New Tent

Tent

One of the reasons for changing our Lugger Braveheart for a Gig was to gain more living space on board when we were staying away overnight. On Braveheart our tent was simply the flysheet from an old ridge tent, which when hung between the masts provided us with a three sided shelter. As the flysheet did not really match the shape of the hull or the relief of the deck it could only provide us with limited protection from the weather.

On Tra Bhui, we used the tent at rallies on Loch Lomond in September 2013 and on the Norfolk Broads in October 2013. The Loch Lomond Rally was particularly wet but we managed to stay dry as Tra Bhui was pointing into the wind and we both have Gortex outer bags for our sleeping bags. It was however not luxury camping! The tent being open at one end is not ideal for use in marinas or when tied up alongside as there is no privacy at all. For 2014 we were going to have something better.

Having spoken to others and looked at home made and professionally made tents held up by everything from plastic water pipe to drain rods I was quite clear what I wanted for our tent.

1. The framework must be rigid and capable of standing on its own without the cover

2. The framework must be maintenance free and easily assembled

3. The framework should form a uniform shape over which the tent cover could be easily placed

4. The cover should be waterproof and wind proof

5. The rear of the tent should be able to be fully opened to expose a large part of the cockpit so that we could also “live outside” if we wanted

6. A well sealed door would be required at the front to allow access to the anchor

7. Windows with internal covers would be required on all sides to allow light in and so we could see what was happening outside.

8. The cover must be able to be secured to the frames so that it did not flap about

9. The cover should cover the gunwales and form a good seal to the deck

1. Through eyes at the sides would be required to allow fenders to be hung when we were alongside other boats or a pontoon

Framework

The 8No rowlock sockets on Tra Bhui would make ideal mounting points for the tent frame. At 12mm diameter these would be too narrow to insert the tent poles into, but all that was needed was a male / female connector that could be added to the foot of each pole.

My ideal material for making the framework would be stainless steel tube. Stainless steel tube comes in two grades 214 and 316. Grade 316 is marine grade. ¾” or 20mm tube would be just the job. With an internal diameter of 16mm I could easily purchase some solid HDPE rod which I could turn down to make the male / female connectors that would go into both the tube and the rowlock sockets. Due to the span and height of each frame the poles would be required to be made up of two individual poles each of which would be roughly a quarter circle.

The tube was sourced on the internet from Metals 4 U. http://metals4u.com A horrible name, but a company that I had used before, had a great web site, was easy to deal with and which could supply the required tubing at a competitive price.

Having measured Tra Bhui across each set of rowlock sockets and knowing the height of the tent I wanted I sent out enquiries to a number of tube bending companies as I wanted the tubing radially bent as opposed to incrementally bent.

Radially bending is carried out on a machine with three moving rollers. Two rollers are fixed and the third which sits between the fixed pair can be adjusted to bend the tube. The rollers are set to the required radius and the tube is passed through them coming out the other end in a nice uniform curve.

Large radius incremental bending is carried out either on a tool like a conduit bender or a hydraulic pipe bender where the tube is forced around a dolly or on a static tube bender where a hydraulic jack with the correct shape dormer is used to bend the pipe at pre determined points. The curve is therefore made up of a number of individual smaller curves.

While the radial bender gives a nicely formed and uniform radius, the incremental benders rely on a number of exactly equal bends being formed at numerous points along the tube. Done well this will give a nice curve – done not well and the tube will look like a thrupenny bit!

The prices that I received back to have the tube bent radially were greater than the cost of the tube and ran to hundreds of pounds. Mindful of my budget I decided that I would bend the tubes myself using the static bender I had in my workshop. Luckily I had a former for 20mm tube. By marking each pipe and making a jig to ensure that each individual bend was the same hopefully I would end up with a reasonable looking frame.

Making the Frame

By the time I arrived home at Christmas 2013 the tube and HDPE bar had arrived.

To start the bend off I made up a wooden former from an off cut of 20mm plywood. A number of short strips of ply were screwed to the side to guide the tube as it was being bent. Clamping the former in a vice allowed me to manually bend the tube around the former. As I was cold bending the tube it retained a degree of spring therefore further bending would be required to get it to its final shape.

The next stage in the bending of the tubes involved marking set points along each tube and then making small bends at each point using my tube bender. To make sure each bend was the same I made up a little jig which I could use to measure the distance between the tube and the top of the bender’s frame for each bend. This worked pretty well and soon I had the six quarter circle bends that I needed for the tent all of which looked the same!!

The HDPE rod was then cut into lengths and turned so that one end fitted snuggly inside the tube and the other would fit into the rowlock socket. With the length of HDPE rod inserted, a 5mm hole was then drilled through the tube and an A4 stainless steel bolt passed through to retain the HDPE rod. Stainless steel screws and bolts come generally as grade A2 or grade A4 – Grade A4 is marine grade.

I had originally planned to use HDPE rod to connect the pairs of quarter circle tubes together to form each of the three tent poles. I found however after a few trials that short lengths of 20mm UPVC plastic pipe worked better and made it easier to join the tubes. This would be important as no doubt sometimes we would be erecting the tent in not ideal conditions so simple and easy were the main objectives.

Once I had my three sets of poles they were fitted to Tra Bhui. The shape and outline looked good. I cut two short sections of tube to which I fitted 20mm cupped “T” pieces. These would join the arched tubes together horizontally at the top and give the whole frame some rigidity.

The Cover

My original plan was to make the cover myself, however I realized after thinking about it that the sensible solution was to get someone else to make it up based on a template that I would make. The main drivers behind this were – time, material cost (I would struggle to buy all the bits necessary for the cost of someone else making it up), the lack of a suitable sewing machine and last but not least no experience of sewing things (although this has never stopped me trying things before).

There are many sail makers /cover makers around the country but I chose to get prices from only a few.

· R& J Sails (www.rjsails.co.uk) who had just made new jib and mizzen sails for Tra Bhui and who had also made the excellent cover that had just arrived. R& J had previously made the sails for Braveheart and I knew that their product was excellent.

· Cover to Cover (www.cover2cover.co.uk) a company who I had not dealt with personally but who came highly recommended and who had a long track record of making similar tents for Drascombes

· Two local companies who were vague about what they could do and how much it would cost.

In the end I decided to go with Cover to Cover purely based on their history of making Drascombe tents and their budget price being lower than R&J Sails. I must admit to feeling a bit guilty over not using R&J Sails as the quality of their work and service is excellent, however the pictures of the tents that they had made before did not look as good as Cover to Cover’s.

With the frame made but not quite finished I made a pattern for the cover using lightweight polythene. Never having made a pattern before this was a new experience. With the frames marked on the polythene in black marker for reference I added doors, windows, eyelets which would allow our fenders to be hung etc.

The completed pattern was then photographed and removed for posting to Cover to Cover.

The tent will be made up in 150g Acrylic – in a nice bright Dark Grey.

So far I have had a number of conversations with Robert from Cover to Cover and everything so far is going to plan. All going well the tent should be ready in March 2014.