Questions for any EZ_UP tent users

I just wrapped up my first little festival with my spanking brand new tent. Although I had already taken it out and put it together and checked that everything was there, I wasn't fully sure of how I would set it up.

Anyway, when we arrived, I was directed to an area that was to be the kids zone (consisting of me and a mobile snow cone truck LOL, small town woes). After we got the tent up and started putting everything in it, the wind picked up. Not a high wind, just random gusts of wind. I had it staked down on all four sides (I also have 4 kitty litter containers for future use THANKS FELLOW FORUM MEMBERS       , but I didn't bring them as the weather report was calling for bright skies with no wind).

My question is, would it be better to have put up 3 side walls, when I had only put up one just to block the sun? Would that prevent my tent from bending and swaying like it was. I am pretty sure it wasn't bad enough that it could have come un-staked and blown away, but it concerned me nonetheless. I was also chasing sponges and my reference pages kept blowing away.  Does having more walls put up help? It doesn't have vents in the top, either, so would it be stupid to cut vents in the top and put velcro flaps over the slits? I read on here about something called Fray Check that you put on it to keep it from fraying. I know if it rains, the slits could let water in, but I think if I put the flaps over the slits, the wind can go out of the slits, but a light rain would lay them flat (helping to keep rain out). If it's a heavy rain, I will pack up and head out anyway.
My next event coming up is an all day music fest that is being held at the county fair location that is right beside the river, so I want to be confident that when I set it up, it's going to stay.

I don’t have many answers but I use my weights (sand bags) EVERY single time. It has saved my tent several times when wind was not at all expected and everyone else was dealing with their tents trying to fly away. I never use full walls - I just use banners as pony walls to keep people from entering the tent.

Dear DebbieB:
While I cannot answer your questions about sidewalks and vents...I can talk about staking your tent.

I threw away the silly little tent pegs and tethers that come with the tents I have purchased.

I use bungee cords instead of tent ropes. The bungee cords don't tangle, are easy to hook, and subsequently, unhook.

I use corkscrew dog tie-outs instead of tent pegs. They screw down into the grass and dirt.

If I am placed on cement or asphalt, I use 6 gallon water containers with an integrated handle as my tent weights. If there is water at the event, I fill them when I get there. Don't forget to bring a smaller water container that will fit into a conventional sink, to transfer the water from the sink to the containers.

I was at a function three summers ago, on a supposedly wind-less day with my vent-less tent. I was surrounded by people who staked their tents with those silly, supplied tent pegs. A wind blew the first tent up, and it rolled, both flattening, and loosening tents. Two tents hit my tent and proceeded to rip up the tents in the row, with the exception of the last three tents in my row, and my lone tent. I used the dog tie-outs to stake my tent. I swear by those dog tie-outs. I bought them at the Dollar Store. I bought one at the pet food store that have a fancy handle to make it easier to twist into the ground. I want to go and buy more of the fancy ones...but the ones I have are working just fine.

xoxo

Thanks Fess, I will look into getting some of those dog things. I guess I can Google somebody to ask about putting vents in the top. Seems like it should be do-able. I would like to be able to use my sidewalls like I saw on Denise's set-up to keep people from coming in at all angles like they were doing to me the other day. I didn't get a lot of business, but the ones I did get were coming in from every which way and my OCD demands more order and less confusion.     

I was at IKEA three weeks ago, and I bought some "balcony windbreaks". This is white material, 8 feet long and maybe three feet high. I thought I could use them as half walls, so people could look, and not cut through my tent.
I do understand that you need to keep your sponges from blowing around (which happened last weekend). A full side wall will help with that.

I have brought my tent down a few peg holes before when the wind kicked up. I think I learned that from the forum. I actually have taken the walls DOWN when a really big wind came because I was afraid of the place where the velcro wraps around the legs would rip. I love Lisa's integrated handles idea. I used Home Depot buckets and they worked great but I was worried about the metal handles breaking away from the bucket.

I don't know about the vents. Usually venting systems have a canopy over them to keep the rain out...you want somewhere to go in a downpour and keep your paints dry.

When I worked with Laura (Fairyfox) she taught me to fold over my tent sides to make half walls and I LOVE it. Makes a viewing area for parents but keeps everyone out of your bum zone. They can take photos and chat and be out of the way.

I even used it when we had two tents together. There was a whole wall behind both tents, then one tent has two half sides...then the other tent had one whole side and then we had an in and out door on the one open side by putting a table in the middle of the open side. I set up a line management with electrical fencing stakes in front of the half front wall strung up with cheap rope (might not work with all festivals because they keep the rows free but this was a private event) and then the other half wall was a viewing area. It was great.

Denise, your set up is what I aspire mine to be, eventually.     Right now though, it's bare bones as I have spent WAY more than I have brought in. (Insert sad face).

So, when you put up your walls, you fold them over from the top and attach them at the bottom? They don't slide down the pole? I am trying to get a mental picture of how that works. I am trying to get my hubby away from the Playstation long enough to go help me put it up outside so I can visually figure out where I want everything to go. I don't have a lot of faith in it not ripping because the awning piece ripped the first time I put it up so I guess I will have to manually go around it with heavy duty thread and strengthen parts of it. For the price, I was not happy AT ALL.
I am thinking about the vents to cut a couple of slits in the top and then super glue a flap over it that is bigger than the slits, then put heavy duty velcro strips to keep the flap from blowing up. They will move just enough to flap around and let wind out. I don't know, I just don't want it to become a kite (LOL Shannon's words) so I am looking for solutions.

I use a stretchable but still firmish fabric I bought at the fabric store in 11-12 foot lengths. I tie it to the uprights to get my half-walls/crowd control.

I always use my tent weights too. Even on a pure clear still sunny day last year, out of the blue along comes a single gust of high wind that lasted for all of four seconds and blew lots of peoples' tables, etc. over. It even lifted my table with heavy items on it.

If the tent hadn't been weighted, it would've lifted.

I have seen these tents lift and go airborne. It is a real safety hazard. You don't want anyone to get hurt.

I just bought a new tent with walls, I like the idea of the half wall. Also I can tell you from my backyard tent, with walls, which is vented, I open the walls in windy situations so the wind can blow thru rather than into and away, if that makes sense.

I use neon pink construction tape from the local hardware store to rope off my booth sides (it matches my stuff, it gets people's attention, and no extra stuff to hook up, no perfect-storm-of-aloftness for wind to scoop in and wreak havoc). I hang vertical banners off one side with tiny bungees, and a back upper and front table banner... I learned the hard way about weighting down a tent (luckily not facepainting, but at the sand dunes with an EZup and an unexpected gust of wind that made it an EZfly-away-arse-over-teakettle-toward-a-$100,000-RV-heart-attack).   thankfully my ninja reflexes kicked in and I tackled it before it hit anyone/anything. I found a set of weights from Home Depot that slip right into the legs of my canopy that keep it steady, and I also tie a tether to something big and heavy... just in case. No more heart attacks.

This is a great thread. I had not even considered keeping people out of the tent and out of they way. I love the water jug idea! I know we will be on asphalt at our fair and have been thinking of how to secure our tent. One less thing to buy since I have one.

Dear Staley:
I have FOUR 6 gallon (23 Litre) water jugs.   I bungee one to each corner of my tent.  

http://m.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/sports-rec/camping/water-storage-bottles-treatments/reliance-desert-patrol-water-container-0854055p.html

I have the EZ up and love it. I have used the stakes that came with it, and I have used full water buckets as anchors.
I'd love to try out the dog tie stakes sometime.
I've been in some pretty scary wind before, and she has always held.
But I wouldn't recommend putting up the full walls in wind. I sometimes do the folded-in-half-to-keep-folks-out trick.
I do NOT recommend cuting slits in your canopy.

Thank you Lisa,

I think I like the shape of those water jugs better than the one I have and the price isn't bad.

Aaannnndddd...they are from Canada. They make everything taste like maple syrup.

xoxo

I made these, though I added a top cap to mine and drilled the hole through the cap to make it present a little better. Because they lie up against the tent legs, they feel more out of the way than things that take up space on the floor. You can also either paint them with plastic-friendly paint or cover them in colorful duct tape if you wanted the contrast.
http://thenewnew.blogspot.com/2009/03/how-to-pvc-tent-weights.html
http://etsymetal.blogspot.com/2009/06/tent-weights-tutorial.html

Resource: This one has several different versions of weights and how they're secured.
http://www.maketulsa.com/2012/05/when-the-wind-comes-sweepin-down-the-plain/

I don't think I've had an event yet that isn't on pavement, sadly, otherwise Fess' spiral dog hook idea sounds great.

I can't speak to the velcro+venting. When I was looking at tents, the only one I found with vents in my price range was brown, which I didn't want. http://ezup.com/shelters/recreational/pagoda/
I wonder if you could somehow add another layer of tent-weight nylon over the vents on three sides as kind of a one-way valve so air can escape upwards blowing the nylon but not allow rain downwards?

If the winds are high enough, the pressure differential would probably lift the tent regardless, but for normally to lightly windy events, that might just work.

I also do the pony walls, folding down the sides to allow light/air but it keeps the through-traffic down.

This is a brilliant Post. I have a big market in a few weeks and I have to supply my own Gazebo and this info is perfect. I love the idea Lisa said about the dog cork-screw and with the weighted pipes from Julie. I want to be totally prepared as its at my daughters school. Thanks ladies! 

Thanks to everyone for their input. I have two weeks to get it the way I need it to be so all of this is helpful. We used to be in construction so I am sure if I go poking around in the out building that I can find some items that I can use to make weights.     

Tent weights: One of the best investments I made as far as weights go were the fabric tent weights that wrap around the legs of the tent and you fill them with sand or gravel. They weren't cheap (more expensive than a bucket), but they pack small and easy to transport. Before I had gravel weight bags I would put into large flower pots (because they were prettier than buckets) and then I put fake flowers in them (to make it prettier The gravel bags held the tent down, but occasionally if it was really windy I had to be aware so I could jump up and grab the tent just in case is started shifting. I would bungee cord one of the back tent legs to my cooler as a weight as well.

I suggest always use something to hold the tent down because even when it is not calling for wind, you just never know and I have seen too many tents go flying and causing all kinds of damage (from hitting cars, to other tents with fragile jewelry or glass ware). Even tents that were "weighted down" have gone flying, so I felt it was better to be sure. I am almost never set up on grass or dirt, so the stakes don't work for me (but I really like the idea of the dog stakes).

I have a friend who uses bungee cords and her sons free weights to hold down her tent. They are the hand held weights and she just ties the cord to them and then to the tent. She uses two weights opposite corners (they are heavy). Her tent doesn't move in the wind, either.

Walls: I have tent walls for my tent, but I rarely put them up now. I now have some mesh tent walls and use those. It keeps out the people, bugs, etc, but you can still see through it, so people can line up around the back or side of the tent and watch. We can carry on a conversation through it, but it is still a barrier keeping them out of the work space. It allows a breeze to blow through and gives a little protection from the sun when the sun is still low and comes through the side of your tent. The sun is still hot, but not as hot and bright if there was nothing there at all. If I have both EZ up tents up, then I can use it to cover the side and back walls of the tent leaving the entire front open. Works great, packs extremely light, and best of all looks great, too.

Hope this helps.
Kristin
Starshine Faces