After some discussions involving the cost of materials and the time available for the making of the tent it was decided that only one removable end would be made to start with and that is the one that is going to be the bedroom. This is an elongated half hexagon (can’t think how else to describe it). It attaches to the ridgepole but again the roof drops on all sides to a shoulder of 6’.

In order to get away from the cartwheel construction that is so medieval and allow us to use our one tent at any event we are using poles in the edge of the tent to support the roof. Doing it this way also means that we can get really good guy ropes out but as they will go from the 6’ shoulder to the ground at a very steep angle they add virtually nothing to the footprint of the tent, again very helpful when your group has only been given enough space to accommodate 4 small tents and there are 25 of you.

My tip to anyone mad enough to want to make their own tent is be very sure of your measurements before you order your canvas and remember that you need to cut it with the grain and not on the bias, do that and it will go wibbly.

Might be worth having a refresher on your three dimensional geometry, if you are not 100% sure of your calculations make a model in card it saves making expensive mistakes later.

Remember the rule – measure twice cut once – (in my case measure three or four times and then do it again)

Make as much use of wholesalers as you can, you will save yourself a hefty chunk of cash that way.

I tried to get canvas that was pre-shrunk, water, fire and rot proofed, in any combination you can make from that list and completely failed to find the stuff available in the UK at a price that was within our budget (fabric at £23 a metre at 36 inches wide is way outside of our budget and just think of all those extra seams). Hopefully others may have more luck at getting the stuff, if you do please let me know just in case I have a fit of insanity and decide to make another tent in the future. I am hoping like mad that the canvas doesn’t shrink too much when it is waterproofed. I have done a couple of tests with pieces and it seems that if you keep it under tension it doesn’t shrink, and even if you leave it the shrinkage is negligible. A good case for waterproofing the tent while it is up rather than filling the bath with waterproofing solution and jumping up and down on the tent to get it all in at the same time.

Don’t forget how heavy canvas is. The 108” wide stuff weighs in at about 1kg per meter. So, my 40m roll weighed around 40kg, that’s over 6 stone so mind you don’t put your back out.

Don’t forget to waterproof the ropes. Sisal is excellent stuff with a very good breaking strain – I think 8mm sisal has a breaking straining of nearly half a ton – but the stuff will rot if it gets stored wet.

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