Canvas Tent Questions

[TexasMLer]

Hello,

I have never owned a canvas tent but would like to buy one for a more PC trekking/camping experience.

Having never owned a canvas tent I am not at all familiar with the way canvas holds-up to bad weather.

Believe it or not, I actually love to camp in the rain and cold (Texas cold, not REAL cold). However, I like to be able to come in and out of the rain when I feel the need. Staying dry is easy with modern materials and with practice but is not PC. Is there a completely waterproof canvas tent material that is also breatheable and PC?

I haven't seen any canvas wall tents or wedge tents that come with mosquito netting. Is mosquito netting too modern to be PC?

How do you guys/gals deal the with rain and skeeters?

Please excuse my historical trekking newbiness.

Thanks! :thumbsup:

 

[vradin]

Having never owned a canvas tent I am not at all familiar with the way canvas holds-up to bad weather.

Having spent a fair share of my otherwise misspent youth under canvas, fair weather and foul, there are two basic rules for keeping warm and dry under canvas...

Rule one: Never, ever touch the tent when it is raining. It matters not a bit what the canvas has been treated with, if you touch the canvas, it will leak, and the drip will always be directly above your head.

Rule two: Never, ever violate rule one, no matter how tempting it might be to see if it's an old wives tale or not.

vic

 

The canvas tents are great for "drive up" deposits of equipment on a campsite, but do not plan on trekking with them. My 8x8x10 wedge weighs 20 pounds without the poles and stakes. The big wall tent take two men and a small boy for transport. They are not lightweight gear.

Netting is PC and available from Pier One Importing. That's a foo-faw shop down near the mall. You'll find some camp chairs down there you won't be able to pry your @$$ out of too.

You'll have to make a quick run to the Bass Pro shop to replinish the testostrone levels to the appropriate setting.

:imo:

 

Tents for trekking and tents for rendezvousing are two very different things. I have two camps, one that barely fits in my van with the wife and kids, the other that fits in passenger seat of same said van.

My "Camp" consists of a double-bell wedge roughly the size of a small circus tent and will sleep 10 comfortably or my family with some comfort. We have cots, tables, chairs, 9,000 pounds of cast iron and crockery, several kitchen boxes, two igloo coolers, a big shooting box and a dozen shooters with corresponding bags.

When I trek, I either roll up my meager belongings and 10x10 fly (actually, I need to make another one as the last one died on me) in a bed roll and haversack or, for extended camps, I have a British style knapsack. I carry my gun, my bag and horn, a bit of jerky and corn biscuit, a big cup that doubles as a soup boiler, a wooden bowl, and some salt pork.

Nothing wrong with having two camps. I camp year-round in both my tent and under the fly, and yes, that includes in the cold...

Michgian cold, not Texas cold...lol....

Have Fun!

Stumblin

 

TexasMLer

There is nothing quite as peaceful as sleeping under canvas in the rain. Before we got bitten by the rendezvous bug, and before we bought 3 RVs over the years, we camped in a modern light weight cotton tent with no fly. The weave was so tight that it always stayed dry inside. I never coated it with anything and it breathed nicely.

We are ordering canvas for rendezvous in about 2 weeks. I borrowed a tent by the same place that will be making ours. Again, even in a good downpour last October, it stayed dry inside because of the tight weave of the material. I was told you could touch the canvas when wet but I just can't bring myself to do it. There is something in my brain that says, "You'll be sorry!" I can only say that you should heed that advice.

We don't enjoy warm weather camping because of the skeeters (I have developed an alergy to the little buggers) and the warm weather itself. But until I read Ghost's answer to your question about netting, I had no idea that it was PC. I have never noticed anybody using them at the voos we visit. But Ghost knows his PC stuff and you could take his word on it to the bank.

 

[TexasMLer]

Thanks for all of your great replies! Canvas sounds like it is pretty similar to modern tent materials, except much heavier.

Now, if I can only trace electric generators and Coleman stoves to the period between 1800 and 1825... :hmm: ::

 

[silverfox]

TexasMler: Don't know what you can do with the noise of electric generaters but the coleman stove just stays in the tent along with the propane heater. The old out of sight not visible rule goes into effect. For the bugs we use a natural cedar oil spray. Works like deet but smells a lot better. The same with the Igloo it goes in a wood box covered with blankets.
Fox :thumbsup:

 

[B.Habermehl]

I have Never gotten wet in a real canvas tent as long as I was not sleeping on the ground. We went through a "monsoon" that dropped 3in. of rain over two days the only drips we had were directly under the ridge pole. We stayed as dry as can be. I read and slept for two days. The lodge I had at the time was a R-K bell back wedge. My new lodge is a Tentsmiths 9 by 12 wall tent. She stays nice and dry too. I have gotten SOAKED in every "modern" spaceage fabric tent I have ever been in. BJH

 

[LFord]

Insted of buying skeeter netting, get yourself some sheer fabric in a color that you like. It keeps the bugs out and looks alot better. A good canvas tent will stand up to the weather better than you would believe. I have survived steady 45+ mph winds and heavy rain with no problem under canvas. The biggest thing is how you set the tent up, the poles need to be straight, the canvas taunt and the ropes tight. The other thing you have to do is pack your tent away dry, if you bring it home wet, set it up to dry right away. Mildew and wet rot will destroy a canvas tent in short order.
Instead of a coleman stove get a small brazier and pack along some hardwood charcoal.
As far as bug sprays there are quite a few out there that use natural plant oils such as citronela, catnip, pennyroyal and eucalyptus. They work pretty well and you can use them in oil lamps or make your own candles and add them to the wax in addition to spritzing yourself.

 

[trent/OH]

An idea to heat the tent overnight is to put a good sized stone in your fire, and right before bedtime, move the HOT stone to a Dutch Oven, cover it, and let it heat the tent as it slowly cools. Those oven feet or the bottom will heat up of course, so place it on a board or the bare ground. You'll probably have to keep your distance from the oven at bedtime, and move a little closer as the night progresses. Saw this at a Boy Scout camporee at Friendship. The tent was a simple wedge-type, with a canvas placed over it, and the void between stuffed with dry leaves for additional insulation.

 

[76monza]

TexasMLer,

I made my first wedge tent 4 years ago out of a painters 10-12 oz. drop cloth. I sprayed it with several cans of Camp Dry. and thought I was prepared. First weekend out it rained about 2 AM. the canvas did a pretty good job of straining out the bigger raindrops the wool blankets took care of the rest of them.
My wife decided that if she was going, we were going to have a bigger tent, much bigger. I now have a 10x14" "circus" wall tent with 5' side walls. It's held up in 55 mile an hour winds, outside the shelter of the tree line the wind was 75 miles an hour. And they are very water resistant. Spent 2 days in one with about 2 & 1/2" of water that weekend. Stayed very dry that weekend
Besides it's nice to walk into that big tent at the end of the day with the cots made up, the nice warm, dry wool indian rugs down under feet, the yellow glow of the candle lanterns throwing off enough light to see all my purty rifle lined up on the back wall of my tent! Makes me kinda' homesick!

smokeydays

 

Gauze is period correct, and light. I've seen it on 18th c. trade lists, and lists from the fur trade.

Pare-

 

[76monza]

Pare,
Where would you find gauze in any kind of substantial width to make netting? I've been to several large fabric stores and I haven't seen that, not that I've been looking for it though. It does interest me since flys are more of a problem for me than misquitos are.

Smokeydays

 

[Kenney Moore]

I have never owned a canvas tent but would like to buy one for a more PC trekking/camping experience. Is mosquito netting too modern to be PC? Please excuse my historical trekking newbiness.

Howdy,
The only way to learn is to ask questions. If you are asking questions, you are far from a newbie!!

Ghost has me on the netting. I can not vouch for the validity. I know I have not seen or used it in camp. I do not know when or how it appeared in history.

When you start thinking about canvas, be sure to check into the differing weights of the canvas itself. Tentsmith and Panther Primitives both explain in their catalogs about this. Their catalogs explain the different sizes also. The guys in my group use Tentsmith and are very satisfied. Peter Marques, of Tentsmith, is a good guy and will try to educate you depending on your needs. Although Sam Darby, a good guy also, of Panther will do the same. Most of us use Sunforger canvas due to its light weight, mildew restistance, and flame retardancey. But, if the tent is wet when you tear down, be sure to set it up as soon as you get home or drape it in a garage until it dries or it will turn dark with mildew.

Just an example of how Tentsmith operates: I have a second hand 11' X 17' marquee and was asking Peter about set-up. He came in the tent and noticed it was an older model without some of the new reinforcing they now put on their tents for durability. He told me to mail the canopy back to him after the event and they would fix the area. I told him I was a second owner and he said that did not make any difference, it needed fixed. It did not cost me a cent. They even paid the shipping both ways. I'm sold on that type of standing behind their product.

Hope this helps. :imo:

 

Lewis and Clark carried netting on their expidition. It was in widespread use in the southern states.

 

[Holley]

I love Tentsmiths. Have a new tent I used at the Alafia this year and it held up great in the high winds and rain. All my "tents" have been made by them. I make my own tipis. But...for gauze or woven material to keep bugs out....get OLD curtains that are very see thru. It comes in wide sizes and long. Also go to a specialist fabric shop. None of the new cloth shops seem to handle this material.

 

[LFord]

Give these two places a shot. They both carry natural fabrics in very light weights.
www.fabrics-store.com
www.fashionfabricsclub.com

 

Instead of a coleman stove get a small brazier and pack along some hardwood charcoal.

Just please do not use a brazier to heat the inside of your tent as CO2 poisoning tends to offend...and kill. Four Dog Stoves makes woodburning stoves for tents and Don Kevulis will talk to you about the sort of stove that you need for your tent. Having used both propane heaters and stoves, I'll feed wood any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

 

[Kenney Moore]

Instead of a coleman stove get a small brazier and pack along some hardwood charcoal.

Howdy,
Thanks Ghost for the help on the netting question.

Hope I don't step on to may toes with this statement, BUT:

I do not feel Coleman stoves, gas heaters, and the like belong in a PC camp, concealed or not. If you want to use these items, camp in modern camping area. A lot of events here in the East state "No Flamable Liquids" and food vendors are the only ones allowed to use propane and only with special permission. :imo:

Be sure to only use hardwood charcoal in the brazier. At one of the Easterns held at Lovingston, VA a father died and his son barely escaped from having a brazier in their tent. Processed charcoals like Kingsford give off more gases than the hardwood type like Cowboy Brand, etc. A lot of Sutlers offer the hardwood type for sale. Around here, Walmart even has it on their shelves.

 

[TexasMLer]

Thanks for the great answers! I'll have to look into Tentsmith tents. I learned that wall tents aren't perod correct for 1800, so it looks like I will need a wedge.

Thanks!

:thumbsup: