UKC

Hi all,

My plan of making my own inner tent (and maybe even an outer!) hasn't gone away.

As I'm not particularly handy with a sewing machine (just yet!), and having looked at how to sew zips onto fabric and being a little scared, I'm looking for alternative solutions.

One design I saw (but the website is down, so can't link to it), was a design which was like a cylinder of material (with the obvious hole in the middle to get in / out, which was then draw-corded to create the closure. This appeals as an option (as I think technically, even I could do it), but wondering if anyone has:

- used / seen this design

- if so, comments on how they found it (good or bad)

- if something could be made to deal with venting in warm weather (the example I saw was a winter tent, so certainly no mozzi door!)

Thanks all in advance...

In reply to MtnGeekUK: I think you'd have a lot of excess material to deal with i.e excess weight that a zip design wouldn't need. that said, i'd be quite interested in seeing such a design if it's possible.

In reply to MtnGeekUK:

have used the tube style (popular on old tents, llots of japanese brands still use it).

it adds quite a bit of weight as mentioned, but works well. probably not well enough to negate just learning to sew a zip tho (which isnt that hard).

terra nova has a zipless tent (i think, maybe hillberg...) so there are other precedents.

another design ive seen is a bit like the tube - simply a flap you go under then tuck under yourself or a pack to close. more for very lightweight set ups, and questionable when youre outside the tent (so more suited to bivvys). but almost no sewing at all.
maybe 2 small clip locks could be used to secure it...?

In reply to MtnGeekUK:

The Blacks Mountain Tent sucessfully used the drawcord system

See ebay item 181038415122

In reply to MtnGeekUK:


Yes, I had one of those in an A-Frame Gerry Mountain II Tent. Gerry called it a "tunnel entrance". One end of the tent had a vestibule with a zip entrance and the other end had the tunnel entrance. The idea was that you could link two similar tents together by connecting the tunnels. When unlinked the tunnel closed like a sphincter with a draw cord. It had another sphincter made of mozzie netting. There were ties around the periphery so that you could tie back the nylon tunnel all the way around and close the mozzie netting with it's draw cord.

It vented quite well in warm weather. The tunnel was actually long enough that you could draw it shut and push it outside the tentfor a bit of storage. I really liked that tent!

If you scroll down you can see that tent here: http://www.oregonphotos.com/Gerry2.html#anchor2649 It's orange and blue just like mine was. That photo clearly shows the tunnel and the mozzie netting.