Oztent Owners – Beware
Submitted: Thursday, Jan 10, 2013 at 22:31
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Member - pedro1
My 4-5 year old Oztent has zip problems , suspected to be caused by canvas shrinkage.
I found out that if I purchase a new tent, the new zips won’t match the older zips on the fly, front and side panels. Oztent solution is to purchase all these items again !
Therefore if you have a older beige coloured tent be wary before purchasing any side, front panel or fly as the zips may not match. Apart from that they are a great tent, we have lived and travelled in one for 11 months out of the last 24 months
Reply By: Patrol22 - Friday, Jan 11, 2013 at 12:30
Friday, Jan 11, 2013 at 12:30
I had an older style coloured Oztent for 11 years - it was magnificent. The zippers are much much finer than the current 'chunky' zippers and as such are probably a bit susceptible to dust/fine sand problems.
Mine finallly gave up the ghost on my last trip across the centre - the zips that is. I gave it to a neighbour who had a family member replace the zips and the tent is still going strong. I've now elected to use a small 9x9 centre pole tent when camping and when conditions allow I go soft and take the campertrailer along. I'm not sure if I like the material that the newer Oztents are made from but those who have them say they are awesome.
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Member - pedro1 - Friday, Jan 11, 2013 at 19:35
Friday, Jan 11, 2013 at 19:35
Its not the Chunky zips that fail, its the smaller "coil" zips, I am thinking of changing the door zips to a bigger size, however then they may not be as water/wind proof as the smaller zips. Its a pity the YKK zips
do not appear to be the same quality that they were years ago .
And why Oztent changed the size of the zips is any ones guess
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Follow Up By: Patrol22 - Friday, Jan 11, 2013 at 19:52
Friday, Jan 11, 2013 at 19:52
Yeah that's what I was trying to say....ie the finer zips on the older version of the tent get a bit tired and worn with sand and dust. Those big chunky zips look to be the goods IMO.
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Reply By: UKSkippy - Sunday, Jan 13, 2013 at 06:30
Sunday, Jan 13, 2013 at 06:30
Can I ask what your sleeping setup was within the tent for that length of time?
AnswerID:
502406
Follow Up By: Member - pedro1 - Sunday, Jan 13, 2013 at 17:33
Sunday, Jan 13, 2013 at 17:33
Sure can, we considered
camp stretchers but decided they were too bulky and inflexible. We decided on two expensive sleeping mats that
have 90% down in and also you can get velcro straps to link them together.The advantages were there size, ability to stack on top of each other so we could put two chairs inside the RV4 tent when cold, windy or wet . Plus they are more comfortable than our bed at
home !
http://www.mainpeak.com.au/outdoor/sleeping-mats-and-pillows/down-insulated/products.html?brandID=100182.
We also had a synthetic sleeping bag and a Down sleeping bag we used as a doona on the cold nights . A couple of times in the desert we used hot water bottles as
well !
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Follow Up By: geocacher (djcache) - Sunday, Jan 13, 2013 at 21:25
Sunday, Jan 13, 2013 at 21:25
Don't know if they still do it but we bought two Exped Sim DLX 10 mats from
Bogong Jack Outdoors in Ltl
Bourke St in Melb, they had velcro bonded to the side welds and joined to make a double. Not cheap but they are heaps better than the double "4wd Mattresses" from
places like Aussie Disp. Pack heaps smaller and you can use them as singles too.
Dave
FollowupID:
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Reply By: Member - Salt grinder - Tuesday, Jan 15, 2013 at 22:54
Tuesday, Jan 15, 2013 at 22:54
We had one of the first OxTents (Tracka 2m X 2m) that they made. Been everywhere with it for years and weathered some great storms and floods. Sold it recently.
We did have initial shrinkage years ago and at the time OT supplied and fitted FOC a vertical insert into the fly screen fabric to adjust for the canvas shrinkage that had taken place. All other zips were OK
An important point in setting up the tent to prevent zipper damage is make sure the tent is square at the front and the verticle zip and side corners all appear perpendicular. Otherwise it
places a crooked strain on the vertical zip as
well as the 2 bottom zips.
Easy to adjust by tightening / loosening the front fly guy ropes. I rarely used the tents built-in guy ropes except in extreme weather. Keep it clean and don't leave it wrapped up wet for more than a day (if that unfortunately occurs) and it'll last for years.
I have a good few cleaning tips if anyones interested.
I'm 73 and have just upgraded to a slightly bigger RV4 of the new polycanvas type. This one will probably outlast me.
AnswerID:
502657
Follow Up By: Member - pedro1 - Wednesday, Jan 16, 2013 at 19:27
Wednesday, Jan 16, 2013 at 19:27
I think you will outlast the present day materials !
Re your cleaning tips, I sure all would all be interested to see them
Also "Tracka" tent - I thought Black Wolf were the original brand .
re the fix of vertical insert , I gather this gathered the mesh material to make it tighter. Finally I ran a tape measure over my RV4 before I cut the frame to take the pressure off the zips and as expected all the width of the frames measured the same, but I was surprised to see the difference of the measurement of the canvas walls at the rear compared to the front . There was 120 mm difference. The front was narrower ....
So the tent does not have a square footprint
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