[OhLaLa]

We have got a new skin for the polytunnel, but it is very windy here.

Advice re battening it down and securing the skin would be very welcome. The skin is held down by earth trenches either side.

Also, any advice re firmly attaching at rear (no door) and front (hinged door).

Thanks in advance.   

[Fleecewife]

Hi OhLaLa. We are windy too and have base rails for the tunnel cover as it's easier to make it wind proof.  One year it was so windy that the hefty bolts which hold the base rail (which is itself about 4"x4") onto the hoops were bent, although the whole thing did stay together - one of the excitements of life in the windy lane  . 
The trenches will need to be quite deep and filled with plenty of soggy soil - it will be soggy anyway because all the run-off from the tunnel will collect there.
The trick with the cover is to put it on on a totally calm (!), warm (!) day.  The cover will be soft and can be stretched pretty tightly, which will make it less likely to suffer wind damage.  For the end, use battens at the door end to wrap the polythene around then nail it on - I will need to check with OH which way you wrap it round.  With our first cover we wrapped it the wrong (but intuitively right) way and lost the whole cover one windy night.  Make the pleats and gathers as even and tight as you possibly can to reduce opportunities for the wind to grab a bit and make it flap - flapping will eventually cause the polythene to give up and the ends are very difficult to patch with tape.
We are about to take our cover off in a few days then we will replace it in a couple of weeks and I know it will not be as simple as I am saying    Let us know how yours goes.

[faith0504]

Fleecewife, i know nothing about polytunnels at all , why do you take the cover off for a few weeks? 

[Fleecewife]

It's because it's been on for 13 years and is semi-opaque now and has lots of tears in it, so will surely go anyway in the next gale.  We are leaving it off for a while to try to get the soil wet again (I don't usually hope for rain, but I do for this  ) as it is becoming increasingly difficult to give the plants enough water.  It's proving quite a palava as we are also taking the opportunity to put concrete paths all around the outside which will hopefully prevent couch grass from creeping in.  Shows how much we love our veggies 

[faith0504]

thank you, im still learning  on the bottom rung of the ladder   

[OhLaLa]

Righteo - just waiting for a warm  day now to put the skin on.

I haven't got any 'hot spot' tape tho. Is it worth bothering with? And where exactly are the hot spots, the whole frame warms up nicely!

Fleecewife - did you find out which way is correct when attaching the plastic skin to the doorframe?

 

[Fleecewife]

I'll check - OH is up there right now undoing all the woodwork which has to be replaced before the new cover goes on, as it's rotted over all those years since it went up.

Anti-hot-spot tape is essential I would say.  The hoops do get very hot so everywhere that the polythene touches it, it gradually becomes brittle and that will be where it finally gives way one extra windy night.  So the tape goes along the whole length of each hoop.  It is expensive, but not as expensive as the cover and can mean that lasts several more years than it would without the tape.  We found our tape twisted over time leaving some bits of hoop unprotected, so this time we are using wider tape than last time.

[shetlandpaul]

ask hermit. she has one and believe me we get winds.

[Fleecewife]

Hi OhLaLa.  The critical bit is when using a base rail, so which way you roll the battens doesn't apply with the type where the skin is buried.  For the door frames, we take the polythene round the wooden frame and onto the inside, then wrap it round battens and nail down.  From the inside, the batten is rolled so that the top edge turns away from you.  For the base rails, which you do from outside, the battens are rolled so the top edge comes towards you.  In both cases this leaves the battens covered with smooth polythene, rather than with the wrapped bit showing.  It's a bit difficult to describe.............