Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting DIY tent on the drawing board

I started out designing a tipi but came up with an infinitely easier design to make. My current design is a 10x10' ultralight wall tent. For all practical purposes, the only weight and size difference is an extra pole. It uses very little fabric more than a large tipi. Plus, it's FAR easier to cut and sew.

Its going to have 2' sidewalls and a 7.5' ridge with no floor. With the walls, you'd have to have it considerably higher to get the same headroom in a tipi. The slope wont take as much of a snow load as a tipi, but I won't be using it for winter camping.

Silnylon comes in 63 to 65" widths. 2 20' +/- long pieces sewn edge to edge will make the sod skirts, walls, and top in 1 unit with only 1 seam. 1 strip of fabric, cut diagonally, 1 piece flipped, and sewn back together makes an end. I'll cut a vertical door, sew in a water resistant zipper, and add a mesh screen. If I make the tent to fit the fabric width, I won't even have to cut the fabric edges, just sew them together. It'll just be slightly bigger than 10x10.

I'll put in 2 roof vents and a stove jack before the 3 main pieces are assembled. I don't have a stove yet so I'll just put in the jack for now and cut the hole to fit later. Likely I'll add a window on the back wall, too.

The poles will go on the outside so they can be easily replaced with tree limbs if I want to go lighter. There will be 3 2' poles along each side. They'll also be on the outside for easy substitution of sticks. I ordered 2 expandable poles from REI for $35 each. They fold to 22" and expand up to 8'. They also sell shorter ones with a max height of 79" for a little less money, plus they're 14oz lighter. I want more headroom so I went with the longer ones. Amazon has some similar ones by Kelty for a little cheaper but they only fold to 29". I can use about anything for the 6 wall poles but I'm going to get some tent pole sections from questoutfitters.com. They're made of the same aluminum as arrows and can be cut to any size I want, plus they only cost about $3 each. Old arrows would work well, too, but I don't have 6 scrap ones on hand.

Using 1.3 oz silnylon, I estimate around 3 lb without the poles...which will probably grow to closer to 5lb before I'm done. However, this is for llama packing so I have plenty of room to spare. For backpacking in a small group to share the load, this will sleep several guys with plenty of room.

Sounds interesting (and extremely comfortable). Are you able to get pretty well sheltered from wind where you usually set up camp?

We don't have serious winds here too often. If they're in the forecast, I'll stay home and go another time. I'm retired so I'm flexible.

sounds like a fun project.You may want to consider making prototypes out of Tyvec.You can usually get scraps off of job sites for free.You can tape or sew the seams and actually pitch it to see how the space works out
Tim

I would contact Noah lamport fabrics for sylnylon seconds. They had the best prices I have found. Sounds like a great project. Got to love the llamas, makes it so you can go a little more comfy. I sure want to see pics when done.

This sounds like a good idea.(the tyvek)
The biggest concern I have is getting the sides pitched taught enough without causing the ridgeline to sag. But I have no experience with wall tents yet I know it is a long proven design. If this works it will be the cat's meow!

I have hopes of trying it out, I'll bring a cot(and a kitchen sink)!

I've considered sewing a 1/2" piece of webbing the full length of the ridge so it can be stretched tighter just for that reason. That would also require heavier stakes on the ends. Most wall tents have a solid ridge pole but they also have far heavier fabric. This would be akin to making a tarp shelter with sides.

Questoutfitters.com has 1.3oz silnylon 2ds for 6.35 to 6.70/yd.

Look up catenary ridgeline.

IMO I'd probably not build the tent out of fabric seconds. Too much work goes into design and fabrication to risk a weak section, etc.

Most of the sylnylon second material is pretty good stuff but my recent research discovered that uneven coating is one of the major reasons it is a second. Color differences also cause it to be a second but that is irrelevant for tent use IMO. A wholesaler told me that the coating differences are the most critical for tent use, and that those are hard or impossible to see. I don't know if all this is true but he seemed to be straight with me.

Actually, the price between 1.3 oz silnylon 2ds and 1.9 oz 1sts comes to only a $50 difference for the tent. I can get the 2d from Questoutfitters for $6.70/yd and the 1.9 oz 1sts from Seattlefabrics for $8.50. I estimate roughly 22 yds for the thing without doing final calculations. Since I use llamas, the slightly heavier weight of the 1.9oz is irrelevant.

As for the catenary ridgeline, if I do as was thinking - running a length of 1/2" polyester (non-stretching) webbing the length of the ridge and stretching it with the end guy lines, that forms a catenary ridge.

BTW - if you need webbing or hardware, check out STRAPWORKS . I've bought from them a couple times with excellent results. They carry all kinds of webbing (materials, width, strength, colors) and will sell any length by the foot.

edited to add: I didn't word that about the catenary ridge very well. It would need to be cut to form the curve, then the webbing added for strength to the seam. It would be a fairly easy job if I can get the curve right.

Thanks for clarifying the ridgeline; I didn't have time for an explanation earlier, but we were thinking along the same lines. You'll have 3 to 4 layers of fabric in the seam, which will be plenty strong on its own. But I've been accused of being a "belt and suspenders" guy a time or two myself...

some years ago i had a light weight tent built by an outfit in Washington state or Oregon. anyway, their design was to use 3 poles. one at each end and one in the center to raise the ridge about 4 inches.

i did not like the 3 pole system, so i had it built with one center pole and 2 pull outs about 2 feet up. sort of a tipi style. it worked out ok. but i have decided their idea was better and if doing it again i would use 3 poles. 3 poles is a lot to carry but if you cut poles it wont be much of a problem. food for thought. ray

My main reason for making a wall tent instead of tipi is to eliminate that center pole. I'm going to use the catenary style and if it doesn't do what I want, I can add a 3d pole later.

The nice thing about being an inveterate DIY'er is that I can invent it as I go. Sometimes I have to back up and do something different but that's just part of the game. For example, I had some elaborate plans for a door but then I ran across some water resistant zippers. That's a natural and far easier than my original plan. I doubt that they're totally waterproof but with a vertical door and no floor, I don't care if it seeps a bit.

RC , how's the lightwieght wall tent coming? Inquiring minds want to knows.

I'm just getting started. Christmas rush, you know.
The biggest problem is finding enough floor space to spread it out to measure and cut. We have all hard floors. I have to move our diningroom table & chairs, then roll up a rug to lay out the fabric to cut. The silnylon is super slick and trying to walk on 2 layers on a slick floor is akin to ending up on your butt. Since it's so light, even a slight movement will pull it all out of position. I've tried taping it to the floor but most tapes won't stick to it. Clear packing tape will barely stick. These tapes won't stick at all: duct, blue painters, masking. Setting a chair on it helps only slightly as the chair just slides along with it. I guess I need to call Weight Watchers to see if I can hire some part time girls to sit on the chairs as ballast.

The silnylon is actually pretty easy to sew once you get it cut and pinned together. It feeds easily and straight through the machine.