First time putting awning up - what are these for?

[aworthy]

Had a nightmare putting the Vango Faros 3 up, never used an awning before.

There are some hair band style loops at the bottom of the tent. Am I supposed to peg all these down as well as the more sturdy plastic ratchet thing? All the hairband stretchy loops are near the doors.



Also, how ‘flat’ should the sewn in ground sheet be? I got paranoid trying to get it flat and worry I’ve over tightened those plastic ratchet clips.

Finally - plastic guy rope tension clip does absolutely nothing. The ropes just spin around in a circle and don’t tension at all?

Critique and help! Thanks

 

[CJW]

Those band loops are usually near a door. I stick one peg through both and then unhook the one that’s part of the door when I’m rolling the door away.

Can’t answer on the guy tensioners- mine’s an Outdoor Revolution and they’re a bit different.

Looks like a very respectable first go.

 

[aworthy]

Those band loops are usually near a door. I stick one peg through both and then unhook the one that’s part of the door when I’m rolling the door away.

Can’t answer on the guy tensioners- mine’s an Outdoor Revolution and they’re a bit different.

Looks like a very respectable first go.

yeh that’s what I thought - but what are they for?

Annoyingly this tent doesn’t seem to have come with the little air beam bracer pole (unless it’s hidden in a pocket somewhere?) which it should do. That would have made it more sturdy.

 

[jimc91]

Re the guy rope tensioner things, you need to pull the guy rope in such away that you make a different loop then they will tighten, I’ve done the same thing before but I can’t really think of away to explain what I mean better sorry

 

[aworthy]

Re the guy rope tensioner things, you need to pull the guy rope in such away that you make a different loop then they will tighten, I’ve done the same thing before but I can’t really think of away to explain what I mean better sorry

I can make the loop bigger/smaller but the tension doesn’t change

 

[cgtmiles]

Like this:

Not like this:

 

[aworthy]

Like this:
View attachment 252431
Not like this:

View attachment 252432

The vango plastic bits are different shape, however.

WHAT? I’ll grab a picture when I get back To the site in a minute, but how the hell do you peg the first one down?

Mine is like the bottom on, and I peg the loop

 

[cgtmiles]

Mine isn’t vango but I did have one and it had this style guys, anyway the principle is the same you just need to pull different loops through until one bites when pegged. Putting it back after the demo I managed to find a third way of doing it then struggled to find the correct way again even though it was just setup like that so you just need to play with it a bit

 

[GUMY]

We have a Vango Kilda (basically the same as yours but exclusive to GoOutdoors) and are still puzzled as to what the hair bands are for too! Agree with @CJW that they're probably for the doors, but have found if I put a peg in the middle of the front door, at some point I will step on it bare footed
As for getting the groundsheet perfectly flat etc., I have come to accept that these "awnings" are not proper tents - nothing like the quality of the classic Vango Force 10 of my youthful camping days. They're just designed to give some basic shelter/ space.
From your picture, it looks pretty good for a first attempt.

 

[GUMY]

For comparison - in fact, I'd say yours looks better (ours has a clip in groundsheet)

 

[cgtmiles]

If you want the ground sheet totally flat then you have to set it up all totally perpendicular. Alternatively, pitch it then crawl around inside smoothly out the creases then repeg the corner to hold it. This is my setup now. If I wanted to sort it out totally I could move the lower peg point on the bottom left but this is good enough for me! We already had to repitch it as we didn’t fit into the first one so definitely beer time now!

 

[aworthy]

Mine isn’t vango but I did have one and it had this style guys, anyway the principle is the same you just need to pull different loops through until one bites when pegged. Putting it back after the demo I managed to find a third way of doing it then struggled to find the correct way again even though it was just setup like that so you just need to play with it a bit

Lmao I can’t work it out at all. It seems so different to how it should be.

Vango instructions are a joke

 

[Ayjay]

I can't make out the model easily but it looks like our Vango Kela and it also looks to me that you've done a decent job of putting it up. As to the elastic loops, I can't remember exactly but I would be surprised if I had ever used the one on the 'tent side' and I know for certain that I've never pegged the one on the corner of the door. IMHO, the short beam that supports the roof definitely adds to the structural integrity of the whole thing as well - if you've not got one but are supposed to have, I'd be going back to the store and asking for it. If you've not got the same guy rope adjusters as pictured by @cgtmiles, I'd order some as they're heads and shoulders above the old style flat things (they're called Line Loks or Clam Cleats) - that said, I thought they were standard issue with Vango kit nowadays.

 

[Goldenn]

In lots of years tent camping, including 10 as a Scout leader, I've never bothered with the peg loops near the door. But curious, I've just looked it up, and I'm probably going to start!

"Peg down the left ring to the right side and the right ring to the left side. This will take off any tension on the zipper.

The zipper will always opens smoothly with this."

 

[aworthy]

Like this:
View attachment 252431
Not like this:

View attachment 252432

This is how I’ve always setup tension ropes - is this wrong? It doesn’t tension when I try to, it just spins the orange rope around

 

[roadtripper]

Try putting the loop that's sticking up out of the grey plastic slider on the peg. Then the tension should lock the rope into the slider.

Otherwise rig the guy the other way so the loop is at the tent end and tension like this

 

[Bargy62]

AS roadtripper said un peg what you have and put peg through the sticking up loop pull all the slack through the bottom of the tensioner and bang it in the ground then tension up

 

[CJW]

yeh that’s what I thought - but what are they for?

If the apron of the tent / awning is away from the inner, there’s less chance of it getting wet.

 

[aworthy]

Oh my god I’m supposed to use that little loop they’ve tied arnt I. Oh my god it’s so much better.

Wtf I’m sure I’ve never done that before??? How is that tied loop that gets pegged in even remotely strong enough for a windy day

 

[Bargy62]

if you dont peg the hair bandy things near the doors if its windy the zip undoes and the door flaps