r-Dome Revisited

 

A topic from 2011 included an r-Dome poll to determine how many campers were using theirs or if they had one. Based on that poll, the majority seemed to be using the r-Dome for trips of 2 nights or more, and a handful used them on every trip. I'm a pretty big fan of the r-Dome, and I'd like to an update from forum members about your r-Dome usage and experiences.

 

So far, we have used ours on every trip, and every trip has been 2 nights. We got our Pod in October of last year, and really have not had a good weather outing with it yet. The first was the best weather, because it was just October cold; but the Pod hadn't been weather sealed properly at the factory, and we couldn't keep it warm. Our dealer took care of that problem, but every trip since has been dominated by nasty weather. However, the r-Dome has impressed us every time. The first time, we were just impressed by its size and versatility. On another trip, we camped through multiple serious downpours. The Pod itself is kind of a nice experience in hard rain, because it feels like such a cozy wrap-around protection from the storm. The r-Dome, though, was amazing. We leave our dogs in crates under the Dome, and they stayed nice and dry in spite of the extremely heavy rainfall all around them. On another trip, it absolutely saved the dogs and us from the most mosquito infested weekend we have experienced in years, plus lots of drizzle. The netting doesn't appear to be no-see-um proof; but it sure does the trick for the bugs we experienced. On the most recent trip, the Dome withstood amazingly strong and relentless winds for 3 days and 2 nights. That particularly surprised me, because it seems like I'm trying to stack a house of cards when I'm putting the Dome up. Once everything's in place, though, it's a remarkable shelter (I'm knocking on wood here).

 

We've used it so much that there might be a few holes in the dome from friction by dragging part of it across the ground during set-up and take-down. 

Once we set it up the first time, we marked the supporting cross bars with a sharpie and it has been much easier to to set up since.

So far, I've just worked the bead past the original screw heads. It gets aggravating, but I haven't taken the time to replace the screws with flatter heads. I recall a post from another member who replaced the original screws with stainless steel flatheads. I did file the ends of the channel to reduce cutting into the bead.

 

Sam