Shelter/dog tents

[Parault]

I have been known to just wrap up in one half of the shelter when on campaign,to stay warm ,or to slow down the rain from soaking through,when the other person who said that they would be there with the other half didn't show up.


It would be captivating to see a book with all the ways you can erect a shelter tent. I can only envision how substantial this book would be.

[Kevin O'Beirne]

I have been known to just wrap up in one half of the shelter when on campaign,to stay warm ,or to slow down the rain from soaking through,when the other person who said that they would be there with the other half didn't show up.

It would be captivating to see a book with all the ways you can erect a shelter tent. I can only envision how substantial this book would be.

I've used my shelter half as an extra, lightweight blanket and even as a groundcloth many times. While it's great to sleep outdoors under the stars when the weather's nice, I've had it rain on me many times when I was doing that. While I figure that I'll dry out from such an experience, while being rained on it's not particularly fun, and a more-accurate repro shelter half will soak through in about 60 seconds.

The book of which you speak is unnecessary. Instead, experiment in the field with ways to set up a shelter half, or halves, as the case may be.

One of the quickest and easiest ways to erect a shelter tent is to carry a couple wooden tent pegs in your knapsack and, after buttoning your half to your comrade's, fix bayonets, bayonet your long-arm to the ground, and use the long-arms as the "uprights" for your shelter tent. Most folks who've done it can erect shelter this way in about five minutes or less.

[Curt-Heinrich Schmidt]

Hallo!

"One of the quickest and easiest ways to erect a shelter tent is to carry a couple wooden tent pegs in your knapsack and, after buttoning your half to your comrade's, fix bayonets, bayonet your long-arm to the ground, and use the long-arms as the "uprights" for your shelter tent. Most folks who've done it can erect shelter this way in about five minutes or less."

But due to the soft, untreated mild steel in Indian/Pakistani bayonets- they can often spend longer than five minutes trying to bend them back to straight after 'every which way AND loose.'


Just a-funnin'...

Curt
Proud Member of the Jocularity Rifles

[TheQM]

You tall guys might try my system. I get a couple of sticks about a foot long and lift up one edge of my dog tent. I sleep crossways and let my feet stick out, covered by a rubber blanket. Three guys would be a plan. Two guys supply the tent. Use the third guy's shelter half to close the side where the wind in blowing. Two rubber blankets on the ground and one to cover everybody's feet.

BTW, correct shelter halves don't leak if they are pitched tightly and nobody touches the cloth.

[tompritchett]

But due to the soft, untreated mild steel in Indian/Pakistani bayonets- they can often spend longer than five minutes trying to bend them back to straight after 'every which way AND loose.'

Tell me about it. I tried Kevin's trick once of sticking the bayonette into the ground while attached to my rifle for the purpose of making a shebang with a groundcloth. The bayonette bent causing the rifle to become so off centered that everything came crashing down even before we could get the second rifle in the ground.

[Kevin O'Beirne]

But due to the soft, untreated mild steel in Indian/Pakistani bayonets- they can often spend longer than five minutes trying to bend them back to straight after 'every which way AND loose.'

Everytime I recommend that reenacctors pitch a shelter tent like original soldiers did -- using long-arms bayonetted to the ground -- someone always trots out the fact that repro bayonets are weaker steel than originals and so if you do this (pitch the tent this way) it's virtually guaranteed that your bayonet will quickly be rendered useless for anything.

That impression is false. Yes, the bayonets are weaker. I've seen them bend to huge angles with fairly little force applied to them. Pitching a shelter tent the way I recommend will potentially stress the bayonet so that it might bend. All that's true. BUT... it's not guaranteed. I've pitched a shelter tent this way several times with my REPRO bayonet with no ill effects. Hence, I avoid the blanket precautions because I've observed that is IS possible to do this with a repro bayonet.

Of course, an original bayonet is always the best bet, but not everyone has $100 or more to spend on one.

Kevin "Myth Busters Mess" O'Beirne

[Kevin O'Beirne]

Tell me about it. I tried Kevin's trick once of sticking the bayonette into the ground while attached to my rifle for the purpose of making a shebang with a groundcloth. The bayonette bent causing the rifle to become so off centered that everything came crashing down even before we could get the second rifle in the ground.

The key here is to apply brainpower to do it intelligently. Avoid stressing the bayonet. To do that, one bayonets it to the ground, bayonets the other to the ground, stakes out the tent, and as the next to last step catches the "ridge" of the tent under the gun hammers, and as the last step stake down the ropes that are atached to the "ridge" of each shelter half as-pitched.

Apply the same practice as tightening and loosening lug nuts when changing a tire. It's necessary to avoid stressing it too much in one direction. Pitching a tent like this while putting all the stress onto one repro bayonet is, indeed, virtually inviting it to bend.

Kevin "Gotta 'Splain Dis Stuff Mess" O'Beirne

[Silas]

Three guys would be a plan. Two guys supply the tent. Use the third guy's shelter half to close the side where the wind in blowing. Two rubber blankets on the ground and one to cover everybody's feet.

Did that with two other guys on a wet, cold November night in Northern Virginia. Two gums down. One blanket on top ; one on the bottom. Two of us had greatcoats, so we put those atop the topmost blanket. With the remaining gum, we put a couple feet of it at the foot of our bedding and folded the reamining 4-1/2 feet on top of our legs. This made it tougher for any of us to kick a foot out the blankets and let in a bunch of cold air. The folding method is something I usually employ when combining blankets and gums with others.

We kept the remaining blanket in reserve to apply as we thought best. By the time our home was pitched it had stopped raining. The remaining blanket was placed on the open end of the shelter. We slept warm and dry while others were miserable.

We ran a rope or some heavy twine between a couple trees upon which we suspended the canvas. We pitched the pair of halves pretty low to the ground. Could't sit up without a head hitting the canvas. Many folks make the error of pitching it high.

There's really no one way to pitch shelter tents. What works well in some situations is overkill or unnecessary in others.

I made my half by using period spec's. My shelter had several years in the field. One of my tentmates had a new half. The buttons didn't match well as mine has shrank over time. It was a period moment.

[TheQM]

We ran a rope or some heavy twine between a couple trees upon which we suspended the canvas. We pitched the pair of halves pretty low to the ground. Could't sit up without a head hitting the canvas. Many folks make the error of pitching it high.

Silas,

The only problem with pitching the shelter tent close to the ground is you are more likely touch the cloth from the inside. Not an issue unless it's raining!

[Rob Weaver]

If you can drive the bayonet deeply into soft ground, you'll be fine. One of my bayonets is living proof that they bend when you try to pitch a dogtent this way. Anyone who's seen me fix bayonets on my Springfield has seen that wicked home-made scimitar of mine. (Or is it a Tulwar? Robert E Howard used that word a lot, and I just wanted to use it once in my life.)

Everytime I recommend that reenacctors pitch a shelter tent like original soldiers did -- using long-arms bayonetted to the ground -- someone always trots out the fact that repro bayonets are weaker steel than originals and so if you do this (pitch the tent this way) it's virtually guaranteed that your bayonet will quickly be rendered useless for anything.

That impression is false. Yes, the bayonets are weaker. I've seen them bend to huge angles with fairly little force applied to them. Pitching a shelter tent the way I recommend will potentially stress the bayonet so that it might bend. All that's true. BUT... it's not guaranteed. I've pitched a shelter tent this way several times with my REPRO bayonet with no ill effects. Hence, I avoid the blanket precautions because I've observed that is IS possible to do this with a repro bayonet.

Of course, an original bayonet is always the best bet, but not everyone has $100 or more to spend on one.

Kevin "Myth Busters Mess" O'Beirne