Single Handed Erection. Is It Meant To Be A Solo Pleasure?

Mike

I was going to post a reply to your single handed erection piece,but that section will now only allow administrators to post replies. Hence the addition to the title.

I have erected and broke up single handed.
From last weeks experience of breaking up I wouldn't want to try single handed erection in any sort of wind.
For me raising the door end isn't the problem as such.
You can lift the door then a combination of friction from the roof and you providing some support with your right hand on the left hand bat wing while simultaneously lifting the left hand side bed side wall.
Once you have clipped that in going to the other side and clipping that bat wing in gives you a structure that just about self supports. To continue in the same vane of innuendo and euphemism a "semi".
The problem is more that I can't remember a definite order for the process.
So coming to do the above I find one of the bed ends is still clipped down and of course it's clipped on the far side. So your either collapsing everything or hoping things will hold for a split second while you unclip.
Though I got a helping hand with the Dandy when I went to the Revival at Goodwood I think I put the awning up on my own.
Thankfully it's the smaller type of awning but even they can be fun I think I must just have had a moment of brute force and ignorance.
On the subject of brute force and ignorance: While still well supplied in the ignorance department I'm not exactly over able in the brute force dept. The result of having my stomach opened up twice in the last 3 years mean I don't stretch too well and lifting is curtailed. So it's not a superhuman effort if I can do it I'm sure most can.
To be honest though single handed is a right pain and you have no flexibility if things go wrong. I would have been stuck last week packing up every time I went for the trailer cover, the roof unfolded I needed a second pair of hands just to hold it down. It's much easier to mug even a complete stranger, the cost of the bottle opened or the pint bought in thanks really is small beer in this case.

I presume you will move this to the replies to your post.

No Kevin not moving yours have moved mine,you got it right

We know this is possible but the people who do it must have developed a few tricks,how about sharing them or if you do it and struggle with any part of the process ask here.

Never tried it myself but i have heard about a piece of clothes line slotted through the centre roof bar retaining clip on the door wall after removing the bar,this is then thrown over the wall and can be used to lower it and pull it up next time ?

Also a mad thought that occurred to me could gas struts be fitted to the door wall,they would allow it to go down safely,help it erect and help the open door hold it while you did the kitchen wall and got a roof bar in.

Quote

You can lift the door then a combination of friction from the roof and you providing some support with your right hand on the left hand bat wing while simultaneously lifting the left hand side bed side wall.

So are you saying you fix a or both batwings before you raise the kitchen wall

Mike

Looking at my last piece I can see I made things as clear as mud.

You can lift the door then a combination of friction from the roof and you providing some support with your right hand on the left hand bat wing while simultaneously lifting the left hand side bed side wall.
Once you have clipped that in going to the other side and clipping that bat wing in gives you a structure that just about self supports. To continue in the same vane of innuendo and euphemism a "semi".

When I talk about going to the other side I mean the other batwing on the door side.
So to clarify.
Lift door. Having previously checked all bed wall clips are undone.
Extend L.H.S. batwing and clip into top of wall.
Attach wall bungees leaving base ones undone.
Undo string so roof bar can be swung into place after lifting cooker side.
Go to R.H.S. of door attach batwing, release string.
When you then go round to the cooker side it may well be impossible to lift the collapsible roof bar from the floor.
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If you end up having to go into the camper to raise this then at the same time fit the centre roof bar.
You do end up forgetting to do things in the correct order though.
Constantly running round to undo the thing you have just done so you can perform the next step.
Two people make it more than twice as easy.
Just realised I've made this hard for myself.
If at point XXXXX I had stuck to the standard procedure of lifting the cooker side from the door with the centre roof bar then I would be in the right place to raise the collapsible bar....... No I wouldn't because the string on the cooker side would stop me erecting it.
See no matter what you do you end up bobbing from one side of the Dandy to the other.

Interesting i would never have thought of doing a batwing at that stage,from my experience with two people i take my hat of to any one that does it on there own.

my erection of the 5 Daisy
step 1... having put guy ropes on the roof supports tie to bed side cleats so when bed ends opened pulls the roof supports up
Step 2... pull the door side up with the bat wings, open door, slot door side to roof supports, I have a bungee clipped to the roof supports so the don't come out again.
step 3... I get in her (with the use of a step as I did have a nasty surprise with out she flipped )I then bring up the other side and clip the roof support on then place the center roof pole in.
step 4.... un-clip the bed sides while walking around then clip the bat wings in and doing bungees around at the same time.
finally do the roof or fight with the awning which takes me three times as long with allot of huffing and puffing
with the six two of us but still get in and bring up the cooker side up and clip the roof sides in I can see how she can be done single handed but will admit with the six i am not strong enough
has any one else erect single handed

Caz1960 wrote:my erection of the 5 Daisy
step 1... having put guy ropes on the roof supports tie to bed side cleats so when bed ends opened pulls the roof supports up
Step 2... pull the door side up with the bat wings, open door, slot door side to roof supports, I have a bungee clipped to the roof supports so the don't come out again.
step 3... I get in her (with the use of a step as I did have a nasty surprise with out she flipped )I then bring up the other side and clip the roof support on then place the center roof pole in.
step 4.... un-clip the bed sides while walking around then clip the bat wings in and doing bungees around at the same time.
finally do the roof or fight with the awning which takes me three times as long with allot of huffing and puffing
with the six two of us but still get in and bring up the cooker side up and clip the roof sides in I can see how she can be done single handed but will admit with the six i am not strong enough
has any one else erect single handed

Caz cant work out if you do this or not but next time you erect it fit a guy rope from the center roof eyelet to the trailer button directly under it,make the last 12 inches or so with a piece of bungee,you will find it helps hold the door wall in place while you do the back wall and stops the roof slipping in on windy days.

mike

Caz cant work out if you do this or not but next time you erect it fit a guy rope from the center roof eyelet to the trailer button directly under it,make the last 12 inches or so with a piece of bungee,you will find it helps hold the door wall in place while you do the back wall and stops the roof slipping in on windy days.

mike[/quote]

thanks Mike no I haven't done that by the sounds of it will help with the door erection thats the one I fight with the most with the roof thank you very usefull

Having been forced into single handed erection due to my wife's unfortunate mishap I have found a couple of things which help.

1 Take out one of the roof bars before starting and keep it close to hand. This can be used to push the roof up in the middle in between steps and allows the roof to be kept under control. This is the hardest thing to do single handed because lifting the roof up from one side makes the other side drop. Pushing up in the right place makes it easy. The roof bar can come out through the end of the trailer. Keeping the roof from sagging and falling all over the place makes the whole job much easier.

2 When lifting the door wall, go to the kitchen side and put the step under it to prop it up. This takes a lot of the strain out of lifting it from flat by pulling on the side wings. Keep the step on top of the trailer under the cover. We use a childs toilet step for ours and it fits easily. Obviously do the same when lifting the kitchen wall.

3 If you have gas struts, check the roof bars haven't moved back before lifting the bed over. They can get trapped between the gas strut and trailer side.

4 Make sure you have clipped the bed wall down before lifting the bed back. If you don't, the mattress falls on the floor and you are stuck. Don't ask how I know.

Thinking about this, I think this has to be the way to minimise walking round the thing when single handed erecting. I've got it down to one revolution only.

Just needs a good memory but could stick instructions on the underside of the bed sideboards. Everyone knows about lifting beds over and then they would be visible.

Fit gas struts
Left & right is from the rear of the trailer.
If windy, face left bed to wind.
Level with jockey wheel
Cover off, unload equipment
corner steadies out

DOOR SIDE
fold roof to side
left bed over, bed bolt, bed leg bracket
right bed over, bed bolt, bed leg bracket
door wall up, door open
window wall up with roof bar
release string door side left
release string door side right

GO TO KITCHEN SIDE RIGHT
leg bed bracket, string & bed bolt kitchen side right
kitchen right roof support in
kitchen right side board/batwing in

GO TO KITCHEN SIDE LEFT
leg bed bracket, string & bed bolt kitchen side left
kitchen left roof support in
kitchen left side board/batwing in

GO TO DOOR SIDE LEFT
door left roof support in
door left side board/batwing in

GO TO DOOR SIDE RIGHT
door right roof support in
door right side board/batwing in

roof end in

Have I missed anything.

Blue Peter badge if you can remember to do all that in that order. I've just got to the point that I do what I do then think about what I did wrong later.

We try to do everything in a certain order, the trouble is the order changes every time.     

More so with Dylan the 6 than Phoenix.

I have put up three different Dandy types solo.

High Side Destiny (fridge, but no toilet) - no fun on your own, but possible. Mine had gas struts on the sides, but not on the beds. The hardest bit is getting the bed stays in place. On the destiny, they locate onto pins on the corner steadies. I found that after lifting the bed over, I would get under it facing away from the dandy and grab a support in each hand. The weight of the bed is taken on my back and I can lift it slightly to get the stays over the pins. I found aiming for both together better, since getting one in an the going for the second always seemed to dislodge the first. The side walls were easy as you could open the door while the wall was down and step inside to lift...the gas struts also helped! Getting PVC trapped in the hinge at this point was annoying, especially if you didn't notice and had to take it down to this point to free it. I also found the assembly where the support for the PVC section locks into the side wall awkward. It didn't seem to be any better from inside or outside. If outside a step is required. If you don't notice this is wrong until later it also annoying.
Putting it all away, the worst bit seemed to be pulling all the roof material out when it gets trapped under a bed. I mostly used the roof on top method rather than folding it inside. Folding inside neatly solo was a step too far, but did make subsequent erection easier.

High Side Destiny Awning with extended annex - you have no idea how hard this is solo.....The zips for the sides were so stiff. the only option was putting it up as a single piece was the only option. I also had poles that had lost there springs, so they tended to come apart withthe slightest knock until all was in place. The strategy was to get the main frame up, then the annex frame. Keep the front low and get the awning up on the front (queue pole split here as the retaining springs are broken). Gradually work it up the frame until you can tie it off inside the dandy. I only put it up three times, the worst was in the rain and it took over two hours to get the awning up. It does not help that when you get close to the Destiny pulling the awning further requires a step to stand on.

Dandy 4/5 with inboard wheels. Having sold the Destiny and finding regular tents uncomfortable, I bought another Dandy. The 4/5 was so much easier to put up on my own. The beds may be the same size, but you are dragging so much less roof. Others have covered tips for the rear entry models. The only thing to add would be don't put the 4 bungee loops for roof/bed in place until you have the bed ends up. A little slack helps a lot here. I found that I could pull up the door side using the PVC and then there was enough friction with the roof to keep it up until I could free the hoop strings and lock on the hoops. I would then go inside the Dandy to lift up the kitchen wall, put the centrl pole in then go round, release strings and lock in the hoops. The real bonus is with a 4/5 I don't have to stand on a step to reach anything. The Destiny needed a step.
No Dandy awning with this one, but a variety of alternatives. The Trio 123 with some extra poles from another had the best fit. The Movelight would have fitted if modified with drats, but since I was planning to raise the Dandy, I could not modify until the Dandy height was fixed.


Dandy 4 with outboard wheels. Bought this one as an alternative to a full rebuild on the 4/5. It was in really good condition and had both a Dandy awning and an underfloor heater. So far I have only put this up twice, and it seems harder than the 4/5, but only marginally. I think I need to adjust the hoop string length to get a better hoop angle. I did this on the 4/5 and it made a difference. At the moment the non-extending hoop has fallen down towards the bed end each time which then results in difficulty getting it back up as you have to feed the roof material over rather than just pull it back up. Longer strings would allow it to go further past vertical and stop this. Other than that, the 4 is similar to the 4/5.
Compared to the Destiny awning, the smallest Dandy awning is a breeze. I have only put it up once as a test, since we have not yet gone away in the new one. Using the frame first then pull the awning over from the front technique worked well. It helps that all bar one of the pole strings are present, so the poles don't come apart. It took just half an hour for a 'first time' erection without looking at the instructions.

Note: Always remember the bed bolts.....dealing with an escaped mattress is a two person job.

Thanks Chris that's really useful and will help many I'm sure.

On the high side I guess having bed support pins of different lengths would help as one leg could go on the long one and stay in place while you lift the bed to put the other one on. Of course, gas struts on the beds would be a big help but you would still have to reach both bed supports at the same time.

On the rear entry models, the door wall will support itself if you simply open the door.