Tepui Ladder Issues

[NatersXJ6]

Hey all,

Has anyone ever disassembled a Tepui telescoping ladder? I’m having constant issues with the one on my Kukenam and I’m pretty sure that something is either sticking or broken inside the mechanism.

Details:

I’ve had 3 different Tepui tents, and this is the first one I’ve bought secondhand. I’m the third owner. It came from the coast and from the salt spray on everything and minor corrosion, I’m pretty sure it was used on the beach more than a few times and not well cared for.

On my last 2 tents, the ladders positively locked at the 1/2 step on st least the top few steps. This one refuses to lock in on 1/2 step at either of the top steps.

The third step down will lock at 1/2, but this appears to be the only one that will.

The end result of this is that the cantilever end of the tent is really “floaty”. It also never naturally folds completely flat, making the situation worse.

I would love to figure out how to fix this. I’m hoping that a disassemble and lube would fix it.

In addition... Sometimes when collapsing the ladder, the second to bottom step refuses to collapse, and then I have to push the buttons on the next step to close it down. The second to bottom step then never closes. This is maybe 30-40% of the time.

I’m open to suggestions or ideas. Please note: “Buy a new ladder” is within my scope but not really the suggestion I need! I’m hoping to fix it instead of just replacing.

I’ve heard rumors of a video showing how the ladders are “supposed to” work but haven’t ever seen one.

Any thoughts? I know for a fact that my first 2 tents didn’t do this, and that they both had a different ladder than this one. The rungs were a different shape. I’m guessing they were older?

Thanks!

 

[inexplorata]

With my old Tepui I only ever had ladder-lock "success" when I used both hands and held it vertically closed in such a way that I could let the bottom rung fall first, then lock, then let the next-to-bottom rung fall and lock, then the third and so on until I had enough ladder. No one else I talked to had to do this, though.

 

[Boston90]

This may or may not be what you're looking for, but 57 seconds into this Tepui video they demonstrate the ladder usage.

 

[NatersXJ6]

Hmmm... a quick update. I found some time to mess with it today. I realized that the root of the problem was in the tent never truly opening flat. The fabric was so tight that the tent would spring upwards and the hinge would disengage along the whole length. It took a ratchet strap to pull it down and even then it wasn’t possible to get the hinge fully engaged. The end result was that the tent would spring up on its ladder. The ladder doesn’t truly “lock” as it only has a stop that allows it to hold weight but will still raise. I guess this is a good feature, otherwise the ladder would lift off the ground and swing inward... no good.

So, the long and short of the day was that I decided to take drastic action. I cut 3/8” off the bottom of each pole and reassembled them. This resulted in a tent that is still tight but folds open much closer to flat. I also loosened all of the hinge mounting plates and re-tightened them after aligning the hinges and opening the tent flat. The alignment of the center was off by maybe 1/8” on one side. It seems to have made a difference.

The tent still lifts very slightly, and I might take another 1/4” someday, but I’m much happier now. I’m guessing that the fabric on this particular unit was just sewn a little tight for the frame, or maybe the frame was cut a little long?

I’m guessing the original and second owners both sold it because of this issue.

The ladder still sticks too, I might go after that next.