Hello all. Made my Tent Pole Mods for my Winter Dream XL 13 today. Used Dutch's 13 inch .275 poles (5 male sections, 1 female per pole). 78 " total each pole. Used about a 5" length of shock cord (3/32) for the tarp/pole connection. Really nice effect. Opened up the inside nice. Not any better than using actual side pullout lines...but no guylines to trip over. Switched to CRL so the poles wouldn't rest on the tarp itself. Used Tato Tarp Connectors. Had to wrap the Tatos twice to keep it from slipping. No big deal as long as I leave some slack in the ridgeline until I get the Tatos hooked. Think I will like this setup.
One small complaint/surprise though. I'm using shock cords/mitten hooks on each door for pulling them back and attaching them to the opposite end/same side door. I would rather do this on the inside for easier deployment if rain/wind starts. Also, if I attach them on the outside my pullouts themselves get in the way of a smooth outside fold-back (I had my pullouts lowered to match those of the Cloudburst (33" down from ridge of tarp) so they would better correspond to the poles of my Ridgerunner. That new location creates an outside fold-back that necessitates having to slightly "wrap around" my pullouts. Unfortunately, when I attach the opposing end doors to each other on the inside they (of course) don't stay back the way the "pulled out" walls of the tarp do. They (of course) pull straight from end to end and therefore come in from tarp sides about 5 inches on each side...creating a catch point for the Ridgerunner poles to grab as I climb in. It shouldn't have surprised me if I'd thought about it - but I had watched so many YouTube videos of guys smoothly using this system of folding their doors back on the inside (but without pullouts) and having them lay flat against their side walls that I never thought of it being any different when using side panel pullouts. It's not the end of the world for sure, but it makes me be very careful as I get into my hammock and takes away some of that new room I gained from using my pullouts/pole mod. I really see no way to avoid this as long as I "fold back" the doors to the inside instead of outside. I would love to have a little attachment loop in the middle of the side tarp walls to which I could hook the "clipped together" mitten hooks. That would pull those doors nicely out to the tarp walls. Although I guess that could just as easily pull the side walls in as the doors out. Hmmm. Don't see any way to do it without sewing something there (of which I have no skill or equipment). The only other way I see (if I want the doors open and to yet retain all that new nice interior space from the side pullouts) is to just stake them open on each end. I could also pitch it at a shallower angle but then my side walls wouldn't come down as close to the ground. Anyone out there ever encountered this and figured a way around it? I hate to gain all that new pullout space and then give it right back when I fold my doors in.
I probably should have taken some pics to better explain exactly what I'm talking about. This is not a serious issue at all - but I thought I'd throw it out there and see if some of you clever people might have an obvious solution that I'm not seeing.
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