I have been thinking on various ways to make my tent more weatherproof and secure for this upcoming outdoor season here. After being rained every show last season, I need better solutions. One idea I have that I have never seen anywhere is:
Waterproof WHITE poly tarps 8x10's for the sides, inside the zippered sidewalls secured with ball bungees to the legs, scissors, and stay-bars. If kept taught, this would prevent the sidewalls from blowing in completely, provide a little more stability and the sides would be more WATERPROOF. This also has another plus- low cost. Seems like a good solution to several issues with my tent, without major cash outlay. Any suggestions, ideas, comments?
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I can relate. I spent 6 years playing with various "lower cost" schemes to keep my EZ Up usable before I finally bought my Light Dome last year. When I look back I spent roughly $600 on these ideas, in $50 increments and at this point I'm glad I upgraded. It was the best money I've ever spent on equipment (besides my kilns of course).
However, if you want to continue to maintain your EZ Up I would ask the following questions about your plan:
1) If you have zippered sidewalls how is the water getting in? my EZ up had walls that were waterproof (far more so than the roof!) You imply that you need more waterproofing and more stability but what are the symptoms?
2) Assuming the walls are just too sheer could you glue the tarps to the inside of the walls to make them sturdier? Just stop short of the zippers?
3) There are a couple of places that make replacement sidewalls - do they make something sturdy enough that would be more appropriate and still in your price range?
Symptoms- ha! My EZ-up is only three years old. Well cared for, good solid framework, etc. It's the weather here.
the zippered sidewalls- water resistant-NOT waterproof- are great for light rain, mist, or the occasional quick rain burst. Every outside show I did last year had some kind of storm, micro-burst, steady pouring rain, lightening and thunderstorm with hail, and WIND. Which helps drive the rain. My set up is sturdy, never flipped, walked, or blown around. It has rocked, because of the wind, but weights, and stakes have prevented greater problems.
I live on the coast- and we get frequent ocean squalls that include- wind gusts in excess of 50 miles per hour, heavy downpours, hail, blowing sands, etc. Needless to say the light sidewall fabric isn't capable of dealing with these factors. After researching, I believe the white tarps, installed as described above, would be my best solution, til I can get the heavy duty sidewalls. I posted in an effort to see if anyone else had tried this.
What kind of tent do you have? Have you found white tarps?
High end Ez-up Encore II- 10x10
and yes the white tarps are easy to find online as are white ball bungees.