Setting up your Tent … how to

If you have never done this before, or if it is a new tent that you haven’t set up before, its strongly recommended that you do practice at home (in your backyard, or even in your bedroom if need be) how to set up your tent. Be familiar with this contraption … not because you want to brag how quick you can set up your tent, neither because you don’t want to feel embarrassed by fellow campers if you can’t pitch it, but because you want the best of times when going camping, with the least amount of stress. Struggling for a long time to get your tent up will probably work on your nerves, which you can avoid by being better prepared when going camping.

When buying a new tent, there will probably be some drawings and instructions to guide you how to set it up. Even these instructions can sometimes be confusing, or you might have lost the instructions. Talking of personal experience here. Regardless of your tents shape, size or color, we will guide you to get this tent up now in a few minutes.
Here is what you do first:
1. Open the bag and toss everything out. Sort it a little so you have four piles:
   (i) the tent itself …that’s the big folded piece of nylon or canvas
   (ii) the poles …that’s the hard shiny long tubes
   (iii) the pegs … that’s a bunch short hard goodies, sharp on one end (stakes) 
   (iiii) the guy lines (if applicable) … that’s a bunch of ropes
2. Unfold the tent. Turn it so the hard surface (the floor) is facing down.
3. Find the area that you want to face forward. Normally that’s where the door is, (that big zipper). So turn the whole tent to ‘face’ the position you want it.

There are a few different ways how a tent might be constructed and how it will be erected.
Small Tent: Internal Frame, External Frame, A-frame
Medium Tent: Most poular is the bow tent with an external frame
Large Tent: Mostly internal frame with stronger framework. Attached floor, or seperate groundsheet
Select your type of tent, best suiting such description, and continue below to pitch your tent ...

Small A-Frame Tent

Description: A pole in the center of the front and the center of the rear, will aid in holding the roof up. A guy-line from the top of each pole will pull the pole outwards and the roof straight. A few pegs (stakes) will hold the floor in place.
Set up:
1. Start by pulling the floor flat and staking it out. You might need a bit flexibility for now, so don’t pull the floor to tight.
2. Get your pieces of poles together (4 pieces = 2 poles).
3. Your poles will go in the center-front and in the center-rear of the canvas. Depending on the construction of the tent, the poles will have to be inside or outside the tent. Check where the "eye" for the upper end of the pole is and fit the pole accordingly - inside or outside.
4. Attach guy-lines to the top of each pole and pull the pole upright. Attach the other end of guy-line to a peg you put in the ground. The further away the peg, the better it will hold the roof up. Re-tension the guylines until the roof is straight and firm.
5. Back to the floor; pull it now flat and firm, then putting the pegs in the ground to keep the tent-floor in this position.

Bow Tent

Describtion: There is an internal- or external frame to hold the sides and roof up. Poles attach to each other to make-up this frame. Often made from fiber-composites, these poles will have flexibility and give more tension to the roof. These tents are also referred to as freestanding. It doesn’t require guy-lines to hold the roof up.
Set up: 1. Get your pieces of poles together. Depending on shape and size of the tent, these can be many pieces. If there is no cord between the poles, you will need to figure out which ones attaches to where.
2. The poles will go from one corner to another, often in a diagonal direction. Depending on the construction of the tent, the poles will have to be inside or outside the canvas. If there are loops (eyes) attached on the outer walls of the tent that is where you push the poles through. No loops on the outside will mean the poles will go inside the tent.
3. When you have a length of poles attached together and in position (through the loops outside, or on the floor inside) hold one end down, bring the middle up, then get the opposite end of the pole down. Push each pole-end into correct position. The tent is up!
4. Straighten the floor by pulling the bottom ends of the poles outwards and stake out the corners and sides to keep it in this position.
5. Additional guy-lines from the tent to pegs in the ground will aid in stability against wind. The further away from the tent you put the peg, the more resistance it will have.

Large internal frame Tent

Description: An internal frame consisting of a huge array of poles will make-up a frame to keep the roof up. Normally these poles are not flexible and made of aluminum. Often the floor (ground sheet) is not sewn onto the sidewalls, but separate. You will have much more headroom compared to other tents, but these tents are more vulnerable to wind due to the more upright sidewalls.
Tip: It will come in very handy if you color-code the poles once you figured out how they must be attached to each other. Easiest to use here is different colors of aerosol paint, with a short burst of paint over the two attached ends of the poles. When dismantled, you will clearly see which pole needs to be attached where and which way round (red goes to red; green to green etc.) and next time you can assemble these poles much quicker.
If you don’t have aerosol paints, use any other type of paint that won’t wipe off easily, or use a permanent marker of different colors. Try to avoid writing the directions on the poles, as this will confuse you only more the next time you want to put this together. However you can write letters or numbers on each end ( A fits together with A, B fits together with B, etc.) Give each joint a different color or marking.
Set up: We need to differentiate here between tents with a fixed groundsheet, and those without. Those without will be ‘easier’ to get up, because you first build the frame together and then ‘simply’ wrap the tent-canvas over and around it, while tents with a fixed groundsheet need to get their frame put together in-side the tent-canvas.
Either way, you will be facing a lot of pieces of poles, which need to be assembled correctly. If you haven’t color-coded these bits and pieces before, you might be busy here for a while, but don’t freak, don’t stress, just follow logical steps: You should be looking at 26 pieces of poles and 6 triangular shaped gadgets. First arrange all the poles according to length into different little piles, to get a better overview of what you have.
Now if you are not absolutely certain how the poles fit together, then its better you assemble these outside and away from where you want the tent to be. Once you have a frame assembled that looks correct in shape, it will be quick to take it apart and assemble it the same way, back inside your tent-canvas. This sounds like more work, but it actually may safe you time, and a lot of frustration.
 

Common Assembly of Frame for a large Tent

Happy Camping!