How to make a regular tent driveaway ?

[Stefvan]

I have a great tent from Quechua the T4.2 XL Air which is Decathlons own brand. It is a massive low dome with two sleeping compartments.The entrance is like a curved porch. Does anyone know of a way to make , or a place to buy, a weatherproof bit that would make it attach to the gutter of my Westy van via figure of 8 clamp.





tia

Stefvan

[kevtherev]

You'll need some ripstop nylon (for kites)
a sewing machine and some knicker elastic.

[Bilbo Blue]

Most big camping and caravan stores that sell caravans and awnings have someone who does repairs.

[Valsowners]

What a great idea, but is there any way to do it without having to sew something onto the tent?

We currently have an excellent Outwell "Montana" tent, we we're going to buy a new driveaway awning but this could be the perfect solution. We really don't want to sew anything on incase we decide to sell the tent at a later date - anyone got any good idea's

[dirtygertie]

you could get a basic canopy - this sort of thing but not as garish (I'm currently making one out of ripstop fabric & awning tape - both available on fleabay)



then find a way of tying it to the porchy bit of your tent, that way you would have the benefit of being able use it as a canopy on its own & using the tent on its own if you need to - you could always sew sides onto the canopy for extra wind protection

[grumpyoldgit]

I think your problem is that unless the awning fits directly to your guttering or the tent has some additional canvas sewn on that also fits to the guttering, it will not be watertight. My experience of tents is that if anything even touches the outer skin, it then attracts water like a magnet and will leak at that point.

[kevtherev]

using the existing side cheeks sew the new piece of nylon to it creating an overlap on top.

to the van side sew in your male awning piece (top)



then attach the female rail to the van (bottom)

how the hell you get out though is another thing, as thats the only way in and out.

I chose a tent with two entrances

[Stefvan]

Thats great kev luckily ours has a second zipper down the opposite side. Next time we go camping I will park the van right next to the tent and take some measurements.

Stefvan

[MattyBigNose]

Stef,

We've just done this - with a Decathlon tent as well. We don't have a second door but the ends of the tent lift quite easily providing a large opening. The tabs for hanging the inner sleeping tents (which we will leave at home) provide a perfect tie back spot.

Anyway, your question was about material and attaching. I had an old but unused cheap Halfords car cover in the shed - almost the same shade of blue as the tent. Have just checked and they still stock similar for £25.

Like yours our tent is a sort of dome shape, leaving a triangular/trapezoid shaped gap when the door of the tent is lifted up and attached to the gutter of the van.We've used stick on velcro tape, sewed through for extra strength, along the top (wider) edge of two triangular sections cut from the car cover. Like you we didn't want to damage the tent and so have sewn the other side of the velcro through the slim piece of zip material on the door. The door will of course act as a roof, with the two self made triangular sections acting as sides to our 'porch'. As the poles on our tent are external we will attach a few velcro loops round these up the tent side of the triangles. I'm Still not sure about fixing to the ground. Our 'prototype', made from the side section of a garden gazebo had brass hoops punched into the material that were perfect for fixing a tent peg to. Will either go with more velcro or a loop of material stitched to the bottom edge of the triangle.

The tent door(porch roof) will attach to the gutter of the van above the sliding door. Previous comments regarding leaks noted and we may get some of the proper attaching strip as pictured if it becomes a pain. For now I have six really strong bulldog clips to play with.

Hopefully I have explained the above well enough - two nylon sides attached at the top with velcro strips, down one side with velcro loops and to the ground with tent pegs. It won't be completely weathertight but if we do ever use the tent for sleeping in we will just zip the door down. I have a couple of pics of the prototype but on an external hard drive. I'll try and add them at a later date.