My Finished Living Space

A few months ago I found a nice shady spot near my tent that I began setting up as a living area. It started with just a few camp chairs and a tiki torch. Then I added a hammock, which was a huge improvement. I've spent many hours in that hammock already. Next came a picnic table. Then a camp stove and a fire ring. And finally I built a frame and added a wooden swing.

My "living room"

The hammock gets a lot of use

I love this space. I often have friends over for dinner and drinks and we spend most of our time down here. I keep a cooler at the picnic table and fill it with ice when I entertain. This area is about 20 yards from my tent and I've made a path and lined it with tiki torches. It's so nice at night. I'll bring down my CD player and do some outdoor cooking. Grilled sweet corn, fish, or steaks. Fresh vegetables. Goat cheese and bread warmed on the coals. I've even brought down the camp oven and made grilled steak nachos with fresh guacamole. And always plenty of beer on ice. And a hammock calling out my name. It's my favorite "room".

FAIL!: Rain Fly Support System, Version 2.0

A few weeks ago, I complete my new, re-designed rain fly support system. The support system consisted of two vertical 4x4 posts and a horizontal 25-foot cross piece running from post to post. I built the cross piece using doubled-up 1x8s, face-bolted together. I staggered the joints so that they were 4 feet apart.

The finished board was 1-1/2" thick x 7-1/4" tall x 300" long (that is, 25'). It was a ribbon of a board, and when you picked up one end the tried to get it to stand on edge, it would inevitably twist and turn and lay down flat at the other end. I was a little concerned about this behavior because I needed the board to stand on edge once I fastened it to the posts.

When I first installed the cross piece, it had a nice, gentle twist to the right. It sort of reminded me of the pleasant lines taken by wooden strakes on a rowboat. But I didn't want this thing to glide through water, I wanted it to stand up on edge. My good friend, Tom, who helped me put the board in place said, "You'll never get the twist out of that thing." Well, maybe, but I was still gonna try my best.

I attached a few ropes at different locations on the board and pulled and tugged as needed to get the board to stand up on edge. I finally got it pretty close and staked the ropes in place.

The board would hold its position for about a day before slowly sagging and twisting in a new direction. So I'd pull and tug and stake out the ropes again, only to have the board twist at yet another place a day or so later. This cat-and-mouse game continued for awhile. Then, a few days ago, I was trying to straighten out a particularly nasty twist and heard a "crack!" I peaked under the rain fly and saw exactly what I didn't want to see. One of the joints had cracked. And with that bad joint, there was no way the board would handle any sort of a snow load this winter.

Failed joint in the 25-foot cross piece

Well, turns out Tom was right. I couldn't get that thing straightened out. I'm leaving the board in place for now, since it's still fine during the summer when there's no snow. The rain fly has quite a sag, but it's still sheds rain just fine, and it offers much needed shade on these hot summer days.

Twisted cross piece and saggy rain fly

Okay, okay, so let me be the first to say it: FAIL! I guess it's back to the drawing board (and I already have some ideas for Version 3.0).

Completed Rain Fly Provides Welcome Shade

A few weeks ago, I complete my rain fly support system. The support system consists of two 4x4 posts, one in front and the other in back of the tent, with a 25-foot board running parallel to the roof ridge from the top of one post to the top of the other.

Completed support system

With the support system in place, the final step was to drape the tarp over the cross piece, spread it out flat, and stake it down. I fastened metal conduit to the eaves of the rain fly using nylon zip ties. That kept the lines straight so that water would shed properly, and spread the tension across the full set of grommets instead of just a few.

Tarp in place

I designed the support system such that the rain fly would be 2 to 3 feet above the peak of the tent roof. That would keep the hot summer air away from the tent. The rain fly would act as a big shade tree in the summer. And it worked better than expected. The shading effect has reduced my interior temperature by more than 15 degrees. Now, when it's 95 degrees outside and the summer sun is directly overhead, it only reaches perhaps 97 or 98 degrees inside the tent.

Two-foot gap between tent and rain fly allows air to circulate