Setting up the Notch (and others) more tips

[Franco Darioli]

This comment from Billy : "but it is rather finicky to set up. It's not just leave the right amount of slack when staking out the length… that's actually easy. The complicating thing about the Notch is you need to have the long axis pretty close to perpendicular to the short axis" made me realise the problem some have setting up shelters like the Notch and in a similar way the Strato Spire 1/2 as well as tarps and mids. This is the Notch floor plan : with any non freestanding tent try to have the floor plan of your tent imprinted in your mind so that you know the shape/angles you are trying to get. With the Notch the two crucial points to remember are 1) have some slack in the fabric between the two ends before inserting the poles 2) the ribbon across base of the Pitch Lock corner should form a rectangle with two imaginary lines to the opposite end. (think of rail lines or a straight ladder) IF those lines are at 45 degree to each other (a rectangle) the tent will set up correctly. As you move from setting up one end to the other , the first can twist out of position : so either (as I do) grab one end lift it up in the air and get the right angle again: or if you find that difficult to do just stake one end down so that it does not twist out of axis : Quick application to mids. typical hexagonal mid, this one from my mate Michael Wong at Luxe Outdoor. Difficult shape for some but easy to do once you know how. Clockwise from the top call those corners 1,2,3… 1,2,4 and 5 form a rectangle. Spread the shelter out (yes leave some slack in the center) so that you have two straight lines parallel to each other forming that rectangle. Once you have done that pull the other two sides out , they will find the right shape. now insert the pole. Done.

[Bill Law]

Thanks, Franco! Now I see what I've been doing wrong: camping in the mountains with uneven rocky ground, rather than in your backyard :-). Seems that despite my best efforts, when I go to stake out the second end I find nothing but bedrock. So keeping a nice rectangle with the proper length can seem like a futile exercise. That said, I still love my Notch. Enough to have given up the previously never-ending search for a better tent.

[Franco Darioli]

[Owen McMurrey]

"Now I see what I've been doing wrong: camping in the mountains with uneven rocky ground, rather than in your backyard :-)." Yeah, it can be a lot different depending on the terrain. I've pitched my Notch a couple hundred times, and it went up near perfect in a minute or two today when I set it up in the back yard to remove the inner. Often not the case in actual use where I have to reset or position stakes, stack rocks on them, etc. if the ground doesn't cooperate.

[Author]

Posts