Bent Bed Bow Support

[rc01]

I have a recurring problem with our 2003 Coleman Utah. We camp in some areas that have frequent and sometimes unpredictable winds. We have gone through three bed bow support poles (shepherd's pole?) which have bent in the crook due to wind gusts. We've tried to just remove the poles when an obvious storm is coming in but I'm worried that will cause damage to the canvas tenting as it flaps in the wind.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

[tenttravel]

I have a recurring problem with our 2003 Coleman Utah. We camp in some areas that have frequent and sometimes unpredictable winds. We have gone through three bed bow support poles (shepherd's pole?) which have bent in the crook due to wind gusts. We've tried to just remove the poles when an obvious storm is coming in but I'm worried that will cause damage to the canvas tenting as it flaps in the wind.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

Try unzipping all your windows if possible. I do alot of desert camping and leaving the windows open helps. If it's raining just don't touch the screen or the water will dribble down inside...

[tenttravel]

Try unzipping all your windows if possible. I do alot of desert camping and leaving the windows open helps. If it's raining just don't touch the screen or the water will dribble down inside...

Oh I forgot one thing, you can also buy that expanding foam in a can like you buy at Lowe's and using a long poly tube feed the poly tube in through the end closest to the bend and make sure you get past the bend. While spraying the foam slowly pull the poly tube out. The foam will expand and fill the entire brace to give you some additional rigidity. First practice on a similar diamiter piece of pipe. Good Luck...

[SkipP]

Is there a possibility that the pole is under too much tension in the first place? It may be worth backing it down a click and see if this helps.

Beyond that, tenttravel has a good suggestion...allow some of the wind to pass through.
 
We've camped along the beach plenty of times and experienced some strong winds but so far, knock on wood, the poles have held up.

[tlhdoc]

Possible solutions

1.  Pole is too tight and under a lot of pressure before the wind blows, and the wind makes it just too much pressure
 
2.  The pole is too loose and there is roof for it to move back and forth and then the winds makes too much pressure
 
I would not leave the tenting unsupported.  The pole is there to keep the tenting in the proper shape.  Without it the tenting would collapse and passably rip where it is attached to the bunkend.

[rc01]

Thanks to all for the suggestions - I will give them a try.

[SpeakEasy]

Does anyone out there know how much of a wind gust these campers can withstand? If I'm camping in wind gusts of 30 to 35 mph I get nervous. Beyond that level I tend to want to fold down. Am I being too jumpy?

[rc01]

I think I've solved the problem with these poles bending. I spoke to a Coleman dealer I was referred to today and he said that they have had more of those poles break/bend in the last few years than ever before. He said two or three years ago, Coleman switched to a lighter weight aluminum pole. This year, they switched back to the original steel poles to remedy the bending problems.

SpeakEasy, in my research trying to resolve this problem, a number of people have stated that they have been in up to 40-50 mph winds with no problems. I'm not recommending it but I wanted to pass the information on.

Once again, thanks to all for the help!

[tlhdoc]

I have been in wind over 50 mph and the camper did just fine. We camp at the beach and you never know when the wind will come up.

[Kelly]

Does anyone out there know how much of a wind gust these campers can withstand? If I'm camping in wind gusts of 30 to 35 mph I get nervous. Beyond that level I tend to want to fold down. Am I being too jumpy?

The first time the kids and I went out in our new-to-us Palomino we had a lakeside site in northern Minnesota.  Sometime during the first night a nasty thunderstorm rolled through.  The kids slept through it while I anxiously rode it out!  At one point a gust of wind caught the door of the PU and swung it open ~ slamming it into the side of the trailer.  I was soaked just from closing the door and we had to use duct tape to hold it shut until we got home and I could get the door adjusted properly.    Found out later that the gusts were between 40 and 60 mph.

I would guess that you would be way past your "comfort zone" before the PU would need to be closed up.  IMHO ~ folding down in 40 mph gusts isn't too appealing either!!  

Now if it were sustained winds .... I'd be one of the first ones out of there!!  LOL