Frame assembly. Mark your wall tent frame parts on the last 3 inches of each frame part for ease of frame assembly. .
Lay out your complete frame on ground where each frame part and angle will go during assembly. Assembly instructions are listed under canvas tent info guide at website.
8 x 10 and 10 x 12 canvas tents have angle kits marked R for ridge and M for eaves. Angles for larger wilderness canvas tents are all marked P. These P angles are used both on the ridge and eaves.
Your wall tent should not be tight on your frame during tent set up. Cut your frame down if necessary. Excessive force pulling on a canvas tent weakens seams or will rip a tent. A tight zipper normally indicates your end rafters are too long. Please contact us with any concerns.
Always use a fly or a tarp to cover and protect wall tents. There are thousands of needle holes in tent roof. Occasionally, a needle hole will leak and your fly is another moisture barrier. Also, if a stove spark lands on you tent roof you can possibly have a hole in your roof. It is much easier to repair small spark holes in a fly with tape than repairing a canvas tent roof.
A fly also protects from UV rays which will eventually deteriorate canvas tents. Fly also protects from sap and dirt dripping off a tree. Removing sap with harsh chemicals or detergent will destroy tent treatments on canvas.
Put fly over your wall tent before installing frame legs during frame assembly and tent set up.
Tie your stove jack flap back with tight knots before installing legs on frame. Your stove jack will burn if it is against the stove pipe.. Every year people have canvas tent fires due to not tying the stove jack flap back properly. The stove jack flap against the hot stove pipe starts the tent on fire.
Remove your fly or extended fly during high winds. Fly's flapping in strong winds will rip out the reinforced grommets.
On each ridge end there is a grommet to use for staking out a tent in windy conditions. Your wall tent is like a large sail and your tent will fly away if not staked down properly.
Use heavy duty steel stakes for staking out canvas tent and fly. Plastic, aluminum, and thin metal stakes are of little use when camping in rocky areas. 18” rebar stakes are recommended for eave ropes and fly's.
Use your rope tensioners to adjust rope until your wall tent and fly are tight.
Leaving a wall tent set up for extended periods of time must always have a fly or tarp to prevent canvas damage.
Water, snow and ice will collect in the low area at the bottom of the roof just before the eave side poles. This low area is called an eave trough. Your tent and fly must be very tight to avoid water, snow or ice buildup in this trough. When a canvas tent has an eave trough the trough area will become deeper and deeper due to the weight of the water, snow or ice accumulation in this trough. In a worst case situation, the canvas rips or the frame bends due to the weight. Additionally, canvas saturated in water at the eave trough will rot and develop mold.
Snow loads. If you can possibly have heavy snow loads your frame will require extra rafters. A house has rafters every 2 feet and a plywood roof to withstand heavy snow loads.
Stove Fireproof mat. A stove should never be placed on top of any material that is flammable. Insure you have a nonflammable material or a fireproof mat under your stove to prevent a fire. Fireproof mat should normally be long enough to have 6 inches to the rear of the stove and 12 inches at stove door end. Occasionally, embers will fall out when opening stove door.
You must check stove spark arrestor daily. Spark arrestor can become clogged in 1 day depending on type of wood used. Clogged spark arrestor will cause smoke in your tent. In line spark arrestors are strongly recommended for ease of cleaning.
All Canvas Tents will burn regardless of treatment if there is a continuous flame source on the canvas. I recommend always having a fire extinguisher at your camp site.
Drying rack. I use a piece of conduit and tie to ridge angles.
Keeping canvas tents clean. When taking down tent, lift up walls and clean your sod cloth and sides of your canvas tent with a towel. Always fold your tent inside to inside to keep the inside of your tent clean.
Never put away a wet tent. Regardless of treatment, all canvas tents will mold and mildew if put away wet. If it is raining when you return home, I recommend putting a rope through the ridge openings and tie rope to garage end walls. Pull out sidewalls to allow for air circulation. Insure you store tent in a mouse proof container.
Questions. Please call 1 880 234 1150 if you have questions.