My Dear Easy-Up Pavilion, R.I.P.

It survived all heavy storms but the last one. I should have seen it coming, that the easy-up mechanism was the weak link in that construction, which could not hold the weight of rain-water not running down the cover fast enough.

It's total kaput now, several rods are broken or bent, making a repair impossible. At least my WSM was still standing intact.

I already fetched a new pavilion today, which has no easy-up mechanism, but a steel pipe construction. I'll post a picture of my cooking area with the new pavilion in my cooking report of next weekend's cook.

caseydog said:

Water weight took mine out, too. I bought a new frame, and put grommets in my canopy right where water likes to collect. My canopy has a company logo on it (read: expensive), that was unharmed, so I wanted to keep that.

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Yes, I should have burned small holes into the canopy where the water likes to collect earlier, I only did it after the first collapse (that's the one on the picture), which I could temporarily fix with power tape to save last Sunday's cook, but kaput is kaput, and another storm broke and bent more of the roof rods (it's still standing as of writing this, but only because I used a garden shovel to support one of the stands.

caseydog said:

BTW, the EZ-Up warrantee covers that collapse, as long as you are within the warrantee period. Mine was a couple years out of warrantee, and the seller sold me a new frame for 25-pecent off.

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My easy-up pavilion was a special offer from a local hardware store, the frame definitely can not be purchased separately, and there was no warranty card enclosed. I have no idea, if mine is of the same construction as yours, and I am not quite sure how I can make a warranty claim under these conditions. Do you have a warranty card that shows how such a collapse is covered?

malibulvr said:

I feel your pain, we just lost our 10x10 last weekend. I went for pizza and then the storm ran in. We had 4 people holding onto it but the wind still took her up and on top of my roof. Everything is bent and broken, pains me to put her down, only used it 3 times.

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It's a tragedy, mine was standing just a few weeks, I didn't care to mount and dismount it for the weekly cook, so my WSM and the pavilion were standing in the garden the whole time. We had a lot of storms in the meantime and it survived them all but the last one, I really thought it can not be harmed at all. Lesson learned, hopefully the new one with its steel pipe construction does better (hopefully I'll find the time today to unmount the old one and mount the new one).

caseydog said:

BTW, the EZ-Up warrantee covers that collapse, as long as you are within the warrantee period. Mine was a couple years out of warrantee, and the seller sold me a new frame for 25-pecent off.

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Thanks again for the hint, caseydog. I was able to return that damaged easy-up pavilion and got a full refund. :grin:

I already assembled the new pavilion yesterday, but although I had high expectation (no easy-up mechanism, but a steel pipe construction instead) it's definitely not a bit better than the easy-up. At least the canopy can be removed easier with the new one, so I can let the steel pipe construction stay in the garden all the time, and only mount and unmount the canopy when needed. I'll post pictures in my full report of upcoming Sunday's cook.

First picture of the new (non-easy-up) pavilion:



It looks nice, but is of the lowest quality imaginable. I don't know if made in China or Turkey, but the enclosed manual was in Turkish language only. :twitch:

It took quite some time to assemble, a lot of screws involved, at least the canopy can be mounted/unmounted easier than with the Easy-Up. Both have their strengths and weaknesses, and both cost about the same (not much at least). It will definitely be intersting to see how long it lasts.

billham said:

Hey Pork that sure does look nice who is the manufacturer or where did you get it i lie better that a regular ezup and my birthday is coming soon

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You surely have seen where I am located, so that model will most likely not be available where you are. The brand name is "La Cultura", the model name is just "Green", and it looks like it is exclusively produced for an European hardware-store chain called "Baumax".

BTW The price was €79 ~ $97, which is considered a "special offer" around here (they tried to sell it at quite a high price, which didn't work out that well, so they reduced the selling price two times to the hit the actual low one). The damaged Easy-Up was even cheaper, so I hope the new one is woth the extra bucks.

yakdung said:

Anyone have any experience with Caravan? http://www.caravancanopy.com/ Thanks,

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Obviously I have no experience with them, but it looks intersting. If it wasn't for the price I would have gone for a heavy-duty model as well.