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  • From: road's end farm <organic101 AT linkny.com>
  • To: Barb Miller <barbmill2 AT verizon.net>, Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] One person EZ-UP method?
  • Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 17:11:54 -0400


On May 18, 2006, at 11:04 AM, Barb Miller wrote:

<x-tad-smaller>Hi Guys,</x-tad-smaller>
<x-tad-smaller>Here's a really stupid question for you ~  I just put up my ez-up for the first time today and it doesn't really seem like a one-person job.  Does anyone set one of these up by themselves?  If so, are there little tricks to it...like does it help to stake the feet to the ground before raising the canopy?  Etc...</x-tad-smaller>
 
<x-tad-smaller>Thanks for any guidance!</x-tad-smaller>
<x-tad-smaller>Barb Miller</x-tad-smaller>
<x-tad-smaller>Tioga County, PA</x-tad-smaller>
_______________________________________________


Depends some on what model you have. The only step I have problems with using the Speed Shelter is I think the one most likely to cause difficulties with most models: it's hard, working alone, to pull the frame open enough to lock the corners open, as the whole thing tends to slide toward you (this is before you raise anything up, just when you're first opening it to full length). Is that the problem you're having?

It may help to pull the corners of the top back/up so that they're loose until you have the frame locked open; this reduces the resistance against pulling the legs out. You don't need to remove the top, just pull the corners free so it's loose. If you're setting up where you can stake the legs, it might indeed help to stake one end down before pulling it all the way open; but I found that on grass I usually had enough friction to get it open anyway, though I had to go back and forth from one end to the other a few times. It's easier to raise the legs to full height (the following step) if they're not staked yet. On concrete, the problem's worse as the feet slide more easily, but you can't stake the legs; though fastening one end to weights should help. I once bungee corded one end to a handy lamppost. But what I actually usually do in practice is ask the vendor at the neighboring stand to hold on to one end while I pull the other; this step only takes a few seconds. (If vendors at your market won't do each other favors, you have a bigger problem than getting the tent up. She often gets given some of my leftover lettuce if there is any -- she sells flowers -- so this all works out. And we commonly watch each other's stalls when somebody has to make a run to the john.)

If you're having a different problem with getting it up, try to describe it to me, and I'll see if I can help.

Is it an actual EZUp, or equivalent quality, or a cheapie model? Years ago I was put off for some years from moving up from my umbrella by buying a cheap model. I tried, with help, to put it up experimentally before going to market. Two of us working together couldn't get the thing together. I took it back to the store. I forget what brand it was.

The homeowners' model EZUps may also be harder to put up alone than the commercial models; the Dome I used to have needed its top assembled every time, a procedure involving fitting together a batch of fiberglass wands that were all reachable by one person individually, but that tended to fall apart again on one side while I was reaching for the other side. They also tended to come apart in the wind even after they were all the way together. That's why I got the better model. I could get the Dome up alone, though, with a little practice. The assembly order they gave in the manual wasn't the one that worked best, if I remember right.

Good luck --


-- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 5 mostly
Fresh-market organic produce, small scale



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