Broken bolts and crumpled wall tents

[HeadHunter7x8]

Just getting back from a hell of a weekend and wanted to share what happened and get some input from y’all. Went on a weekend fishing trip on the deschutes river in Oregon with the boys and brought my 16x20 Rainer wall tent. We had winds forecasted, gusts of up to 30. No problem, It’s handled that before. Instead of that though, being in the bottom of the canyon we ended up with sustained winds of around 30 and gusts of up to 50 or 60. It ripped every 8 inch stake i had out of the ground, and I ended up rocking each stake, the corners, and tying off to the wooden pylons that mark the edge of the campsite with ratchet straps to try and help the frame from bending so bad. Eventually it broke the 5/16 bolt that holds the corner brackets together, we replaced it, put it back up, and then the canvas started ripping. All six of us ended up nearly taking a little ride as we tried to take it down.
We had to admit defeat as we were down three tents in two days, and rented one of the cabins close to the river. All this to say, is there anything y’all would have done different?
We really didn’t want to ditch the wall tent as it was our only haven from the wind and driving rain, and our smaller tents had been absolutely crushed, except for our two person Nemo. I can’t think of anything else we could have done to keep that tent up, but I would appreciate any input. Unfortunately the only picture I have is from before it really started howling and we started rocking and guying out

 

[Tmac]

That sucks. Not sure I have any ideas. My wall tent has stood fine in similar conditions. I use 18” spikes on the corners at least one per side, the rest are 12”. All my guy lines were used and staked the same way when the tent was first pitched..

 

[Wrench]

That's incredible that the bolt was the yield point. A 5/16 bolt has an incredible amount of shear strength. Glad it wasn't the corner that gave up.

On the bright side, she's been load tested.

 

[HeadHunter7x8]

Part of the problem was the soil, it is very fine sand with little substance to it, so not a lot for the stakes to grab onto. I am very glad we were able to get it down before the rips got bad. I have a little sewing to do, most of the loops where you stake to actually ripped after rocking the stakes so they couldn’t come out. We must have moved 400lbs of rock trying to tie her down

 

[HeadHunter7x8]

That's incredible that the bolt was the yield point. A 5/16 bolt has an incredible amount of shear strength. Glad it wasn't the corner that gave up.

On the bright side, she's been load tested.

This is what blew me away, I couldn’t believe it when I found where it had broken. I thought the poles would bend before that bolt broke.

 

[Buffalo]

I don’t know anything about wall tents but might be worth it to get some earth anchors for sandier soils. https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...JFiICVKSA2SsYGrF5GvA-PsF66PfpTp8aApmOEALw_wcB

 

[fishslap]

My 10x12 uses a traditional pole system. I use 10” spikes all around the bottom and 12” spikes on the guy lines. Each corner has two guy lines and I think there are at least 3 between them on the sidewalls. I also drive the stakes in at an angle towards the tent. I then make sure the center pole inside is tight to the ceiling and use 1x4 pieces as shims if needed, usually just to level an upright or two.

With this system, it is taught and anchored down super tight. One key is to have as little sagging or loose material as possible anywhere on the tent. I’ve been in winds bad enough to send trees crashing down around us. Made for easy firewood in the morning.

 

[hunterjmj]

Over the years I've been in some really high winds but never lost my tent. I use 16" rebar stakes that I made. Not sure how many I have but they cover the base of the tent and all the guy lines. They can be a pain in the ass to remove but they hold strong. I recently replaced all the guy lines cause I could see wear in the old ones. Not sure.