How to Pitch Old Canvas Tent
An old canvas tent tends to be a bit heavy and it can succumb to mold rather easily, yet one of these old relics can still make for a suitable shelter, mainly because the tents are spacious and provide good protection against the elements, including heat. Old canvas tents are seldom taken on the trail, but they are often used to provide temporary housing to campers who will be staying in one place for a while. Following is some useful information on how to pitch an old canvas tent.
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Things You'll Need
- Old canvas tent
- Tent poles of correct height (should come with tent)
- Tent pegs
- Parachute cord (or similar type of rope)
- Hardwood pallets (optional)
- Wooden mallet or hammer
Instructions
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1
Lay out the tent on the ground. Inspect the tent for holes and examine the overall condition of the canvas. If the tent has mold or holes in it, then you will have to do some repair work before you can use it. Set the tent up just to better inspect the damage.
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2
Find a level spot with good soil so you can pitch the tent and drive the tent pegs into the ground. Clear the area of all twigs, branches and rocks.
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3
Determine the outline of the tent and then place tent pegs through the loops or grommets on the side of the tent and into the ground. This step can be a little bit tricky, especially if you have never set the particular tent up before. Basically, the bottom of the tent gets pegged to the ground first. Next, you have to stretch (or place) the bottom edge on the ground and drive the tent pegs into the ground, at least the pegs that are located at the four corners of the tent. If there are no instructions, or if the tent is unfamiliar to you, then determining the shape of the bottom could be difficult because the rest of the canvas will still be resting on ground. To get the bottom edges staked to the ground, fold the top part of the tent so that it sits neatly in a pile while you drive the tent pegs through the outside loops or grommets.
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4
Insert the the top of the tent pole into the correct grommet and then raise the tent pole and the tent until you can set the bottom of the pole on the ground. If you have a pup tent or wall tent, you will need to raise two poles, one in the front and one in the back. Raise one pole at a time.
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5
Run a 6-foot piece of rope from the top of the pole to a tent peg. (There will actually be a small canvas loop located at the edge of the tent). Then insert the tent peg into the ground so that the rope is tight. Do this one pole at a time. When you finish this step, the tent should stand upright by itself, but there is still more to do.
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6
Pull each side taut by running one piece of rope through one of the canvas loops, then attach the other end of the rope to the ground with a tent peg. A wall tent will have three or four points of attachment on each side. In fact, the tent will not be fully formed until each side is pulled taut and tied down. A pup tent might or might not have one point of attachment. If there is no place to attach a rope to the side of your pup tent, then skip this step. At this point your pup tent has already reached its final shape and a side attachment only adds a small amount of space.
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7
Return to each piece of rope and check its tautness. If one piece of cord is not tight, then tighten it. You should check every piece of rope several times until everything is taut. All ropes should be tied using a taut line hitch (see below), a most useful knot that can be readjusted without untying the knot. Rope tautness is a relative term here. Beware that it is very possible to have a canvas tent that is pitched too tight. Canvas shrinks when it is wet, so never pitch a tent as tightly as it will go.
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Tips & Warnings
Oak pallets can be put at the bottom of a wall tent to create a makeshift floor. A pup tent is usually only about 3-feet high and has two sloped sides and a vertical front and back. The front and back consist of canvas flaps that can be tied together in the event of bad weather. A wall tent is at least 6-feet high, has vertical front and back sets of flaps and a pitched roof that drops straight down after a few feet to form vertical walls. Learning how to tie a taut-line hitch is essential to setting up a tent.
A canvas tent is good for summertime use because it reflects the summer sun, but one has to be careful not to touch the inside of the canvas when it is raining. This causes a wet spot that will continuously drip until it stops raining. Tent pegs should always enter the ground at a 45-degree angle with the tent peg leaning away from the tent. Never pitch a tent as tightly as it will go. Always leave some slack.
