Delta Pegs

[Boris]

These natty pegs are a different take on the regular tent peg and unlike standard pegs the pull of the guy line, instead of trying to rotate the peg out of the ground, presents the maximum resistance to the peg coming out. In use they worked admirably on my 7 man tunnel tent and held up well.

The easiest way to remove them from the ground is to use a claw hammer under the fulcrum of the peg as pulling on the guy will not work with this type of peg.

When we first used them my son did manage to crack one using methods unknown but this could have been down to manufacturing flaw or just ham fistedness with the hammer. Cost wise they are 99p each so more expensive than standard pegs but they do seem to work well. I use them on the main guys on and stick with regular pegs elsewhere.

From the manufacturers website
A tough lightweight general purpose tent peg, suitable for most soils and adequate for all tents and awnings.

Features:
Nylon Composite Peg
Very Light - Just 42 grams
Will hold 72 Kgs - 1700 x their own weight

Specifications:
150 mm X 150 mm
Tough Nylon 6 Composite Construction
Weight: 42.00g

[2gocampin]

Hi Boris,

Yep Deltas are without doubt a god send when the wind picks up. We use them now, like you, on all our main guy lines and having been caught in a storm recently with very high winds I recon with standard or even rock pegs we would have had problems.

Money well spent I would say.

Gary

[DaveS]

So forgive me for being thick, but I never had to deal with a situation where my tent is pitched in high winds, rain, yes plenty, but not when very windy.

So what would happen to a standard peg? Would it get pulled out?
What is a storm guy? Is this just a bigger peg?

[2gocampin]

Hi Dave,

Ok, in extreme weather a standard pin will move in the ground with the pull of the guy line as there is very little surface area too these pins to resist against the soil. When this happens the guy line will become slack and will no longer support that part of the tent. Once a few pegs have done this then the tent will become unstable and allowed to move more and more as the guys are no longer holding it back, in the end this movement will pull the pins from the ground and then you have problems.

Storm guys are the main guy lines on a tent, the one's that are there to support the tent frame rather than the ones that are attached to the middle of a panel via a flap to help form or shape a panel. For example on the back of the Norfolk you have 2 main storm guys on each corner and then you have 3 further guys along the back panel 1 to support the air vent and 2 to help maintain the shape of the rear panel, these 3 are not storm guys.

In high winds and by that I mean in excess of 30mph for a leisure tent the first step would be to double peg your storm guys. You do this by using 2 pegs per line. Drive the 2 pegs in at 45 degrees but this time cross the pegs from side to side, as such forming a laid back cross in the earth, now connect the guy line around both pegs, by doing this you spread the load over the 2 pegs and increases the surface area which creates much more resistance.

If your using standard pin pegs I would suggest an upgrade to a set of good long rock pegs, it takes a lot to move these but they will still move in strong winds.

Delta pegs work differently to standard pegs due to opposite directional forces. As the wind increases and pulls on the delta peg it actually pulls it deeper and does not move. Also the spike design of the Delta peg spreads the load across a wider area on the face of the peg.

When we got caught unexpectedly in a storm recently we had Deltas on the storm guys of our Vango Orchy. A polyester dome tent with fiberglass poles in a field with no shelter and winds gusting around 60 mph was not good and I thought we had no chance. However doubled up the guys (added extra guy lines to the storm guys) and added extra Deltas and we got through it with no damage at all. There where about 15 to 20 other tents in the same field, mainly leisure campers who we tried to warn when we heard the forecast but most took no notice. In the morning however only 4 other tents where still standing, the others where either bent, ripped or completely collapsed.

The good news is that the Norfolk is a strong and heavy tent anyway and having alloy poles its going to take one hell of a wind to shift it but its always best to safeguard the tent from damage by pegging it out properly.

The other addition worth making to improve your tents stability is to replace the standard plastic guy line adjusters with a set of Clam Cleats, these are smaller versions of what is used on a yachts rigging. They hold the guy lines much tighter and do not slip unlike the standard flat plastic ones that all tents come with. Not expensive but very effective and you dont have to keep checking and adjusting the guy lines every 5 minutes. www.clamcleat.com

Anyway hope this helps

Gary

[DaveS]

Very comprehensive reply, thank you!!
Off to buy Delta pegs and clam wotsits just in case.

[dadsbeaniemad]

We have Deltas and frankly I wouldn't go without them now.

We bought and ex-display Bear Lake 4 from Yeomans in January this year and pitched it in the garden to clean it up (story for another thread)

It was pitched through Dec, Jan and 2 weeks of Feb. It was well anchored down with the deltas on all the guys.

Now - that time of year sees it fair share of weather of all sorts - especially snow, rain and gales. The tent took everything that was thrown at it and stood strong.

The delta pegs did not move one single little bit.

Again at Easter when camping the wind really got up and the deltas did their job perfectly.

We are now thinking of investing in the metal ones as the site in Wales we are going next week has stoney ground (thanks ADL)

(plus Rob Orr who 'owns' it is a really friendly guy

[DaveS]

Now purchased some stainless and plastic one's.
I think I bought too many though.
I have a box full of them now.

[davsato]

dave,
storm guys are the extra string things on our tents that us rufty tufty bikers dont think we need, because we like to provide comedic highlights and exercise for all the other rallygoers by madly chasing around the field one of those natty "kite tents" that whizz round and round caught in a freak bonkers whirlwind before it hits a telegraph pole smashing the fibreglass tentpoles and leaving us with a very baggy bivvy bag for the rest of the weekend.
thankfully never been me but ive seen it twice now. and its very funny if its not you.

[campingworld]

Hi all,
I hope I am not intruding but it seems some people are finding using the pegs a bit difficult and confusing so I have spent some time making a printable instruction sheet for the Delta Pegs which is available as a pdf. here:
http://www.campingworld.co.uk/Images...0FOR%20USE.pdf
It shows the 4 steps to inserting/removing the pegs correctly for maximum security and can be printed and taken with you.
Hope that helps,
Mike @ Camping World

[DaveS]

That's a really useful guide thank you.
I think they have a puller available as well which would help to extract them. I've found them a real pain to get out some times.