THE CLYDE TENT.
Some canoeists who indulge in river cruising prefer to sleep on board their craft, sometimes afloat, and sometimes on shore. Truly the simplest style of camping out alone is sleeping in the canoe. Sleeping on board, afloat or on shore, is, however, a thankless job, and there is not the comfort or satisfaction that arises from the use of a tent. The canoe is, for sea cruising, too unstable for such use afloat, and is seldom designed for such use ashore, although it may have the recommendation that dryness of couch is thereby obtainable. For general comfort and satisfaction, a tent is truly the sine qui non for sleeping in, and there can always be found a plot of ground beside a running stream where the canvas walls can be erected.
A tent must have many qualities ; it must be light to carry, simple in its erection, free from draughts, strong enough to stand up in a gale of wind, and, above all, perfectly watertight. The members of the Clyde Canoe Club claim that the Clyde tent combines these qualifications, and no true canoeist who has once slept in a Clyde tent cares to try any other design. Its most essential item is dryness internally, in the heaviest rainfall. One great feature is the simplicity of its construction, in that the floor, walls, and roof are in one length of cloth, sewn together at the floor edge.
The tent shown in the drawing is made suitable for the accommodation of two canoeists.
These illustrations will now be considered in detail, so that the construction may be better understood.
The corner letters in each view of tent are all intended to correspond with each other.
In Fig. 152 B to F, or the rectangular piece B F M Z, is the floor of ground sheet; EF L31 and L C B P, walls ; L E D K, and DK CL the roof, K to D being the ridge ; V is a ventilator. The strip marked S is for hemming or counter-hemming the back and front ends of tent to floor, walls, and roof.
In Fig. 153 D K is the ridge; D E L K, one side of roof; E F N L, wall ; F N, edge of ground sheet ; 0, ridge pole (horizontal) ; (1, tent pole (perpendicular) and back of tent, placed close to the tent; H, tent pole at door, sometimes 12in. or l8in. from front of tent, to allow free ingress or egress to tent; V, ventilator; R R R, guy rings; S S S S and A, tent pins. Fig. 154, D, ridge; C D and D E, roof ; C B and E F, walls ; B F, ground sheet ; I, gay ropes; P, tent pins ; V, ventilator shown open— when required to be shut, a cord leading to the inside closes it.
Fig. 155, D, ridge; C D and D E, roof ; C B and E F, walls ; B F, floor; D (1, door shown shut, with eyelets for lacing same; when open, a space equal to a triangle B D F is formed by tying the two corners G to the angles C and E.
iron or brass pins, B being thrust into the ground to steady the pole, while A on each pole keeps the ridge pole 0 steady.
Fig. 158 is an enlarged view of R in Fig. 153, showing the ring R, to which stout woven cord guy ropes, like I in Fig. 154 are fastened.
Fig. 160 shows a copper lamp, which is hung up to the ridge pole inside the tent at night. The glass globe is of thick glass, and is protected by two cross copper wires. The lamp divides in the centre, thereby enabling the oil receiver and lamp proper Z to be removed for cleaning or renewing oil or wick. Y Y Y Y are rings through which a rope is rove to steady the lamp while at the masthead when paddling at night after dark.
In the construction, having cut out in one length sufficient cloth to make the floor, walls, and roof, and sewn the edges Z B and P B (Fig. 152) together, the back end, Fig. 154, can now be sewn in, as also can the door end, Fig. 155, care being taken that the corners BF ED and C take their right places. The door is sewn along all its outside edges, except from B to F, and, after being laced, is kept close down by means of the lacing cord being made fast to the tent pin at G.
Figs. 153 and 154 show outside finished dimensions, and the dotted lines correspond to the strip S in Fig. 152, which, being a double seam, gives extra strength. Along all the edges, such as F M, E L, C L, B P in Fig. 152, and B C D E F in Figs. 154 and 155, there is a stout cord sewn, and on each edge F M, E L, C L, and B P, and B F front and back, and at suitable intervals, there are brass rings sewn ; those along the ground lines, to receive the tent pins to hold ground sheet down ; and along E L and C L, are similar rings as R in Fig. 153 and R in Fig. 158, to which guy ropes are attached, and at the ground end of gay rope is a loop in which is clipped round the tent pin when same is being driven home.