11.1 Tent Classifications

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Tent Structures

In general, Tents consist of poles which form a skeleton and over this skeleton, the Tent Fabric or skin is laid out to create an inner pocket. These are the basic Tent Structures:

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Wedge Tents

Two intersecting hoops with the Tent cover form a square to round pocket. These tents are very popular in Hiking as they combine great strength in combination with the least use of material and weight.

 

Avian Tents

Mostly used for quick shelter and generally light weather conditions.

 

Pyramid Tents 
The center pole effectively divides the Tent in multiple smaller compartments.

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Traditional A-Frame Tents 
The increased roominess of hoop tents and domes has replaced most A-frame tents.

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Modified A-Frame Tents
Add a ridgepole and a center hoop to the traditional A-Frame to create a larger volume version of the traditional A-frame pocket.

 

Hoop Tents 
The curved walls give a bigger volume with the same ground surface. Hoop Tents are surprisingly strong as they divide pressure over the full length of the hoops.

 

Dome Tents 
The added hoops give this tent increased strength in comparison to Wedge Tents. However, they are mostly pretty difficult to erect.

All of the tents that are owned by the SMUX Trekking Team are wedge tents. They are generally easy to set up and generally sufficient for the use of the Team. It is also useful to note that the square base of wedge tents allow for more efficient space usage at a campsite, which is especially so as the Team usually treks in a big-group setting.

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Freestanding vs. Fixed Tents

The strength of a tent is based on the combination of the compression members (the tent poles) and the tension members (the tent fabric and the possible guy lines). Guy lines are lines used to stretch the tent fabric by staking them to the surface. Tents that do not need guy lines are freestanding.

Freestanding Tents offer a couple of advantages:

You can move them to another location without having to take down and rebuild the tent.

You can easily drain and dry a freestanding tent by picking it up and hanging it upside down.

However, all tents including the freestanding type derive a lot of their strength from being anchored down by stakes and guy lines.

Protection Level: Number of Supported Seasons

There are a couple of ways of categorizing tents by their functions. One of the most defining ones is the number of seasons that the tent supports:

4-Season Tents are meant for year round use and they are capable of withstanding the heaviest snowstorms.

3-Season Tents will protect you from the worst summer, spring, and autumn can throw at you. However, they will not be able to protect you in heavy winter conditions. Some 3-Season Tents are convertible into 4-Season Tents by adding extra sections or tent parts to the tent.

2-Season Tents will serve you perfectly well from late spring to early fall but they are not designed for rougher conditions.

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11.2 Camping Tent Materials: Poles, Covers, Fabric of Hiking Tents [1]

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Camping Tent Pole Materials

Poles form the skeletal structure of the tent and they have to be strong, bendable, and durable. To decrease your load, manufacturers are constantly researching ways to decrease pole weight while keeping the strength, flexibility, and durability.

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Fiberglass
Most of the tents owned by the Trekking Team are framed by fibreglass tent poles. This is used to be the preferred material for tent poles until they were replaced by aluminium-alloy tubing. Fiberglass is less strong so thicker and heavier poles are required to achieve the same strength. Cheaper Tents still use fiberglass poles.

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Aluminum-alloy tubing
Nowadays, almost all Tent poles are made of aluminum-alloy tubing. Aluminum is very vulnerable to corrosion which is why almost all aluminum-alloy Tent poles are anodized. This gives them a thin protective coating. Many poles are pre-curved to decrease the chance of breaking a pole while making the curve.

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Carbon Fiber
This material is often used for Fishing Rods and is very strong and flexible. Carbon fibers are used in more expensive technical Tents and form the future of Tent poles.

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Tent Fabrics, Tent Materials & Tent Construction

The actual Tent cloth or canvas has to protect you from the wind and the rain while remaining breathable. The earliest materials used were leather and cotton. Nowadays, almost all Tents are made out of nylon or polyester taffeta. Most camping tents fall under the following categories:

Single Wall Constructions: only have single layer of Tent cover. This single cover has to take care of all the needed functionalities: water and wind resistance, durability, breathability, etc.

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Double Wall Constructions: have an outer fly sheet and an inner Tent. The fly sheet is waterproof and the inner Tent is breathable and transports moisture to the outer fly sheet.

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Tent Fabrics can have the following characteristics:

• Denier (d): measures the weight of fabric in grams per 1000-meter length. So for instance, 60d signifies a weight of 60 grams per 1000 meter of the thread used in the fabric. Lightweight fabrics would be about 50d.

• Water resistance (psi): measures the weight of water that can exert pressure on a square inch of the fabric without leaking. It is measured in pounds per square inch (psi). A good fly sheet would be 80psi.

• Color: the fabric color will determine what light conditions are inside the Tent and how well your Tent stands out against the surroundings.

• Some common Features of tent covers:

• Polyurethane Coating: This is coating applied on the tent fabric to make it more durable and waterproof. Multiple number of coatings or ‘passes’ determine the added protection but at the cost of extra weight.

• Waterproof/breathable laminates: Tent cover uses a layering system of different materials to form a strong and waterproof but breathable fabric. Common laminates are GoreTex, ToddText, Klimate, and MemBrain.

• Ripstop: This is a polyester taffeta with thicker threads weaved into the material at regular intervals. Thicker threads will prevent small rips in the Tent to get worse.

• Clear Film: This is a see through material often used for windows and skylights.

• Single-needle Stitching Seams: These are seams with a single line of stitches.

• Double-needle Stitching Seams: These are seams with a double line of stitches, stronger than single stitching.

• Shed Seam: This forms a gully capable of transporting water down the Tent.

• Connecting the Tent to the Pole Skeleton

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There are roughly two ways the Tent shell can be connected to the skeleton structure: Sleeves in the Tent allow you to run the poles through them. This method is very solid but in windy and/or rainy conditions, it can be difficult to run the poles through the sleeves.Clips are relatively easy to connect to the poles. This method makes it easier to set up your Tent but offers less strength than full length sleeves.

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Many Tents have a combination of sleeves and clips to combine the advantages of both

 

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11.3 Backpacks Tips and Advice [2]

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There are three pack types to choose from: external frame, internal frame and technical daypacks (frameless). External and internal framepacks are the most appropriate choices for multiday trips, while frameless backpacks are perfect for day hikes.

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External framepacks

Best suited for heavier loads on open, even trails through easy-to-moderate terrain. External packs place the load over your body’s natural center of gravity. This allows you to bear the weight comfortably, without stooping and without undue expenditure of energy. An external framepack also keeps space between you and the load, which accomplishes two things: it allows good ventilation to keep you cool, and it helps make even a heavy load more comfortable while you hike.

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Internal framepacks

Designed for uneven terrain and narrow trails, where a hiker needs more agility. Balance and stability are essential on uneven, narrow or slippery terrain. An internal frame pack keeps the weight of the load tight against your body, giving you more freedom of movement. If you’re into off-trail adventures, an internal frame pack should be a consideration

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Technical daypacks 

Ideal for light-load activities, where freedom of motion is important. They’re perfect for day trips, first-time hikers and younger trekkers.

Whichever backpack style you choose, fit is essential. Take time to make certain that the pack you choose feels comfortable, especially when loaded.

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Fitting Instructions – To get the best fit every time, loosen waist and shoulder straps before fitting. You should also have some load (weight) in the pack while fitting.

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Measuring Torso Length
The length of your torso does not depend on your height. Measure from the seventh vertebrae (the bony protrusion at the base of you neck) down along the contour of your spine to your natural waist. To find your natural waist, place a hand on each hip with your thumbs pointing towards your spine. The invisible line connecting your thumbs is the point to which you’re measuring. The torso length may be lengthened or shortened by accessing the webbing straps located underneath the lumbar pad. You may want to go through the rest of the fitting steps before determining whether you need to lengthen the torso.

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Shoulder Straps

• Shoulder straps should anchor to the pack just below the crest of your shoulders.

• Now draw down on shoulder straps until they feel snug but not tight. The bottom of the strap should rest at least a hand’s width below your armpit so that is doesn’t ride up and pinch.

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Hip Belt Adjustments

• The hip belt should ride on your hips, transferring weight straight to your skeletal structure. Make sure the pads don’t touch in front. You need room to cinch tight.

• Center pack comfortably on your shoulders. Position the hip belt so that the horizontal stitch line on inside of belt is lined up over front hipbones.

• Buckle belt and tighten to comfortable circumstance.Tighten Load Stabilizer straps to bring load closer in to lumbar (lower back) area. These straps run horizontally on each side from the hip belt to the pack. There is also an upper Delta strap running diagonally on each side from hip belt up toward pack. Lower portion of pack should feel snug against your lower back.

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Sternum Strap 

• The sternum strap connects the shoulder straps, prevents the shoulder straps from slipping off the shoulders, and helps reduce pressure on the shoulders.

• This strap is adjustable up or down. The most comfortable position is usually 3-4 inches below the collarbone.

• Load-Lifters move the weight toward the front of your shoulders and lift the load off the top of your shoulders.

• To transfer weight off shoulders, use shoulder Load-Lifter straps located at the crest of the shoulder, extending from frame of pack. Pull straps until taut. The shoulder strap will no longer be in complete contact with your shoulder.

• The Load-Lifter straps should run off your shoulder at a 45° angle. If the angle is less than 45°, then the pack may be too small for your torso. If the angle is greater than 45° then the pack may be too large.

• Loosen the shoulder straps from bottom, approx. 1/2″ then pull Load-Lifter straps again until you feel the pack’s pressure against the upper part of the chest below the collarbone-not on top of your shoulders.

• There is a small “tri-bar adjuster” on the top of the shoulder strap that lengthens and shortens the Load-Lifter strap. Sliding this tri-bar up (toward the pack) or down (away from the pack) will adjust the point at which the Load-Lifters “pull” the load off the shoulders.

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Adjusting Internal Stays 

• Stays serve as the frame of internal frame packs. The curve provided by the factory should be sufficient for a comfortable fit for most people. However, if after fitting your pack you feel further adjustments are needed to provide the most comfortable feeling of the pack against your back, the aluminum stays are removable and bendable

• Stays are located in pockets on back of pack. Pull down the lumbar pad to locate openings for stay pockets.

• Ask a friend for help. Have that person hold the bottom of one stay against your back over one hip. Mark it with a pencil or tape where your spine makes the greatest deviation from the stay. Place the stay over a durable surface and gently bend the stay to the desired shape.

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11.4 Working Principle and Care of Gore-Tex Jackets

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The Gore-Tex jacket is often a three layer garment having a ragged outer layer of Taslanised nylon or polyester, a waterproof middle layer of Gore-Tex and an inner protective Tricot layer.

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Gore-Tex achieves its breathable – waterproof qualities by virtue of having millions of small holes in an expanded Teflon (EPTFE) membrane. Moisture vapour passes from the warm air inside the jacket to the outside, even if the outside is under water. Water and wind is completely blocked and it resists water pressure of about 450 KPa (65 psi). The transfer is called Moisture Vapour Transfer (MVT) and requires that the air inside be warmer than outside and the Tricot layer inside aids the process by dispersing moisture from sweat that is then convened to vapour by body warmth. Gore-Tex functions better with fewer layers of clothing under the jacket and the more layers the poorer the breathability of your clothing system, so dress light, but warm.

When heavy rain flows in a sheet on the outside of any fabric it causes a temperature drop and vapour on the inside condenses. In a rain jacket this gives a clammy feeling. To minimise this the outer material is treated with a Durable Water Repellent (DWR) which is a Fluoropolymer applied under heat and pressure during manufacture. The DWR works by attaching tiny fluoropolymer “spikes” to the fibres of the fabric (where they stand on end like nails through dowel). The spikes are so close together that in effect the surface tension of the water holds it out from the fibre and it falls off. The DWR is not a plastic coating and does not block the gaps between the threads of the outer fabric or the Gore Tex membrane. Water can still pass between fibres of the outer fabric but it cannot saturate it so avoiding “sheeting” and the temperature drop that would cause condensation inside the garment.

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From this it can be seen that the role of the DWR is vital to the performance of a Gore-Tex jacket and it must be kept clean and in good condition. Over time the DWR wears flat and requires rejuvenation or it may be contaminated and require cleaning. Some common contaminants that degrade the performance of the DWR are:

• Smoke particles which are small enough to mask the DWR

• Detergent which lowers the surface tension of water and masks the DWR.

• Dirt

• Oil. Gore-Tex is also affected by oil.

• Fabric softeners which coat the material.

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Salt water does not affect Gore-Tex but if it builds up in the jacket, like in any other breathable fabric it stores moisture giving a clammy feeling. The DWR is rejuvenated by heat but occasionally it must be re-applied when water drops no longer bead on the surface of a freshly cleaned garment. The clean garment should be treated with a Fluoropolymer water repellent. Silicone water repellents are not recommended as they are oil based. Be careful not to choose a waterproofing agent because this makes the garment non-breathable. A commonly available Fluoropolymer treatment is Grangers Superpruf spray but others are available. These requirements are reflected in the cleaning instructions for a Gore-Tex garment that typically say:

• Hand or machine wash warm with powdered detergent. No special soaps or detergents necessary. Usepre-wash stain treatment where required. Rinse well to remove all detergent.

• DO NOT bleach or use fabric softener

• Tumble dry or drip dry.

• Steam iron on a warm setting to enhance water repellency.

• P Drycleaning recommended. Request water repellent finish after drycleaning. (Drycleaners understand this symbol, Pereloethelyne).

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Gore-Tex is not damaged by ironing, but take care not to melt the outer fabric and test the iron on an inside hem and only iron when clean and dry.

A jacket needs cleaning if it smells of smoke, is dirty or sweat stained and complete removal of detergent is essential. Use heat after the cleaning process and re-apply the DWR when water no longer beads off the surface and use a Fluoropolymer, not Silicone to restore the DWR.

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[1] http://www.abc-of-hiking.com/hiking-tents/tent-materials.asp

 

[2] http://www.coleman.com/coleman/colemancom/ProdAdvice.asp?CategoryID=24753