Reader review of a popular product.
My brolly was some 20 years old, and was well past its best before date. It was small, and leaked in several places. The catch that held the brolly in the open position had long ceased to function, and I had to push an aluminium disgorger through it to keep it up. Time to update it, but the problem was – with what?
I looked at as many brollies as I could, and read what reviews that I could find. It soon became apparent that I would have to make my mind up on what I actually needed, and what I could afford.
I do not (well at the moment) fish overnight, so I did not think that I needed a full bivvy, but a conventional brolly did not offer sufficient shelter. The problem was that in very cold windy conditions, the wind was able to get under and around the edges. It is imperative that during these kinds of situations, you must get out of the wind. Now this very fact now dictated to a large extent what I would have to look for.
A bivvy would obviously do the job, but they are generally large, and from what I have seen from the dedicated carp anglers who use them, they are not the easiest of things to erect, especially in a strong wind. The erection task is made easier if there is more than one angler present, but as I do all of my fishing alone, I would have to manage the task by myself.
Another point that I would have to bear in mind was the places where I fish. On the estate lake the swims are very small, and there are only a few swims where you would be able to erect a bivvy, and then it would restrict what space you had left to actually move about in. This left me to look at brollies with wings, i.e. oval type brollies. There are three or four makes on the market, but all of them when handled were on the heavy side. This can be explained by the extra material and rib length, and also for extra strength.
A downside to these types of brollies is the centre fixing for the pole. As I have a big problem with my Osteoarthritic knees, and have now decided to carry all of my tackle as opposed to pulling it about on a trolley, weight has to be a factor.
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After much oohing and aahing, I finally had to make a choice and see how it went. I purchased the Brotel and went down to the local estate lake to set it up and see how it performed. A description of how the Brotel works will help you to understand its plus points better.
There are a few points that you should know before you make your purchase. Firstly you simply MUST have some pegs to make it work, and that there are NO pegs supplied. Secondly there is NO mention in the four pictures that you have to place the erected Brotel onto a spike. Now although one is supplied, I could not find mine in the Brotel package, and it was only because I knew that there should be one that I looked further. Mine had been inserted into one of the hollow aluminium uprights, point first, and had managed to shake itself completely down the tube so that it was not visible, and to get it out, I had to shake the Brotel very vigorously.
It would be easy for the manufacturer to put the spike into the Brotel tube, point first and to slightly tighten the knob to secure it, so that it is visible to a newcomer to the Brotel design. The spike that is supplied is just a normal hollow aluminium brolly spike, and in my opinion is simply not sufficiently robust to do the Brotel justice, and as my Brotel was going to be used in all weathers, I purchased a set of eight screw in pegs, and a solid aluminium screw in brolly spike from Gardner Tackle.
I do not think that the instructions supplied are very helpful, and I am sure that they could be improved. There is a set of four small pictures showing how it should be done, but my first try did not result in a lot of progress.
Step 1. Screw your brolly spike into the ground where you want to put up the Brotel.Step 2. Take the Brotel out of its case, and with the plastic boss facing down, pull the two aluminium poles together and clip them. At the same time pull the material where the zip is down the poles as far as possible. This action puts the front ribs under slight tension. Step 3. Place the semi-erected Brotel over the brolly spike and slide it down to ground level and slightly tighten the screw, with the ribs facing away from you. Try and keep the back of the Brotel to the wind. Step 4. Pull the zip down, being careful not to trap the backing material in the zip.Step 5. Put 2 pegs into the plastic fittings at the bottom of the zip and peg down. Step 6. Go around the Brotel, pegging down the other points, pushing the 2 unattached nylon ribs down to ground level at their nearest pegging points.
You should now have a fully erect Brotel.
Try and keep the pegging of the back of the Brotel in a straight line, as this will give you a straight back to the shelter, which means that you can push your chair right to the back, and this will give you the maximum cover. On really windy days, bring the back edges forward slightly and peg down, so that the back of the Brotel is in a slight V shape, this will reduce the pressure of the wind bearing on the back of the Brotel considerably.
The process is quicker to perform than it is to describe, and once you have done it a few times it becomes simple. There are two more pieces of equipment that I have purchased to make the Brotel into a very stable shelter in the worse that Mother Nature can throw at us anglers. Firstly purchase a set of guy ropes and secure the clip to the exposed plastic boss on top of the Brotel, and peg this down behind.
The second thing is a pair of storm pole fittings, and two storm poles. Although there are two plastic securing points at the ends of the two top ribs, which I suppose are for attaching a guy rope, it is far superior if you use two storm poles. I do not think that anyone makes storm pole fittings that fit the nylon ribs, as they are very thick in diameter. I had a pair that I had taken from my old brolly, and I drilled them out to take the ribs. With the back attached to a guy rope, and the front attached to two storm poles, and the whole assembly pegged down in six places, the Brotel becomes very good indeed.
How has it performed? Well, apart from it leaking the first time I used it in the rain, it is difficult to fault. I sprayed it with a waterproof coating, and so far it has remained water tight. I wish that I purchased one years ago. It is a great feeling to be under the Brotel when the wind is whistling and the rain is falling.
When anglers fishing nearby under conventional brollies are struggling to keep their chosen shelters attached to the ground, the Brotel remains very secure. Incidentally, the Brotel is lighter than my old small brolly, and is far larger, offering much more room. There is no centre pole to get in the way, and a nice touch is there are two zipped panels in the back wall, which come in handy when I have to use the landing net in the rain. I unzip one panel, and slide the handle of the net out through the back of the Brotel. This keeps the net dry, and if I don’t get a bite, then I can pack the still dry net back into the quiver after fishing.
I find that if I put the Gardner spike into the ground at a slightly backward leaning angle, then when the Brotel is slid onto it, it keeps the front at a higher level and hence gives slightly greater headroom. Normally I sit facing out of the Brotel, but if it is really chucking it down, I sit with the chair crosswise, and this keeps all of me out of the rain. I can think of no reason at all for anyone to purchase a standard brolly, or for that matter an oval brolly complete with wings, when you can have the deluxe Brotel. It is simply a no contest.
It is a wonderful concept that consigns traditional brollies to the scrap heap. I personally wish that the makers supplied it complete with 8 screw in pegs, guy rope, storm pole fittings, and a solid screw in spike. I know that the price would be higher, but it would have saved someone like me some work, as I am sure that most anglers who fish in all weathers will try and make the same changes that I have. I may look at the larger Bedchair Brotel at some stage especially as I am know contemplating fishing at night, as the Deluxe Brotel is just too small to accommodate a full sized bedchair. A very nice bit of kit, well done Relum.
NOTE: I originally attached the storm poles to the top two ribs, but this enabled the outer two ribs to flex under strong winds that came in slightly off centre to the back. A better arrangement is to have the storm pole fixings on the outer two ribs, and with the poles screwed into the ground it improves the stability enormously. I use a couple of three foot Gardner ‘Twistiks’.
For all of the many pleasure anglers out there, who simply wish to have some shelter from the rain, sun and wind, then this is far better than any brolly. It is light and easily carried in a quiver. After a day’s fishing in the rain, it folds up with the wet outer side inwards, and comes with its own protective slip-on cover. It can be used in all the swims where you would be able to erect a brolly.
RRP: £ 79.99, but you’ll probably find a street price much less than that.
