I wanted a tent large enough for my elk hunting trips that would comfortably sleep 4 people with a stove and all our gear for 3+ weeks in the backcountry of Washington, Idaho and Oregon. I wanted it to be compact and light enough that my pack goats could easily carry it. It needed to be frame-less, using rope and brush to set it up.Â
I stumbled upon Ripstop By The Roll as a possible material source and couldn't be happier. I got a cheap ($60) sewing machine and some thread that seemed tough enough (Coates Outdoor thread). I made my order with ease, and the material showed up quickly. This tent will far exceed our needs this fall. The finished product has a 7.5' peak height with about 4' wide of me standing up (I'm 6'2"). The finished total carry weight is 7.6#. I used a 35 degree angle for the roof as that seemed to be a good compromise for width, height, and rain run off. Each end has a zippered door, so the tent is identical front-and-back.Â
Since the stove jack is centered in the tent, and there is no ridge pole to support it, I put a loop on the jack material to use 2 ropes to guy out perpendicular to the ridge rope so my Lite Outdoors Titanium XL stove pipe will be solid in any wind angle. The ridge peak loops secure it in one direction, and the stove jack loop secures it in the other direction.Â
