Tents

Cool idea Adrian...
How easy would it be to change that model slightly, so that where the pole goes is semicircular, and the foot end is a sloping triangle?

Won't be hard. E-mail me a sketch and I'll see what I can do. Will PM you.

@PapaD what are you planning on using for the poles and how are you gonna source it?

Macc,

Yes, that will have to be my starting point...

Bush and Bundu have a set or 2 which I haven't seen, I can only get in there next week sometime.
So I'm not sure as to their suitability, but I would definitely have to mod those anyway, which is
not that difficult..

Failing that I could always multi-use the poles from my Cool Mountains, would just mean that
the 2 could never be used together, and I'd have to change the configuration of the pole for each tent's use..

Otherwise look around for someone that has some spare poles, perhaps a tent trashed, or blown away..

I'll see what transpires at B & B next week.

none of the chain stores that I phoned sells aluminium poles, one of them, I can't remember which,
has glassfibre poles, but I don't want to use those, obviously,,

@PapaD, give the guys at Hulamin a call. I was blown away by their excellent customer service when I was trying to source Alanod. They couldn't help me, but they did try their best I must say. Hopefully you can get an off the shelf item for you. Guys making arrow shafts may still use aluminium, although I think most are carbon:
www.hulaminextrusions.co.za/

Otherwise I'll mail Earl at E-Metals Cape and ask him as my Mountain Hardware Hammerhead 2 tent is lying bust because the sleeves on the joins of the poles are toast and I've never bothered to find a replacement but maybe I should as the tent still has a few years in it and was fantastic. I don't know if that tent is around, I think it's been discontinued, but it was awesome. Here it is next to the Doring River:

Thanks for that Adrian

I'll check out the Bush and Bundu ones next week, when I say they would need mod, probably just to undo the shock cord and remove a few sections of the poles.

If I don't come right I'll definitely try your recommendations, thanks!

Cheers

Papa Dragon,

Mine is double wall and very easy to pitch. The inner section hooks onto the hoops with clips so you pitch it as one unit. Works very well in the rain/snow as nothing inside will get wet.
Was just thinking, the one thing I don't like of the Nallo 3 is that the footbox is too low (be careful of making yours too low). For me anyway. I find that my feet tend to touch the upper section of the tent at the bottom and then condensation becomes an issue. If you're short then this wouldn't be a problem, but stretched out I'm about 2,20m when I lie on my side and my size 12 flippers is about 28cm high when I sleep on my back, so either way I touch something at the bottom of the tent.

Thanks Riaan, I'll bear that in mind..
I'm quite a bit shorter than you though

I have 2 tents:
1) MSR Hubba. I guess it would be a 3 season tent. I only used it once in the berg. The inner walls are only mesh so the wind blows under the outer sheath, through the inner sheath and over me. So the tent is not good in cold windy weather like the Drakensberg.

2) Old Cape Epic tent; their sponsors changed so they had to sell them and we bought it from them for about R250 each. My nephew bought the rest, about 200x of them and sold them for a profit. They are really good quality, weighs only 2200g and sleeps 2 people. So don't think cheap is always bad. Anyway, back to my point. This tent also has 2 walls, see the attached image. The inner is not mesh but an almost wind-proof fabric. There should be a mesh fabric at the top otherwise condensation could be a problem. So no matter how hard the wind blows it is wind still inside the tent.



So my point is make sure the tent is wind-proof. It doesn't have to have snow flaps, the inner material must just be 'solid', not mesh.

Papa Dragon, the only hiking thing you haven't made yourself is a GPS. Just kidding, keep up the good work.
You DIYers inspire me so much I made my own jet boil stove. I will post it later in the week.