My Chinese tent set up made easier.
Moderators: krp102, Coxy68, robcaz
My Chinese tent set up made easier.
First of, I hope I am posting this in the right palace.
I am starting this thread for those that find setting there camper up difficult to do, either with age or a handy cap, so I hope this might help. I think I will break it down into a series of posts, and I hope my photos work.
Camping at Old Cork Station
All the canvas up at Cowley Beach
I have been working with my Chinese made camper tent for some time, and in my opinion it is now not to bad for me to use
I am starting this thread for those that find setting there camper up difficult to do, either with age or a handy cap, so I hope this might help. I think I will break it down into a series of posts, and I hope my photos work.
Camping at Old Cork Station
All the canvas up at Cowley Beach
I have been working with my Chinese made camper tent for some time, and in my opinion it is now not to bad for me to use
Re: My Chinese tent set up made easier.
Now to see how it all works, you have to ignore the ugly bloke setting it up but here is a video of the actuators working.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fgadrk_-eFg
The controller is a home made job, the grey plug is power and the yellow is for the actuators.
I change the yellow plug to use the different actuators.
It only then takes me a couple of minutes to set the other poles up from the inside, as I have these stored under the bed of easy access.
The costs of doing this conversion has not been great, the actuators cost me $115au a pair, and just a little of Bonnies and my time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fgadrk_-eFg
The controller is a home made job, the grey plug is power and the yellow is for the actuators.
I change the yellow plug to use the different actuators.
It only then takes me a couple of minutes to set the other poles up from the inside, as I have these stored under the bed of easy access.
The costs of doing this conversion has not been great, the actuators cost me $115au a pair, and just a little of Bonnies and my time.
Re: My Chinese tent set up made easier.
Great work there John. Now if you put a pair of actuators on your trailer rack, you could lift the canvas on top of the trailer when packing up too.
happy camping
Rob & Carol
Australian CamperTrailers Group co-owner
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year
Rob & Carol
Australian CamperTrailers Group co-owner
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year
Re: My Chinese tent set up made easier.
Great work, it's great to see people finding ways to enhance the camper trailer experience. The easier it can be the better!!
Cheers Carol & John
Cheers Carol & John
Re: My Chinese tent set up made easier.
robcaz I have a few more plans for actuators yet, and cubbers anything to make camping easy.
Re: My Chinese tent set up made easier.
Now onto the bed base,
I have always used gas struts to lift the bed base, and I have it hinging in what I would call reverse to standard trailer design so I cannot us the tent to help lift or I cannot lift the bed base once the tent is erected.
I did this as I wanted a hinging boat rack on the trailer. The boat rack and bed lift on the same side, this way I have easier access to the trailer for packing and unpacking.
I have now added a single 350kg 14” lift actuator to help, actually it needs no help it can lift the bed base on it own, I have left the gas struts in place incast the actuator gives me troubel.
The other good bit is I don't trust gas struts, the actuator being what it is, it is safer to work under.
I have boxed it in to protect it when the trailer is packed.
The bottom mounts can be undone from out side of the trailer if it ever fails to lift.
A video showing how easy it lifts, the groaning is actually the gas struts, I removed them and it was quite quiet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FdRuahWOFY
and down.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usybb44g5kY
I have always used gas struts to lift the bed base, and I have it hinging in what I would call reverse to standard trailer design so I cannot us the tent to help lift or I cannot lift the bed base once the tent is erected.
I did this as I wanted a hinging boat rack on the trailer. The boat rack and bed lift on the same side, this way I have easier access to the trailer for packing and unpacking.
I have now added a single 350kg 14” lift actuator to help, actually it needs no help it can lift the bed base on it own, I have left the gas struts in place incast the actuator gives me troubel.
The other good bit is I don't trust gas struts, the actuator being what it is, it is safer to work under.
I have boxed it in to protect it when the trailer is packed.
The bottom mounts can be undone from out side of the trailer if it ever fails to lift.
A video showing how easy it lifts, the groaning is actually the gas struts, I removed them and it was quite quiet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FdRuahWOFY
and down.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usybb44g5kY