Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

Ti6CAMPING AND WOODCRAFTin various lightweight materials, besides commontents, of course. It will strike American campersas peculiar that none of the extra thin materialsused in tents up to 7 x 7 size are subjected to anywaterproofing process whatever. For rain-sheddingquality they depend solely, like an umbrella,upon the closeness with which the textile is woven.On examining these clothes one is surprised at theirexceeding fineness of texture. Some of the cottongoods are woven almost twice as fine as our so-called"balloon silk" or the 4-ounce special Lowell clothused for extra-light racing sails on small craft.The best lawns, etc., are made from Egyptiancotton, which has a stronger and finer fiber thanAmerican cotton, and is said to be 15 per cent,stronger. In spite of this, I doubt if any thin, unprocessedtent is really rainproof unless it is stretchedvery taut and the occupant takes great pains toavoid touching it from the inside. In a shelter onlythree or four feet high, and wedge-shaped, one canhardly help rubbing against the interior, and thenwill come the drip-drip that we know too well.Even the rear wall, though vertical, will be rubbedhy one's pillow in a very short tent, and then, ifrain is driven by the wind, this wall will leak.The only remedy would be to waterproof the clothor use a fly.There is another objection to extremely thintenting material: it requires tighter stretching, andhence more pegs, than stouter material would, or itwill belly and sag. Moreover, it stretches excessively,and then the poles will no longer fit. Mr.Holding himself reports that a small tent stretchesfrom three to nine inches, in service. Waterproofingwould prevent nearly all of this, for it is thealternate tightening and loosening of the cloth fromwetting and drying that makes the fiber of the materialloosen up.A feature of some of the English tents that deservescopying is the angular extension of lower edgeof door flaps, so that the doors can be pegged out