My winter project. There's no way that I could find a pattern like this so I invented it as I went. This might be a bit heavier than you'd want for backpacking but I use llamas and it should work great for that. The tent itself weights 5.5lb. With the poles, etc., it's 8 lb. It's 10x10, made of 1.3 oz silnylon. It's 7.5' high with 2' sidewalls. I made it tall for a steep slope for runnoff.

I made it with all the poles and wall poles on the outside for ease of set up and to make it easier to cut poles if I'm camping where there are enough trees.

For backpacking, you'd want lighter poles. I got these from REI for $40 each. They make a shorter version, too, that's lighter and packs shorter. Those have a max height of 79" and I wanted it a little higher. These will go up to over 8'. These were supposed to be 4 section and fold to 22" but they turned out to be 3 section and fold to 29". They'll still work in my panniers, though.

I made a catenary roof with a 4" drop in the center. As a result, I have wrinkles on the top that I haven't yet been able to adjust out. I'll keep working on that. Someone with more experience than me could probably have made it so it was smooth all over.

The side poles are made of aluminum tent pole sections cut to 24". They have tips made for grommets. I used NiteIze tensioners and reflective rope on the sides. It looks bright white in these photos because the flash fired for some of them. That really lights them up.

I'm not completely done yet. I still have to seal the seams and add a few stake loops at the bottom. I need to make a carrying bag, too. I'm sure I'll be making some refinements as I go along.








I have these 12x20" screened vents in both ends. I used 1/8" nylon rod for bows and 3/32 shock cord to keep them from flipping up in the wind.




I put in a screen door and a rear window for ventilation in addition to the roof vents.


[img]http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n267/rockchuck/tent/tentwindowLR.jpg[/img]

I don't have a stove yet but I installed a jack. It's MUCH easier to install before the tent is assembled. I'll cut the hole when I get a stove. I placed it 4' from the front so it's pretty much centered yet leaves lots of room behind it. The cord running the length of the tent is a clothesline. It's anchored to the poles by velcro straps on the outside.
[img]http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n267/rockchuck/tent/tentinsidefrontLR.jpg[/img]

I put in 2 shock cord loops for gun holders. They're anchored to the pole outside. I got that idea from Snubbie.
[img]http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n267/rockchuck/tent/tentgunLR.jpg[/img]

Headroom? Oh, yes indeed.
[img]http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n267/rockchuck/tent/tentheadroomLR.jpg[/img]

Freaking nice.

I am very impressed with that tent..

GREAT JOB.

I'd buy one.

Very impressive.

Very nice!

Nicely done- pretty impressive!

Looks good! You'll want some of the 9" military stakes for the main ridge line ropes to get enough tension in looser mountain soils.

Impressive!!! PM Sent

I'd thought about that. To set it up in the yard, I used 9" plastic. I broke 2 of them because they're brittle in the cold. For the sides, I got some of these MSR Groundhog stakes. They're alum alloy and seem like they're really tough. They can take a beating.

Since it was only $6, I thought I'd try one of these lightweight plastic tent peg mallets. The reviews are pretty good on them. I'm impressed. They don't seem like they'd pound in anything but the handle has a bit of a whipping action that gives a lot more force than the weight would dictate. It actually does a pretty good job and is worth the money if you don't already have a hatchet in the pack. The question is how long will the head hold up to these metal stakes.

Wow, color me impressed!

very nice!

Well done sir!!!

Yes!

Like that tent!

Nice work!

That's pretty darn nice. Well done!

All that space for the weight�very impressive.

I looked at this earlier on the way home from FL on my iPhone. Looks even better on a big screen! Wow! is all I know to say. That looks better than I anticipated and at the same time it looks exactly like you described it. Way to go RC, I hope to get to see it in person sometime!
It will darn sure be easier getting out of that thing in the middle of the night to pee. Heck, I'd take a pee bottle in there with me. You could put your llamas in there!

I'm impressed. The world's first Sil/Nylon wall tent.

Way to go! Be careful with too many pics or you will be sewing your fingers off like that "frog fellow" pounding out bottle cap openers!

Looking again. I don't see a lot of issue with the wrinkles. I suspect a few loops on the side walls to allow other guy-outs to be tied on and maybe a Velcro loop to hook to the sidewall poles could be used to add a little tension to pull out the side wrinkles but I really see no issues with them.
You could maybe sew on a small loop between the corner pole and the center pole (4 total) to add a guy to pull out the roof wrinkles but I believe that may add side wall wrinkles and again, I'm not sure that is even a concern.
And you may be able to dink around with it with tension adjustment as is and work them out.

Overall, I'm just overly impressed. You really thought it all out about to the inth degree. Had any wind on it yet?

Seriously, the biggest "problem" I see you'll have is finding a large enough flat spot to pitch it and realistically, where we've hunted out there the last two years it wouldn't even be an issue. Having been well acquainted with the luxury of llama packing, even still, that thing is backpackable if divided between two people.

By the way, it looks freaking COLD there in your yard with those trees all frosted up!

You really wouldn't want a llama in there. Their hygiene isn't quite what I like in a house guest.

I'm not going to worry much about the wrinkles. Sewing these big pieces straight isn't all that easy on a home machine and laying it out on the floor can be a trick, too. The wrinkles are all home made. I've had a tent factory operating in the middle of the living room and my Chuckette is getting a little tired of the furniture being shoved against the walls.

Yesterday was the 1st time I've had it set up and we haven't had any wind yet so I don't know what it will do. Next time we have wind in the forecast I'll set it up to find out. If it wobbles too much, I can easily add another tie out at each corner and put 2 on each pole. I'm thinking I should add some webbing at the corners for extra strength anyway. There's a lot of stress on the nylon at those points. 4 or 5 oz of extra stakes & ropes would be well worth the weight if needed.

The footprint is only 10 sq ft bigger than the SL5. That's less than 1 sleeping bag. It just looks a lot bigger because it goes straight up instead of sloping. It's a lot more usable space, though, with the sidewalls and extra shoulder room. You can put a sleeping bag almost against the wall without getting wet.

If you cut poles in the hills, the total wt could be less than 6 lb with stakes & ropes. 2 guys could handle that & it would be a piece of cake with 3.

It's very easy to set up. Stake out the 4 corners, erect the poles, and then it's just staking the sides & slipping in the side poles. 1 guy can do it in maybe 15 min in good conditions...2 hrs in a blizzard.

You should see the frost on the trees now. We've had 5 straight days of freezing fog, day and night. We had a couple hrs of clear weather when I took those pics but a couple hrs later it was all frosted up again. It's been hanging in the 20's all the time. The tent is still set up as I need to bring it in to finish the sewing. I'm waiting for it to dry. Maybe in March.

About the wrinkles in the roof...to do the catenary roof, I just cut the topline of both sides into a slight curve and sewed them together. To do it professionally would take more shaping of the pieces. I'm not enough of an engineer to figure that out. Without the catenary, the top and sides would be just 2 long pieces sewed side to side, a single seam from ground to ground over the top. To cut the catenary to avoid wrinkles would entail a whole lot more cutting and fitting.

That's a big deficiency with the tipi. The outer 1.5-2 feet is pretty much unusable space for anything other than small gear so the footprint dimensions are deceiving. The added sidewall in your design makes the full footprint useable. Like you said, you can put a sleeping bag almost against the wall. Move it out a bit and you can sit up in it!
I'm just impressed as heck at the whole thing. Can't wait to hear a "trip report" in it.

I don't have the sleeping bag or stove for a winter trip so it'll be a few months before I can try it out unless we get a real warm spell so I can take a truck trip down along the river. I have a Buddy heater I was going to put in it this morning to find out what it takes to heat it but the catalyst in the heater seems to be plugged. It won't fire right. It's about their earliest model and I haven't used it in a couple years. It's probably full of dust. I guess I need to start looking at wood stoves. There's a lot of info here on the BP forum. I have an old sheepherder stove but it has a 4" chimney. I don't really want to cut out the stove jack for it when most new ones have 3" chimneys but it might not hurt it any.

Here's a hint for anyone who wants to make a tent: Silnylon won't stretch at all pulling along the threads. However, it's very stretchy when cut at an angle. Sewing an angle cut to a straight cut will cause a lot of puckering if you don't do it right. Put the angled piece on the bottom and use lots of pins. If the angle cut is on top, the pressure foot will be pushing and stretching it. On a long seam, say 5 to 6', you can end up several inches off at the end because of the stretching.

Very impressive! Where did you buy the silnylon from? Great job.

Fabric is 2d's from here: QUESTOUTFITTERS , $6.70/yd. I bought 28 yds to make the tent and a 10x10 tarp. Nowhere on it could I see a blemish. Another good source although a bit more expensive is Seattlefabrics.com. Both of them also carry a big assortment of zippers, hardware, etc.

Wind test:
It's blowing about 20 to 25 this morning. It's a long way from a hurricane but it does tell me a little. In these pics, it's coming from the back of the tent. It seems to be taking it just fine. I need to make some minor adjustments on the bottom stake loops. They're too big and don't hold the bottom down very well.

The stove is an old sheepherders stove that I've had for years. I won't be taking it on any pack trips for sure. I'm going to sell it and get a Ti stove of some kind. I'm just trying out the stove jack here. It works fine.

Well if Mrs. RC kicks you out you'll have a place to stay. Better stock up on firewood when you get a chance though, when I was out there trees looked to be kind of scarce in those parts!

Looks like it handled the wind pretty well.

That is One Cool Tent!!

Green with envy here. I don't know which I like better the tent or that black stormy cromer! Love cromers. always wanted a tent with a stove. very nice.

The Kromer is actually a deep blue, not that it makes any difference. We have a local farm store that carries them and I got that several years ago for around $15. US made, 100% wool. Love it.

I had a milsurp tent and an old sheepherder stove that I sold this morning. Now to decide which stove to spend it on.

Very nice Rock Chuck!