25  DOME TENT INSTALLATION    

                     INSTRUCTIONS
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Section 1. ASSEMBLY INFORMATION DOME TENTS. Please read this carefully. This is not for Gable Tent Instaallations.  See no. 53/99on www.PartyTentCity.com . I am not able to remember every tip and tell it to every customer over the phone. I have a lot of photos on many different steps  and styles of dome tents so you o you can get an easy idea on how to put your tent up.  Click here to  e-mail me with any questions.

Photos About DOME Tent Installations.

Gable tent photos http://www.surpluscitysales.com/party-tents-canopies-awnings/tent-photos.html
Golf Driving Range Shade Shelter Photos  http://www.surpluscitysales.com/golf-driving-range/shelter.html
Dome Tent  Boat Storage Portable Shelter Photos  http://www.surpluscitysales.com/boatstoragetent/photos.html
 Connectors and Fittings. You can order by part number. http://www.partytentcity.com/dura/fittings.html 
Customers Tents http://www.SurplusCitySales.com/partytentcitycustomers/photos.html

1. TARPS: Tarps are sold as a cut size. The printed  finished size 'foot print' is always  about 1 to 3% smaller than the cut size. Allow for tarp frame width reduction when using peak hardware .

2. TOOLS NEEDED: Screw driver or big nail, hammer, hack saw,  step ladder or chair, patience, logical  thinking, a good friend and a cell phone to call Brian 713-467-3025 when you reach the end of your rope. 

3. INVENTORY: Check to see that all of  the boxes in the shipment have arrived including the tarp, the hardware,  and the bungees. The boxes will be marked 2 of 3 etc.  Some cushioning will be provided in the box to prevent the parts from  poking through the sides of the box. If you are short a connector it will be shipped by the same carrier that was used on the order. It will not be sent by air. Order your tent well in advance and  inspect it completely immediately on arrival. Check your diagram to be sure how many fittings are being shipped in your order. Many parts look almost the same.  All fittings have a identifying sticker tag which will match a point on the diagram that will come with your tent.  If you have lost your diagram you should be able to find one on the Party Tent City. COM  web page. Locate the model you ordered below section 6 of  the 99 sections on the big website www.PartyTentCity.com .  Click on that  model you purchased and print out the diagram if you have lost the one that came in the shipping order.

4. TARP SIZE: Open the tarp in a large clean flat area. Measure the tarp exactly. This does NOT  mean to read what is on the label. Use a big tape measure. With a felt pen write the exact size on all the corners of the tarp with arrows pointing the direction of the size. Even If it is  a square tarp use a felt pen to make an arrow and a size so you will  use it correctly in building your tent.  The cut or ordered size can be about 1-3% larger that the finished size  that you receive. Even a  square tarp will not be exactly square. Tarps made overseas are not  priced as you would for surgical steel. Measure it even if it has a printed  finished size. 99.9% of the time the finished size printed is NOT what you get. Use your  tape measure. The manufacturer will only be in the  ballpark. Your frame needs to be exactly built to the size of your tarp. That is why we can not tell you exactly what size to cut each metal pipe section of your tent.
Your hardware is adjustable down to an fraction of an inch by cutting the pipe and using the expandable space within the connector fitting to increase or decrease you tent size. . The tarp is not adjustable unless you  buy a grommet kit for $9.00. We do NOT open new tarps and measure them prior to shipping. They would look used.  We can custom cut your tarp to a smaller size with new grommets on an un-hemned seam  about a foot apart . The custom  price with new grommets  is about $ 1 a  foot.

5. PIPE: Cutting the pipe is basically a matter of  mathematics but can be done by trial and error or with a calculator.
Cut the pipe to fit the tarp with your tent. Usually you will be cutting most pieces of the pipe.
 

 It will  give you a clean cut that takes very little filing. If you return pipe cutter and pipe vise for a full refund no questions asked. IT seldom happens because most people just love having a pipe cutter. This no risk buy back plan is  for the pipe cutter and vise does not apply to the tent. We want you to be a most satisfied customer. The pipe cutter and pipe vise kit for $ 40 is a real bargain.  The pipe cutter makes a smooth clean cut. There are no shavings to clean up. The edge  usually does not need to be filed. 

6. BUILDING THE TRUSSES: The arches are built around the size of the tarp and NOT the other way.  Build the roof arch  using the shortest distance of your tarp. D: You must plan for significant wind. Tarps can be come kites unless they are secured immediately. The dome tent is the best tent we have for high winds and for not ponding or puddling of water. .Secure the entire system to the ground with weights on each horizontal foot bar. You can use  concrete blocks (  at Home Depot ) placed on top of the lowest pipe and or ropes to the frame and secured to stakes driven diagonally into the ground.  If you are using weights also try to secure the frame to a tree, pole, fence, building or other firm  structure at least on one corner to keep the tent from being an unstable structure. Once the tarp is put on the metal frame the dome tent becomes much stronger.

7 PANCAKING PROBLEMS WITH DOME TENTS.   Once you decide exactly how wide your dome tent will be you want to drive short pieces of pipe in the ground so the dome frame can not squash down or pancake and becoming wider. Then nothing will fit and you won't have any idea why it is happening.  If you started with a height of  30 ft wide and 15 ft. high and did not have stakes or some  kind of stopping effect the dome would squash down and the one end might be 30 ft wide but the other end might be 32 ft wide and only  13 ft high.  Then things are are to fix so you really have to prevent that from happening.

8. TRUSS SIZES:  \The tarp should just touch the edge of the pipe so the 6" ball bungees should be long enough. If not you can sometimes  use 9" ball bungees or hook  2 smaller ball bungees together.
The last   truss most likely will be a different distance from the 2nd to the last truss  than the first truss is from the 2nd truss.  You would cut the pipe to fit your tarp.  The size is determine by trial and error as you lay it out on the ground. Your dome tent may have 6 sections using 8 parts per truss  or a  total of 8 sections using  connectors per truss. One of these will be the last fitting and one will be used as a tarp tightening bar that will slide up and down on the pipe sections no. 1 and 8 or no. 1 and 6 if it is just  the less expensive model

9. Assemble all of  your trusses doesn't have to be done at one  time like in a gable section but you may want to assemble more than two trusses at t time and then maneuver those into place as a unit next to the previous one..   A  Keep several step ladders handy to rest the frame  if  you are short of help.

10 .FITTINGS:  All fittings allow the pipe to be seated at different positions. Some fittings do not allow the pipe to go to the end. The fitting pipe may be welded over another pipe. Double check your measurements after you cut your pipe and adjust the pipe with the locking bolts. A little  shorter pipe allows you to move the pipe either way inside the fitting so it lines up identically. An exact full cut pipe does not allow you any adjustment room to make it smaller. .

12..THE FIRST 2 TRUSSES. After all trusses (roof arches) are built exactly the same, assemble the frame. Be sure your locking bolt is unscrewed so the pipe will seat against the end of the connector and not against the bolt hanging down. Lock the pipe down by tightening the eye bolt so the pipe doesn't fall out when you raise up the frame. Lock these pipes by tightening the eye bolt When  you finish each section so you don't forget to tighten it later. If some bolts are loose when you get all done it cause you big problems which are not pleasant to deal with because they could have been prevented. 

 13..  TRUSSES 3, 4, ETC.: When you  have several  trusses connected and up it may be able to stand by itself  depending on the size structure you are creating. .

14. Be sure the first two have weight on the pipe  to  counter balance weight of the horizontal pipe in the next truss being built.   When you are ready to attach the last truss you  will have to be cut the  pipe so that the final edge of the  tarp just touches the pipe. It is best to actually pull part of the tarp over the structure temporarily to be sure you have done your calculations right.  You can do this with a tape measure if  you know the exact length of the tarp.  

15. WHEN TO ATTACH THE TARP.  Bolts should be snug.  Do NOT exert extra pressure on the bolts . IF it strips the bolts and then they won't be able to lock the frame down at that point .  Once you have  the whole frame assembled it is very difficult to pull a fitting loose and change it out for another one. If you do strip a bolt then you may want to drill it through and insert a standard bolt to keep the portion of the tent secure.   The tarp should be snug touching the frame and not stretched. The larger tents should be assembled with one section at a time placing the tarp over the  frame only  when the frame is completely built and re-measured to be sure that it will meet the pipe  exactly.

16. WIND: You want plenty of help so the wind doesn't grab the tent as a kite until you can get it locked down securely. Ropes can be used to  pull the tarp over the frame. Extra ladders of different sizes  on the work site are always helpful. 

18. NO FOOT PADS. Dome tents usually do not use foot pads. The bottom pipe acts as a skid. You can drag a dome tent along the ground to another position.  Watch that you frame does not pancake when moved away from the  width stabilizers.   If  you want your  tarps to go all the way to the ground you can attached the ball bungees on the tarp to the bottom horrizontal pipe.  The final side will have a slide  fitting which is used as a tightening bar.  You will decide when you cut your pipe about where you want the tightening bar to be located.  You could order the dome with to be without the tightening  bar but it is very hard to measure the frame and make it fit the tarp exactly . Sometimes Square Tarps and not even square.

19. COLOR CODING YOUR TENT:  Once you have finished putting your tarp canopy together mark  or color code all your pipe and fittings  with tape or a felt pen  so you can quickly reassemble the tarp the next time you use it. Ex. A goes with A. and BB goes with BB,  1 with 1,  etc. Red with Red, Blue with Blue, Green with Green. etc.   We sell  7 rolls of different colored electrical tape for $10. each  3/4" roll is  60 ft. long.  It is a very good grade of electrical tape. 

20.ATTACHING THE TARP TO THE FRAME: When your frame is  rock solid you can tie ropes to the tarp and slide it over the  frame or hand it over using stepladders. If you have cut your pipe correctly  you should use mostly 6" ball bungees .
 Use the 9” ball bungees when the tarp does not touch the pipe. Some times you may have to tie two ball bungees together and sometimes you may have to wrap the cord around the pipe several times to get it snug.  

21.TAKING THE TENT DOWN. When you  are taking  the frame down it can be just as dangerous when you install it. Remove the tarp first and roll it up dry and clean.  Anticipate anything that may occur  when you remove support  leg from a support pole when you are disassembling  the tent. Keep children away while you dismantle your tent.

22.  PIPE LENGTH.  When a customer first gets his tent  the question always comes up on how many of the 10 ft pipe have to be cut. In general most of them  have to be cut. On the dome tent usually you will have to cut most of the pipe. You have tremendous  latitude because with the same size tarp you can create the dome to be higher and then narrow or lower and than wider.  Each truss should be the same.   Because no 2 tarps are exactly the same I will NOT be able to tell you how  long to cut the pipe.  You have to decide which is most important as far as determining the width and height of your dome tent.

23. Tarps and angles.
 A.  Tarps are  seldom  as big as they say they are. Even if they give you a printed cut size you can not believe that. The only real way you will know the size is by using a tape measure.  Write the size down on the tarp on each corner with directional arrows for quick future reference.
B. The initial angles are usually 12 degrees but when you put two of these together in one  connector the angle becomes 24 degrees.

24. SAME SIZE PIPE.  If you want the distance between your trusses to be all the same you can just cut the first truss to truss sections shorter and the last section longer making them all the same for easier reassembly.
Color code and mark all pipe and connectors as soon as you have finished.

24. THE TIGHTENING BAR.   V When you have  10 fittings per truss with 8 sections or  8 fittings/ truss with  6 sections one  fitting will be a thru fitting used to slide up and down on sections either  1  and 6 or sections 1 and 8 to draw your tarp super tight. The frame will be come stronger as you do this. IT will also look nicer and help you to keep the roof tarp adjusted taut to prevent water from ponding on your tarp. .If your tarp is NOT taut and has a loose area where rain water may pocket it could bend the pipe and collapse the tent. This is more likely to happen on a gable roof tent then on a dome tent.   When laying our your arch truss you should allow some room to pull the tarp further down the last vertical pipe section so  you can get the tarp maximum taut.  Once you start you don't want to have to re-dot the  trusses to fit your tarp.  Good planning will save you a lot of headaches and a lot of time. 

25. PONDING. :One of the problems you  should really watch out for is a loose roof tarp.  If the tarp is  not tight it  will pocket, pond water, collect and store water. If your tarp will be unattended and up for a long time we suggest It is recommended that as soon as you  are almost finished with the roof tarp that you take the garden hose to the top of the tent and let water run down over the tarp. If it starts to collect and does not run off then you need to adjust the tent so the water does not collect on the roof of the tarp.