Hi All--
I am just 9 months into the art fair business, and am having a heck of a time gettingmy sidewalls to zipper. In fact, I have NEVER gotten them to close the way they are supposed to.
I have an Undercover Pro tent that I got from Costco.com for $299, such a great tent I actually ENJOY putting it up, I can do it myself in 5 minutes. Beautifully engineered tent, vents on top, no pinched fingers, cannot say enough good things about it. However, it did not come with sidewalls. No problem I thought, I found that my local Lowes carried the Undercover sidewalls (called Great Walls). Bought them, and as much as I love my tent, I hate those sidewalls.
Tough, waterproof vinyl ("crunchy" and impossible to fold back up but completely waterproof), but those little cheap zippers on the side are a joke. Light duty, like zippers on kids clothes. When I got it all up and went to zip the last corner, the seams were clearly going to split. I had pushed in my corner poles a bit, it should have fit, but I was working alone and could not get it to work, at all. Wound up leaving a back corner COMPLETELY unzipped and just using those velcro strips (that are supposed to wrap around the pole) to velcro the sidewalls to my propanels in that corner. Looked awful, and certainly not the way it is supposed to be.
I work alone so don't have someone to help me manage this. I feel like if each sidewall just had an extra 2"-3" on width these sidewalls would zip without enormous struggle (I was near tears last week). Here's what I was considering doing, tell me if I am crazy:
I was thinking about cutting the 3 solid sidewalls straight down the middle, and getting a 11-12" wide strip of the same vinyl sidewall (buy another sidewall kit to get that). Then with a large overlap, basically placing that strip between the 2 original halves of the sidewall that I have now separated by about 3" (effectively adding a 3" width to the sidewall).....then with the NICEST WHITE (and only white) duct tape I can find very carefully and neatly going vertically and taping all those pieces together with multiple overlaps, to make a smooth line (none of that added width would even show, it would be completely covered with progressive overlays of duct tape). THEN, I would have slightly wider sidewalls that I could zip up myself without ripping the seams or winding up crying in frustration.
Could this work? Any other ideas? Does another company make slightly more generously sized sidewalls?
Thanks for any help, I head to chicago next weekend and really want a solution by then.....
Take care,
Gina
Replies
The first thing I would do, contact the manufacture and see if they can help you. Doesn't hurt to ask...you never know they may have a fix for you. Before you go spending any more money!
Or try zipping the last one to the inside of the leg....I know it will look odd but might give you the extra you need to close it up for the night.
Thanks for the helpful info! Dinah, Anne, Dave super helpful. Rich, I don't quite know how you want me to use your suggestion, but I do appreciate that you took the time to reply and tried to help.
The Caravan tents that Costco used to sell have the same problem with sidewalls. They seem to be about an inch short. The only way to zip them easily is to move each corner pole in about an inch, zip up the sidewalls, then move the corner poles into place. You should always put your sidewalls up before raising the tent to full height. Saves standing on a step-stool!
I found the cheapo Caravan sides that Amazon sells actually fit better. They are so thin you can almost see thru them, but they work. Same zippers and the more expensive sidewalls, and the zippers are the weak part, so I've switched to the cheaper sidewalls.
Undercover makes the CRS Zippered Wall Enclosure system that can be retrofitted into your canopy for about $129. The walls work and functions like a shower curtain. They are suspended via clips on a wire that you install around the top of the frame. When you want to open the walls, just unzip them, gather and hold them in place on each corner pole with the velcro tie backs that are made into the sidewalls. This is the system I have and I've had numerous other vendors come check out and ask me about my canopy. It makes it real easy to close especially if it starts raining and when it is time to close it up. I clip the sides on before raising the legs since I'm vertically challenged! I too do a lot of shows by myself and I can put my tent up and sidewalls on in a matter of minutes.
OK... You already said it! If you are planning on doing shows professionally you really need to do some research on canopies.
Flourish makes a piece, sort of a strap, with zippers on both edges, that zip onto a Trimline. Don't know if zippers are the same size as yours, but if so, they work like a dream to solve this problem.