Wind-worthy tent that doesn't need a lot of staking? Does this exist?

[Franco Darioli]

I’m with Ed there.

No way I would do that with a single pole pyramid. 4 poles and it’s a different ball game.

[Nick Gatel]

No way I would do that with a single pole pyramid. 4 poles and it’s a different ball game.

Neither would I. But it’s good food for thought. When things get really bad in poor weather it is good to know (or least to have thought about) how to improvise.

When I went through Air Force survival training I did something like that bridle, but I connected all 4 guys to the single pole itself… while some others were trying to build a 4 pole tipi without finding good poles and lacking a saw.

Also, for guyline ties outs… we didn’t have any since we had to build shelters with a parachute. Wrapping a smooth rock in the fabric with paracord worked. Similar to the Visclamps some of us used on tarps in a time far, far away.

Visclamp

Visclamp tieout

[Edward John M]

In one of my old Megamids I did have rings I stitched into the seams on the inside and I added tie-outs on the outside that matched these. In a big blow I tied the tent down and then tied the whole together with shock corded loops. The centre pole still broke but perhaps it lasted a lot longer with the added cordage and elastic. The Megamid was probably a lot stronger than the Bulldog pole supplied with that particular iteration but I saw no difference between the Bulldog brand and the Moster brand in the replacement

I have no idea how to make one but I would like to see a LW version of the current Scott style Antarctic tent; 4 side poles with a 4-way Gothic arch centre joiner just a bit bigger than the current Megalite and the ilk.

Could you possible take a couple of standard Easton joiners and weld/glue them into a strong aluminium ring?

[Roger Caffin]

Could you possible take a couple of standard Easton joiners and weld/glue them into a strong aluminium ring?
Yes, you could. I suggest that straight poles would still be very weak, despite guying. However, if you then curved the straight poles into curves and matched the fabric panels to the curved poles, then you would have something a whole lot stronger.

You would in fact be headed straight for a conventional dome. Geodesics with enough poles are strong 9but heavy).

Mind you, ventilation and condensation would still have to be solved.

Cheers

[Edward John M]

I disagree slightly Roger

Much steeper than a conventional dome so better wind shedding and as you have noted a few times a gothic arch is much stiffer than a standard curved pole and for some of us the advantage of a mid is not space but internal height

A work-around that just came to mind would be two tall gothic arches with a very short ridge between them, but then I’m still trying to find a use for the tent pole I cobbled together from bits in the shed

[Roger Caffin]

Much steeper than a conventional dome so better wind shedding
Dunno that I follow that logic.
Much better at shedding snow – too right.

But the extra height will translate into more force from the wind. The wind speed vs ht above ground curves will show that – as well as the use of top-gallant sails. I would also be worried about the increased leverage on the tent and the stakes due to the height above ground.

You need to build one and test the idea! Photos please.

Cheers

[Sam Farrington]

Hi Roger

Re: “I was only criticising the ‘free-standing’ design with zero stakes.”

The only time in remembrance when the shepherd’s hooks could not be used was during an outing to south Jersey in a psychedelic colored VW bus.  The ‘campground’ turned out to be paved corner to corner in black asphalt. So we headed off to find a field amongst the cranberry bogs, which turned out to be infested with Lone Star Ticks, the kind that burrow under the skin and come out only with heat from a joss stick or cigarette. There were many tick removal stops on the way home, at one of which two of the ladies went to a rest room for one to remove a tick from the other’s nethers.  Along came an older couple in a white Cadillac convertible, and mum went into the rest room after them, only to come right back out screaming and off they went in a cloud of dust.  Don’t think your deadman anchors would have gone through that asphalt.

[Dean F.]

@Nick-  Proposing that a 2P mid “fails” in wind gave me a chuckle.  I’ll have to respectfully disagree there.  Fully staked out, they’re pretty bomber.  They only really suffer in comparison to the TrailStar (limiting to UL shelters, of course).

[Roger Caffin]

The ‘campground’ turned out to be paved corner to corner in black asphalt.
Can be a problem – for some. A camping supplier here in Oz sent me some ‘tent pegs’ he had developed for me to test. They were just what you needed. Pointed 1/4″ high-tensile steel rods 8″ long you can hammer through asphalt and poor concrete. I tested them. Yes indeed – they were made for tourist campsites. He said so. But not UL.

Ticks – yeah, sigh.

Cheers

[Author]

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