portable gazebos in Canada??

[colin k]

Hi. We are looking for a portable gazzebo, not a screen room or tent. We want a basic shelter to keep the rain off yet will still get heat from a fire. We looked at Walmart, crappy tire, Zellers. Crappy tire did have one but the material portion of it was not even the right size to fit over the framework. Thats an hour and a half of my life i will never get back. So. We are still looking and are at a loss as to where to buy one. You see em all the time at beaches etc. But go to buy one and its like pulling teeth.
Thanks

[Kevin A]

Hi. We are looking for a portable gazzebo, not a screen room or tent. We want a basic shelter to keep the rain off yet will still get heat from a fire. We looked at Walmart, crappy tire, Zellers. Crappy tire did have one but the material portion of it was not even the right size to fit over the framework. Thats an hour and a half of my life i will never get back. So. We are still looking and are at a loss as to where to buy one. You see em all the time at beaches etc. But go to buy one and its like pulling teeth.
Thanks

We have a First-Up Gazebo from WalMart. It cost about $80 and has nice look. You can add screen sides or a wind screen later if you want. You can also get the top in several different colors to match any trailer. The bottom edge of the top is about 6' 3" from the ground, so most people don't have to bend over when walking underneath. The inside height is about 9 feet. With the long tent pegs, it is very secure and we are adding weight disks just to be sure (if a wind comes up while we are sleeping or away). Look for the thread in Problem-Solving... called Awing Ideas. The post by CindyL shows the gazebo with the wind screen attached.

[Doug Mager]

could you redefine 'portable gazzebo' please. Do you want a shelter for your trailer (orsomething like that) or a four sided (usually square) sun shade for keeping the elements of off humans!!!

CostCo still (IMHO) has the best larger shelters, like for trailers/cars, etc!!

The human shelters, usually referred to as EZ Ups (That's a generic term for a specific product BTW!) are found all over, but especially Canadian Junk now with their 10 buck off coupon too.

Tomorow we are heading south for a weeks worth of camping and hot-rodding and are going to sc pe out G.I. Joes new outlet on Bellis Parkway in B'ham, looking for any 'make' EZ Up shelter, supposed to be 40% chance of rain for Sat/Sun

[colin k]

Yup. Human shelter. Four legs. A top composed of a waterproof material. Ez up. We did look at Walmart but nothing there. Will keep looking.
Thanks for the replies so far.

[mikecontos]

Yup. Human shelter. Four legs. A top composed of a waterproof material. Ez up. We did look at Walmart but nothing there. Will keep looking.
Thanks for the replies so far.

I got one at Big 5 sporting goods. I have also seen them at BIG LOT'S but those are probably just hit and miss. I would think REI may also have them. Do the sporting goods circuit.

[Robin H]

I purchased my gazebo at home depot. This time of year it might be tough finding anything left in stock. It was in a flyer for $39.99, I thought it was a sale but it was actually regular price. I think it also came in blue. I thought for the price...if it doesn't work...then it doesn't work. But I am totally happy with it. At the bolerama it took my 10yr old daughter and I about 15 minutes to set it up (that is pretty good for us).
It is not fancy at all - the top is tarp material (and probably the cheapest quality). I was fortunate there was no rain on my 2 outings this summer, but it did battle a little wind and won.
At the bolerama (this is where the pics are from), we didn't actually get a campsite so the ground was quite unlevel. So the gazebo was a little low. My next trip out was at a provincial campground which was very level and the gazebo sat well over the doorway.

I will try to attach a pic.

Robin

[CindyL]

Try Walmart online. I am finding other uses for the First Up we bought. We found tent sides at Dick's last weekend and also roll-up sides for privacy. If you get the gazebos like First Up, EZ Up, etc., some of these accessories seem to be interchangeable.

CindyL

[Christine V]

I got this ezup at Target.. its on sale for $89.00.. its light weight ( 15lbs) and frame is aluminium. At least this one wont be heavy like those other ones ya see... The screen part attaches on someway.. but I wont use that... At least now I wont have to wrestle with the case awning....

[colin k]

Thanks for the replies everyone.... Robin. What you have is what i am looking for. None available here at this time. We do have a revy here. I will check it out.
I dont mind sitting in the odd rain storm but last weekend was a little much. The rain would just stop. I would relight the fire. Pull up a lawn chain and the rain would start again.Back under the boler awning i would go.

[Lainey]

Colin, I bought a similar one to Robin's a couple years ago at JYSK You might get lucky and find one, but I think they are clearing out their summer stock already.

[Herb P]

My parents gave us one of the cheap ones. It tried to kill us in our sleep one night. I had to get up at 6:30 while it was dozing and hack it to bits with a jack-knife through the window of the trailer ....

Seriously, it almost got us.

Here it is the night before. Nice and cozy looking... Inviting... Doesn't even really look all that hungry:

http://www.beer.org/gallery/Boler17-refresh/P1010743

Then the next morning after I hacked it to bits and escaped from its clutches:

http://www.beer.org/gallery/Boler17-refresh/P1010751

I'd stay well clear of those things... Scythes of the reaper.

[Lainey]

Then the next morning after I hacked it to bits and escaped from its clutches:

Looks like it was making a sneak attack under the cover of darkness... or was that the cover of snow?? Evil thing!

[Mo22]

OK, I found the instant gazebo at walmart canada
http://www.walmart.ca/wps-portal/storeloca...;categoryId=266

within the 5 walmarts in my area, only one had it in store, they had 4!
I am going now to get one.
comes only in Beige, with walls, no screen.

[CindyL]

That's funny. They don't sell beige here that I know of. It comes in blue, red, or white with the screen sold separately. The wind screen seems to be discontinued; it is hard to find and the one we did find was at the third store and covered with dust like they were not too popular. And, online, you can find sports teams, although the sports ones don't look exactly like our blue one. Ours has some kind of hole/vent or something at the top.

CindyL

[Mo22]

just got back from Walmart. I set it up, came with screen sides.
I was able to set it up alone in under 5 min.
problem it is it is 8" shorter that my door rain gutter
not sure what I will do.
if I extend the legs, then the screen will be short.

[Roy in TO]

just got back from Walmart. I set it up, came with screen sides.
I was able to set it up alone in under 5 min.
problem it is it is 8" shorter that my door rain gutter
not sure what I will do.
if I extend the legs, then the screen will be short.

How much clearance is there in height then? (i.e. ground to bottom of the sides of the roof?)

And what do you mean by extend the legs? I see there is some adjustment built into the legs, is the screen coming up short if you extend the the legs using the adjustments built in, or some how extending beyond the original manufacture?

And is that the 10x10 or 12x12?
All I could find at WM here in Toronto is the 10x10 in beige with screens, WM.com in the USA says they have a 12x12 model.

From what I could fiqure, most of these are made by the same company in China rebranded to each store, chain or country.
First-up = EZ-up = NorthPole manufacturing = ????
Can't figure out if they differ in quality though.

[Mo22]

10x10
yeah I was thinking of extending it beyond factory.
my trailer has 14" tires, hence the extra height
"All I could find at WM here in Toronto is the 10x10 in beige with screens" that's the one!

the edge of the gazbo is 5'11" from ground

hope this helps

[Roy in TO]

the edge of the gazbo is 5'11" from ground

hope this helps

Thanks Mo22

It helps a lot, the top of my door is 6' right now. If I got the 10x10 and raised it to clear the door, I'd have a small gap at the bottom. Maybe I will keep on looking or, just consider it as a Canopy leading to the screened kitchen tent.

Does anybody in the USA have a 12x12 from WM that could post clearance heights?

TIA
Roy

[Robin H]

Thanks for the replies everyone.... Robin. What you have is what i am looking for. None available here at this time. We do have a revy here. I will check it out.
I dont mind sitting in the odd rain storm but last weekend was a little much. The rain would just stop. I would relight the fire. Pull up a lawn chain and the rain would start again.Back under the boler awning i would go.

just wondering if you had any luck finding an awning. I was at one of the home depots in Regina yesterday and they had at least 6 or maybe even 10 of them. Of couse on sale...they are now $19.99.
I imagine you should have some luck in BC. I was actually thinking about buying a 2nd one just in case?!? Not sure...we'll see.

Robin

[colin k]

just wondering if you had any luck finding an awning. I was at one of the home depots in Regina yesterday and they had at least 6 or maybe even 10 of them. Of couse on sale...they are now $19.99.
I imagine you should have some luck in BC. I was actually thinking about buying a 2nd one just in case?!? Not sure...we'll see.

Robin

Hi Robin. We checked Home depot and they did have one but was not in good condition. I think we may get ahold of an outfit in Coquitlam B.C to build us one. One of the problems i see with the cheaper canopies is the canopy material . The one we looked at had very cheap tarp material and would not likely last a season. We plan on having the canopy close to the fire so we dont freeze in the rain. We camp at higher elevations and it can get very cold in the rain so the canopy would be right next to the fire. One spark would melt the cover and would not be nice. I think we may have to spend a few hundred to get the quality we need as to not start a bigger fire than we need.