fly weights over the years so weights can vary. Great reputation as a bomb proof tent.

Cheers

[bernieq]

IMO, 7 pegs are ample – simply no point in carrying more.

I have a WE 1st Arrow (the 2-3 person model) which has 9 peg-out points (9 pegs supplied) – 2 at the front, one at the back and 3 each side for the guy ropes. In a ‘normal’ environment (ie not exposed, average weather expected) I’ll only use the 3 essential peg-outs (no guys).

Recently, on top of PB, I pegged out just one guy on each side although the site didn’t allow ideal orientation to deal with the expected winds overnight. As it turned out, orientation wasn’t important because the wind veered, backed and swirled like a banshee. The tent was fine but the noise of the steam train rushing up and over the cliffs kept us awake for most of the night !

So, the pole ends don’t need to be pegged out. Some guying is very useful in wind and two pegs (crossed) at the narrow end is useful in loose ground and/or high wind. I carry 8 pegs and have never used more than 6.

[iaindtiler]

thanks for all the replys. Just back from using last night in relatively calm conditions and the 7 guy rope points seem to be ample. it does have a little extra weight, but appears very sturdy. Thanks again to all Iain