Getting tentage ready for PIP

[CrazyCholeBlack]

or hemp, especially if you're going for the "as anal retentively historic as possible" award

Lovely tutorial Mr. Hand. Would those be images from your pirate journal by any chance?

[Ol Man From the Sea]

or hemp,

Ms. Black I love you for using hemp.

Problem is, I'm not sure if I love you for being so authentic, or if I love you for being the Guinea pig who is going to find out if hemp will leak or not. It is a vegetable fiber so it should swell some when wet. Will it swell enough to seal? If I were you I'd keep some 4 mil poly around till I knew for sure. Good, no make that GREAT luck! I hope it works!

[pyrateleather]

callenish gunner, did you make your tent or where did you get it? We are in the market for a new merchant tent for some events.

[Jack Roberts]

Well I guess the easy thing to do would be to buy some yardage of hemp. Make a small model of a wedge tent. Put something in the tent to check for leakage. (Bathroom tissue comes to mind.) Start up the hose and sprinkle the tent. See what happens. I would try it except I haven't bough any hemp canvas yet.

[callenish gunner]

i went the commercial route with 2 deluxe supply tents and fly

redhawk

they also did some curstomizing for me so i have enough room for everthing i want to do with them

[pyrateleather]

Thanks callenish, those are much more reasonable than a lot of the ones I've seen.

[michaelsbagley]

Well I guess the easy thing to do would be to buy some yardage of hemp. Make a small model of a wedge tent. Put something in the tent to check for leakage. (Bathroom tissue comes to mind.) Start up the hose and sprinkle the tent. See what happens. I would try it except I haven't bough any hemp canvas yet. 

A friend of mine once made a handsewn wool tent and used this exact same means of testing... It worked well (both the tent and the means of testing it)...

I've priced out hemp canvas for the size I need... and well let's just say I can't quite afford that this year...

I know I have seen cotton/linen blend canvas for a pretty reasonable price before (I think it was a 55/45% blend). A quick search on google has found me some of this, but in colours I would rather not use. Does anyone know off hand a link to a seller of this type of material that has "natural" colour?

For others that may want to do an upgrade from cotton canvas (which sells at most Walmarts for as little as $4.44 a yard) but can't afford to spend the $16 to $20 or more average price for Hemp or Pure linen canvas, this may be a good middle ground if it can be found.

Edit - in case anyone may be interested in the linen/cotton canvas for cheap on sale, but only in colours, here is the link -> Linen/Cotton Blend Canvas

[Patrick Hand]

or hemp, especially if you're going for the "as anal retentively historic as possible" award

Then you would have to make all the pannels only two feet wide, and hand sew all the seams.......

Just for fun, I figured out how much hand sewing that would be....... 80 feet worth......Hand sewing all the flat felled seams really adds up....

My sail/tarp is cotton canvas, With two foot wide pannels, and it is all hand sewn ... If I remember correctly, it took me about a week of on and off sewing to do.......

We are in the market for a new merchant tent for some events.

For larger tents like Marquees,and large wall tents, you are better off buying them from someone that makes tents.... but smaller tents, aren't too difficult to make yourself.

use cotton canvas. Oh and cotton thread as well.

Oops.... I should have mentioned that.....

[Capt. Sterling]

Not to put a damper on the make your own hemp tents/tarps... which being the ARLH that Chole has already mentioned... I would love, BUT I'm now thinking event insurance for fire... are the homemade hemp pieces being treated with the fire retardent chemicals?? If not, like I said, not to put a damper on things, but you may wish to think about treating your hard work before an event coordinator tells you, you cannot use it for safety reasons... just a thought....

[michaelsbagley]

Not to put a damper on the make your own hemp tents/tarps... which being the ARLH that Chole has already mentioned... I would love, BUT I'm now thinking event insurance for fire... are the homemade hemp pieces being treated with the fire retardent chemicals??  If not, like I said, not to put a damper on things, but you may wish to think about treating your hard work before an event coordinator tells you, you cannot use it for safety reasons... just a thought....

Just to counter the good Captain's points... I have been re-enacting for some years, and have dealt with insurance companies for events (mostly in Canada albeit), and I have never seen tents or the type of tents even mentioned on event insurance coverage. I fully admit that this may be different in the USA, as I am still relatively new here and have not been involved in insurance matters for events on this side of the border as of yet. So this may be something worth looking into for the organizers.

Short version: Outside of arson or serious misbehavior with fire (neither of which do I find likely), untreated cotton canvas should not have any real risk of catching fire.

Long version, please read on...

On tents themselves, I have made my last three period tents (for different periods) out of untreated (neither waterproofed, nor fire resitant) cotton canvas. I have always kept a respectful distance from the camp fire (never closer than about 15 to20 feet away) and never had any concerns or worries about fire.

To take this further, during one event I was at with my first tent, the smokers were not allowed to smoke in public view, and as my tent was closed from public view for the event (hiding some modern conveniences, I was still a bit a newbie to that period at the time), my tent became the smoking resort for four days (I was a smoker at the time and didn't mind). There were 5 or 6 smokers at the event, 2 heavy smokers, 2 moderate, and 1 or 2 light smokers, and my tent did not spontaneously combust through all of this smoking traffic. This event was also at the beginning of August. I think that fact should be a strong testiment to the need to not worry about cotton canvas catching fire...

Edit - This post was not meant to sound pissy or condescending. I truly hope no one has taken it as such. I am in a strange place today and have been coming across more curt than I intend to (This has been implied to me on another unrelated forum today). My sincerest appolgies if I have offended anyone.

[Rats]

Oi Mike, I'm sure the piont is well taken as well as no offense.

However, believe me when we say there are folks just looking for a reason to eithr make a buck or snub a nose in reenacting. One way is to discredit or to demand a level of safety from others equipment.

Some historical sites also have it in their insurance policy for events that the tentage must be (or so they say) fire retardant....

Remember, here in the US restautrants need warnings on the coffee cups to avoid being sued by people that are unable to drink coffee without burning themselves..

Talk about pirates!!!

I'm just going to sleep in in the trees..... (Right Cheeky!!!)

Rats

[Patrick Hand]

but you may wish to think about treating your hard work before an event coordinator tells you, you cannot use it for safety reasons...

Capt. Sterling, are you talking about venders tents, or re-enactors tents?

The only time there ever was a hastle was at a Renn Faire, and it was the blacksmith's tent (it was flame retardant, and he had all the documentation and equipment to run his forge safely and by the fire codes...)

[Capt. Sterling]

Sorry for making myself unclear, and yes, I don't see private insurance policy for groups stating they cover individual tents, what I meant is that I have been to numerous Rev. War events (over 14 years of em) where if your tent did not live up to the event's safety requirements, you did NOT put your tent up..(at least on the Brit side). I'm saying I would hate to see these people go to such hard and admirable work to hand sew all their tent/tarps to arrive at an event and be told sorry, you can't camp because your stuff isn't fire safe...when all it takes is to "paint" on the fire retardant chemical.... this is just things I have gone through for the past 35 years of reenacting and just wanted to make sure no one suffers when I may have been able to make a simple suggestion...

And Mike, I need to agree with you, I've never seen smoke set a tarp on fire either... its usually the match or the burning embers from the cigarette, or the lit candle some fool forgot and then even the fire retardent stuff goes up....

[Capt. Sterling]

The only time there ever was a hastle was at a Renn Faire, and it was the blacksmith's tent (it was flame retardant, and he had all the documentation and equipment to run his forge safely and by the fire codes...)

My point exactly, all it takes is one yahoo to ruin your hard work and trip down to an event, if you don't have the proper stuff, they can ruin your entire time by saying.."Tis my event, you aren't safe, you can't play." Your blacksmith, had the proper equipment and documentation and thus he was allowed to continue... what if he hadn't?

[Rats]

What are the reds planning, since we'll be over in their area???

I know our Capt. has quarters and I have a tarp and a wedge tent, which can be set up in various configurations...

Not that the big puddle isn't enough, but what's the chance that nearby building has showers in her???

Rats

[Capt. Sterling]

Not that the big puddle isn't enough, but what's the chance that nearby building has showers in her???

Rats

Oh yes, good question, the ladies did ask about showers and toilet facilities perferrably near, not in, the camps...

Oi Rats, not into skinny dipping??

[callenish gunner]

there are toilets facilities just yards away from the camp area the showers that are ther on site are cold-water beach showers ..........i for one will have a propane water heater and shower enclosure that we can put up in a secluded area for off hours showers ....and yes ladies i am available for back scrubbing be appointment!!!

and i have been to events where the organizers pissed off local officials one way or another and the local fire-marshal was used to force compliance with the participants to make sure their tents had manufacturers certificates of flame-retardence to meet the codes ....and not the self applied formulas

the greater tampa renfaire for one!!

[Rats]

Skinny dipping?????

I have one comment my dear Captain....

.........ever seen Jaws??

If I'm gonna get bit by something, so help me......!!!

Rats

[William Brand]

I showered buck naked in the cold showers on the beach at 2 in the morning. It was...interesting.

Now, back on the subject. Captain Sterling does make a good point and so do others. If you are only planning on using the tent at PIP, then you need not worry about fireproofing. The watchwords of the festival are common sense. We don't expect a fire problem because all of the camps will have water buckets and patrols of some sort, so it shouldn't be an issue. However, if you are inclined to fireproof your tent, then it certainly wouldn't hurt, and it might even broaden the use of the tent over time.

However, it is a personal decision as touching PIP.

[CrazyCholeBlack]

I showered buck naked in the cold showers on the beach at 2 in the morning. It was...interesting.

[William Brand]

By interesting I mean...cold. Very, very cold. And the wind was up.

[Ol Man From the Sea]

.........ever seen Jaws??

No need to worry about jaws, No great whites around there. Lemons, Hammerheads, bulls, spinners, blacktips, and nurse sharks, but not great white. What you really need to be careful about when skinny dippin' are the Portuguese Man-of-wars. In about an hour or so I saw a dozen or more not 3 miles off that very beach last December. They are Kinda pretty really.

[Patrick Hand]

No need to worry about jaws, No great whites around there. Lemons, Hammerheads, bulls, spinners, blacktips, and nurse sharks,

That's enough to keep me outta th' water..... including the skinny dip shower.... some of those sharks can get really sneaky bout that sorta thing.....

I guess that means that I will be campin' downwind from everyone dosen't it?

[Captain Jim]

"LANDSHARK!"

And yes the water is freezing and the wind blows fairly stiffly at night. I, too, did the 2AM shower run and nearly froze my cocked hat off.

And while Great Whites are rare for these waters, they do show up occasionally, especially in winter.

[Rats]

AS Rats wades out into the shallows, until all forms of sea creatures comes before him... He lashes two sea turtles together and.... Suddenly get bit on the arse by one of the many sharks that swam up to eat said numerous sea creatures....

In 90 I learned to dive in the Puget Sound over in WA.... Swear I saw one and I can care less about what kind or how big it was.... Damn near soiled me wet suit!!!

However I have to take a dip in the pond! Even if it's me last!!

Chomp! Chomp! (Eww Rats!) Spit!