The Armour Archive

I'm seriously considering getting a Wall Tent. Fits a variety of periods, up through the American Civil War, all the way back to Roman times.

I'm not asking for a debate on whether or not they are period, or who makes the most period looking one.

I'm asking who makes the best QUALITY ones.

I'm considering ordering from Blockade Runners.

http://www.blockaderunner.com/Catalog/catpg31.htm

I've read good things about them so far.

Anybody on here ever buy a tent from them (of any style)? What is their quality?

We love our wall tent from FC Suttler. Sunforger, great construction, super price. We've never had an problem with them and neither has anyone else who've we're suggested get them.

http://www.fcsutler.com/fccanvas.asp

They will also do custom tents

Adrielle Kerrec wrote:We love our wall tent from FC Suttler. Sunforger, great construction, super price. We've never had an problem with them and neither has anyone else who've we're suggested get them.

http://www.fcsutler.com/fccanvas.asp

They will also do custom tents

+1 to her majesties suggestion. The extra room of a wall tent rocks.

Just checked out Fall Creek. Nice looking tents. However, I am not seeing an option for a ground cloth.

Nor do they apparently offer the poles.

I do like their stake puller and lantern arm though.

I have the Hospital tent (15 x 14) from http://www.fcsutler.com/fccanvas.asp I influenced another 20 to be bought from them in Trimaris. We love them. You can make ropes, tension bocks, and poles, for around 125$. Well worth it IMO.

Thor.

asbrand wrote:Just checked out Fall Creek. Nice looking tents. However, I am not seeing an option for a ground cloth.

Nor do they apparently offer the poles.

I do like their stake puller and lantern arm though.

Ground cloths can be made, so can the poles even cheaper. When we picked our wall tent up at Pennsic this year, the poles to our tent had disappeared, we were able to manufacture new poles for $35.00 and a trip to Home Depot.

Andy at Fall creek will always take good crae of you. He is the only recommended tent seller our unit uses. I have had one of his ACW Wedge tents for over 15 years, and although a little soiled, it still performs like new.

We too made our own poles, ropes etc. For a ground cloth we use a canvas painters drop cloth - works great.

I make a lot of poles for other people.

There is a good tutorial here:
http://www.currentmiddleages.org/tents/ ... framepoles
Or you can buy "the pavilion book"

I make mine out of dimesional framing lumber, chamfer all 4 sides (octogonal shape) and counter bore the top and put a reenforcing ring around the top in, then the pin. I also seal mine.
I have never had to replace poles (15+ years of reenacting).
Best part is that you do not need a lot of tools to make poles.

After years of mundane tents, my wife and I finally bought a period tent from FC Suttler as well, and we have never been happier with it. We use a heavy duty tarp put down over the sod cloth with a piece of outdoor carpet on top and have had absolutley NO problems whatsoever. I made out poles, ropes and such for about $45-50 or so.

asbrand wrote:
I'm considering ordering from Blockade Runners.

http://www.blockaderunner.com/Catalog/catpg31.htm

I've read good things about them so far.

Anybody on here ever buy a tent from them (of any style)? What is their quality?

I have, the large wall tent.

going on 7 years of use. Works awesome. Make sure to get the sod cloth and back door.

asbrand wrote:Just checked out Fall Creek. Nice looking tents. However, I am not seeing an option for a ground cloth.

Nor do they apparently offer the poles.

I do like their stake puller and lantern arm though.

My wife and I bought our wall tent from FC. We bought the stakes from them at the same time.

Then we bought the shade fly (and more stakes) and ground cloth the next year.

It has served us well for going on 5 years now. No leaking. Did have to replace the ground loops (cotton strapping that rotted - knew it was going to happen).

We made our own ridge and poles.

We bought the 10X12 - 7ft high at ridge. 41 inches at sides. doors at both ends.

We are very happy with it.

I had great luck with a couple of Blokade runner tents- the large wall tent among them. You won't be disapointed.
Drefan

+1 on FC Suttler. I *did* have a problem with the fabric in the 2nd one I purchased from them, and they replaced the panel without much difficulty.

We don't use an attached ground cloth either - DO get the mudflaps, though. Then we use a basic tarp as a ground cloth, and cover with rugs. We also made our own poles, and are planning to make breakdown poles at some point so we can take the tent w/o our trailer if need be.

I recently ordered a wall tent from FC suttler. While I haven't put it up yet (or even made poles for it) I can vouch for their excellent customer service and quick delivery.

+1 FC suttler

Just curious to those who use the 10 x 12 x7 wall tent, for your main ridgepole, do you use a 12 foot pole, or do you have some way of joining two six footers together ( I am looking to do something like that for ease of travel)

We made a 3-sided box to splice the ends of our ridge pole together. The first edition is thin aluminum (I think) - but we've bought one of diamondplate aluminum that should hold up much better.

We've found it works best to slice the ends of the ridge poles on a diagonal, and bolt each to the box with 2 or 3 bolts. We use wingnuts to make it easy to tighten and loosen the bolts. I could probably send you a picture of the parts if you give me some time to get them taken at home...

asbrand wrote:Just checked out Fall Creek. Nice looking tents. However, I am not seeing an option for a ground cloth.

Nor do they apparently offer the poles.

I do like their stake puller and lantern arm though.

Ground cloth = blue construction tarp covered by a painters canvas drop cloth. You can make a nice one for about $40

Ewen MacSuibhne wrote:Just curious to those who use the 10 x 12 x7 wall tent, for your main ridgepole, do you use a 12 foot pole, or do you have some way of joining two six footers together ( I am looking to do something like that for ease of travel)

I use this:



From blockade runner. It is a 2x4 sleeve. Works great. Allows me to have 2 6ft poles that join in the middle.

We have a 10x10 plus the 12x14 fly by Panther. No floor, just a ground cloth. We did the poles ourselves. It stayed up through a tornado the first time we used it. It is very well made and I find it is plently roomy for 2.

My squire has a Panther wall tent. It's withstood a decade of significant abuse, and is still going strong.



alail/scott

Thanks for all the opinions, folks.

Yes, I know I *could* make the poles and ropes. I even have all the tools to do so.

I just don't have the time (before Gulf Wars) to do so. Too much other stuff to do.

I've got a wall tent from Panther. Over ten years old and it is still in great shape.

Jurgen