Tents, Tent Poles and Pins
(Page 6 of 13)

THE WALL-TENT.

The wall-tent is shaped like a house: the walls or sides, which are perpendicular, are four feet high. A continuous piece of cloth runs from the ground to the eaves, thence on toward the ridgepole, and down the other side to the ground. The tent is made on the same general principles as the one last described. It is four breadths square, but the width is usually diminished about one foot by cutting six inches from each corner breadth. If the cloth is drilling or light duck, you can overlap the centre breadths a foot, and thus have the doors ready-made.

Draw a plan upon the floor as in the other case; the pole nine feet and two inches high, the corners four breadths apart less the overlappings and the narrowing; draw the wall (in the plan only) four feet and two inches high. The roof-line runs of course from the top of the pole to the top of the wall.

Cut the cloth, as before, so as to have the twilled side out. Add six inches to the distance measured on the plan, for the length of the walls and roof, so as to get cloth for the eaves.

The wall is to be four feet high; consequently, when you have sewed together the four breadths that make the roof and walls, measure four feet 3-1/2 inches from the ends (bottoms), double the cloth, and sew two rows of stitching by hand across from side to side, 1-1/2 inches from the doubling; this makes the tabling for the eaves, and you have two inches left for the bottom tabling. Use stout twine for these seams at the eaves, and take only three to four stitches to the inch.

Take the same care as before in sewing together the ends and sides; the larger the tent, the more this difficulty increases.

The sod-cloth becomes more of a necessity as we increase the size of the tent, and add to the difficulty of making it fit snugly to the ground.