pavilions-msg - 2/8/08
The making of medieval pavilions.
NOTE: See also the files: p-tents-msg, p-tent-const-art, tent-alt-msg,
tent-making-msg, tent-fabrics-msg, tent-sources-msg, tents-weather-msg,
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messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.
This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium.
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Mark S. Harris AKA: Lord Stefan li Rous
mark.s.harris at motorola.com stefan at florilegium.org
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From: DEGROFF at intellicorp.COM (Leslie DeGroff)
Date: 9 May 91 18:58:03 GMT
An changing topics still again
Yaakov HaMizrachi
> 50 5x6 ft peices of fabric for a bedoen tent 750 sq ft <
Its the right order of magnitude for a medium sized one,
? Were you including a floor... those types of tents typically
did not have floors, rugs and cushions were extra.
Size may depend on your intent, if it's mostly to camp in
you might get by with half that.. if you wish to entertain
as a proper wealthy nomad might, a roughly 20 by 20 , 6 ft
at drop point,8 ft in the center tent would take about that
much (with out a floor, more if you modernize)
Estrella Weather
Date: 24 Feb 92
From: dlc at hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Dennis Clark)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Fort Collins, CO, USA
mary at ossi.com (Mary Seabrook) writes:
> Hindsight, being the best way of predicting anything of course, says that
> there was an announcement in court on Saturday evening about the imminent
> arrival of a cold front.
>
> This brought high winds (I think 75 mph gusts were mentioned) and some rain
> although that was minor in comparison to the wind.
>
> Having chosen prime battle-front property for our encampment, we discovered
> that the large expanse of open field just gave the wind a clear access to
> the camp!
>
> I didn't hear of any major problems, and the Ramadas were set up as
> temporary sleeping areas for those people who had lost thier accomodations.
By all accounts that I got that Saturday evening, and again Sunday morning
it seems that about a third of the tents went down temporarily or permanently.
It was a BIG wind. I am happy to say that even though the sturdy mundane
tents took a beating, the two "Tentmaster's" period pavillions in the barony's
encampment ignored the wind completely! Those pavillions took in the orphaned
that night. It was kind of fun anyway, lots of off-the-cuff bardics were
spawned by the storm 8*)
> Elizabeth
Kevin
Pavilions - Cost - Materials - Time to Erect
Date: 19 Jun 92
From: haslock at rust.zso.dec.com (Nigel Haslock)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation - DECwest Engineering
I built my pavilion because I was tired of living, with my family, in a dome
tent for the two weeks I was spending at Pennsic each year. The pavilion has
been slightly revised a couple of times since then.
Cost to reproduce in its current form ~ $350
Materials - { roughly 45 yds of 60" twill, 6 board foot of Ash,
8 x 8' by 1" Schedule 80 PVC pipe, 100' 1/2" manilla
or sisal, 200' 3/16" nylon cord, 2 sq ft oiled leather,
11 large wooden stakes, 15 small stakes (6" plastic),
40 grommets, 16" of 2" galvanized iron pipe, 11' of 3/4"
dowel }
Time to Erect - 30 to 45 minutes working alone (extra bodies do not help much)
Size - 15 foot diameter circle, 5'6" high walls, 15' ground to roof peak.
The fabric and poles are carried around in a kit bag with the
poles sticking out of the end. The ropes stakes and mallet are
carried in a milk crate.
The fabric I bought was fine twill labeled either gabardine or sailcloth and
is an appropriate weight for making raincoats. As such it can be (and was)
sewn without problem on a household sewing machine. I considered treating
the cloth with a waterpoofing agent but eventually neglected to do so because
of the cost. I chose to use polycotton because I fine that polycotton wears
well and blocks evough UV to prevent my skin from burning.
The pavillion saw more rain at Pennsic that it has in the Great Northwest. It
has not been waterproofed but is effective at keeping rain out. The tension
on the roof fabric and the slope of the roof seen to be adequate to shed
rain. There is no point at which bellies can form on the roof so the water
runs down the dags and onto the walls. The things is big enough that it is
easy to avoid contact with the wet walls. As might be expected, heavy rain
punches through the fabric as a mist. We keep a supply of drop cloths and
tarps to protect stuff from such mist.
Canvas seemed like overkill to me. Perhaps it would make sense if the
pavillion were to be exposed to the elements for longer periods each year. As
it is, the pavillion is in its fourth year. It has been used for between 10
and 20 days every year and the only signs of wear are a few spots where the
dye has run, or the grommets failed, or the fabric is trying to pull at a
seam.
The roof is a cone made in ten triangular panels. The panels were cut from
60" wide cloth and the length of a seam is 11'6". To produce a round roof,
rather than an angular one, the roof edge was arced instead of straight,
and arced with a radius of 11'6". Laying the panels out and cutting them was
one of the more difficult steps. I ended up making a pile of five layers of
cloth on the patio and playing with chalk and string to mark the cuts. Each
layer of fabric provided one complete panel and two half panels.
There is a 3" diameter hole at the peak which is reinforced by a wide strip
of oiled leather inside and out. The strip is pierced by four grommets. Pieces
of rope are passed through the holes to form to loops. A rope is tied to these
loops and then to the top of the center pole to suspend the roof.
A cloth tube is sewn to the edge of the roof. This tube is just big enough to
carry the PVC pipe. The PVC pipe is cut into 11 sections, 5' long. A piece of
dowel is fastened to one end of each section of pipe. The pieces of dowel are
6" long and 3/4" in diameter and they are fastened so that 3" of dowel
protrudes from the end of the pipe. When collopsed, 10 of these sections of
pipe are left in the cloth tube and the roof is folded along the seams between
the panels. To erect the tent, the edge of the roof is stretched out and the
sections of pipe are joined together. Forcing the eleventh setion of pipe
into the tube and closing the sections into a ring provings all of the
needed rigidity. The cloth tube should be slightly longer than is necessary
for the hoop. That way the PVC is completely concealed when the hoop is in
place.
I bought a lump of ash at a timberyard. It was 6' long, 6" wide and 8/4 or
2" thick. I had the man rip cut it into three sections, roughly 2" square
and 6' long. The hardware store provided some 2" diameter galvanized pipe
for the sockets. Some time in the workshop was necessary to shape the ends
of the ash sections to make them fit. The top section of the pole was also
carved down so that ropes tied there would not slide down the pole. I believe
that this pole is much heavier than it needs to be, but I am not willing to
spend money on replacement, lighter, versions (it ain't broke so I ain't going
to fix it!).
Having tied the roof to the top of the pole, I tie the center of another rope
to the top of the pole, giving me three guy lines to the top of the pole.
I knock three stakes into ground centered on the foot of the pole. I tie two
of the guy lines to two stakes. I then use some spare stakes to form a box
for the foot of the pole in the direction of the third stake. I can then,
singlehand, pull the pole up by the third guy line. Once the pole is up, I
tie the guy line to the stake and adjust the tension on all of the guy lines.
The edge of the roof also carries the dagging and a set of 'crows foot' lines.
There are eight groups of crows foot lines, evenly spaced around the roof.
Each group consists of two lines that make overlapping loops. The loops lie
outside the dagging but the ends are threaded between the roof and the dags
and are spliced around the tube carrying the PVC pipe (I am sure that
simply tying them would work but I enjoy splicing rope).
With the roof set up, the next step is to stake down the crows feet. A guy line
is tied through both loops of a group to a stake so that the guy line is close
to vertical. The guy lines may need to be adjusted to get the edge of the
roof to be horizontal. It is very easy to get one guy line too short and so
distort the roof line.
The walls can now be attatched (this is amusing in high winds). The walls are
simply a long strip a fabric, 5'6" wide. They need loops at the bottom edge
to take stakes and they need small loops at the top edge to take toggles
or some other form of button. The buttons or toggles must be attached to the
edge of the roof or around the pipe tube. I have a button every 12 inches or
so. Making sure that you have absolutely regular spacing of the buttons and
button loops means that you can start anywhere (I didn't do that so I waste
time trying to find the start point and orienting it so that the door is
where I want it to be). All of my loops are made by means of rope through
grommets and the grommets that last are through pieces of leather.
My walls come in two pieces so that I have both a front and a back door. The
back door is rarely used however. My walls also have a 5' overlap at the front
door. This was so that one could leaving or enter during a storm without
letting rain into the tent. The overlay has been put to another use at the last
two events. Unbuttoning a few more feet of wall from the roof allows the ends
to be tied to the center pole to provide a shetered nook for visitors while
maintaining privacy for the contents of the pavilion, i.e. allowing me to
concel the mundanities of the rest of my gear.
A possible improvement would be to carry a few sticks that are the height of
the wall and have fitments to care the hoop at the top. These could be used to
support both the hoop and the wall on the upwind side of the tant. Today, when
the wind blows, the upwind wall bellies into the tent, lowering the roof edge.
The downwind edge does not move, or it rises if the tent wall was inadequately
staked down.
The interior of the pavilion is huge. The reason for the size to allow a
double bed to be set up at one side of the center pole (anything less than
14' requires that there be no center pole. The walls are high enough that one
can stand erect anywhere inside the tent (although anyone over 5' tall must
duck under the dagging to get it. My family is too undisciplined to be tidy
so our possessions tend to spread out untidily to fill the space. On the
other hand, as a Lord, is not my duty to be extravagant?
I realize that this description may not be adequate to reproduce my pavillion
but I hope that it might encourage someone else to try. In addition to the
materials, I would guess that I spent about 40 hours putting the pieces
together. I feel that anyone who can afford a new cabin tent can probably
afford to build a pavillion and that the trade off between authenticity and
convenience is not that great.
Fiacha
Aquaterra, AnTir
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
From: mittle at watson.ibm.com (Arval Benicoeur)
Subject: Re: Pavillions
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 1993 18:17:08 GMT
Organization: IBM T.J. Watson Research
Greetings from Arval!
Robur wrote:
> What are the plusses and minuses you have found with owning a pavillion?
> Ones that come to mind for me are the ground cloth not being an
> integtral, and hense bug free, part of the pavillion. Or, stability in
> wind of a 14 foot high sail.
I own a 14 ft. mitred octagon pavilion made by Tentmasters, and I have
absolutely no complaints. I have not run afoul either of the problems you
listed. The walls of my pavilion drape onto the ground and are well-staked
into place; I have a separate heavy plastic tarp which I use as a
groundcloth; it covers the entire floor and folds up about three inches all
around. I've never had any problems with bugs or moisture getting in under
the walls. A well-designed pavilion should have no problem standing up to
anything short of serious stormwinds. At Esterlla last year, the windstorm
knocked down many pavilions; I am told that not a single Tentmasters
pavilion blew down. Tentmasters products aren't cheap, but you get what
you pay for. I recommend that you buy their full package, with poles,
stakes, ropes, and bags. They make fitted groundclothes; I didn't get one.
The two annoyances that I've had to deal with are transportation and
cleaning. My car is not suited to transporting 9 ft. tent poles; if you
have a larger vehicle or a roof rack, this should be no problem. A
pavilion needs to be put up for cleaning and thorough airing and drying
before it can be stored; otherwise, the fabric will rot. If you don't have
a place to erect your pavilion convenient to your home, this can be a pain.
===========================================================================
Arval Benicoeur mittle at watson.ibm.com
From: haslock at rust.zso.dec.com (Nigel Haslock)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Pavillions
Date: 20 Apr 1993 18:58:09 GMT
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation - DECwest Engineering
I have a pavillion I made myself. It is about 15' across and about the same
high. It has a single center pole and a sectional PVC pipe hoop. It is made of
polycotton sailcloth. I can set up camp in about an hour. unassisted if there
is no wind. Helpers are necessary if there is and noticable wind. Teardown
takes about as long, mostly due to time spent packing stuff.
The pavillion provides a lot of space and encourages the family to be
excessively untidy (including myself).
It has been used at Pennsic and has survived both wind and rain there. A
couple of drop cloths are recommended. Rain tends to punch through the
fabric as a light mist and get everything exposed damp. The huge air volume
makes the tent slow to react to temperature changes. It stays warm longer
in the evenings and cool longer in the morning. Bugs have not been a problem.
I consider the lack of an integral groundcloth to be an advantage as my
biggest problem used to be puddles forming on top of the groundcloth. We
put down groundcloths where we are going to pile our possessions. Any water
that creeps under the walls tends to seed into the ground before it can
do any damage.
The volume also means that it is no hardship to keep everything away from the
walls.
The height and striking color of the pavilion makes it a landmark in any camp
and thus makes it easier for our children to find their way home (my apologies
to obsessive autocrats but I feel that children have a right and a need to
send some time out of sight of their parents). Commercial pavillions tend to
be monochrome and thus this may not be a general advantage.
One of the biggest advantages for me is that it simply looks more
authentic.
A possible disadvantage is that it becomes a little more difficult to hand
your tent to an 'advance party' and expect to find it set up when you arrive.
The tent is bulkier and heavier than a modern equivalent. If you have to
teardown in the rain, it will be that much more of a problem to dry it out
after you get home. Use of natural fibers means that you will have to
worry about mildew and insect damage to the fabric.
Fiacha
Aquaterra, AnTir
From: DEW at ECL.PSU.EDU (Baron Dur al-Jabar)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Tent Fire-proofing...a solution is found!
Date: 17 May 1993 02:24:22 GMT
Organization: Orluk Oasis
Greetings!
Countess Mariake asked me earlier this year if I knew of a fire-proofing for
tents. At the time, the only thing I knew about was available commericially
and not cheap.
Enter Palymar (comming in with the two best "solutions" of Pennsic so far)
with information and sources for this material.
In short, it is a water soluable spray that you can apply yourself to your
tent (it is non-toxic), and it will "fire-proof" the tent. (We did a demo
using some cotton fabric that we lightly treated with the spray. After it
dried, we soaked the fabric with an accelerant and set it on fire. The areas
that were treated _didn't even scorch_, while the rest just burned away.)
The pricing on this is not set (nobody retails it yet), but it might be
something around $20/qt or $65/gal (a qt will cover 250 sq ft, and a gal
covers 1000 sq ft).
Dur
(Next time you see Palymar, remember to thank him for the other "solution" of
Pennsic, the hand-washing dispensers in the porta-castles. And you thought he
was only a stick-jock...)
Dale E. Walter |Dur of Hidden Mountain
dew at ecl.psu.edu |Orluk Oasis on the War Road (of Aethelmarc)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
From: whheydt at pbhya.PacBell.COM (Wilson Heydt)
Subject: Re: Error in Complete Anachronist
Organization: Pacific * Bell, San Ramon, CA
Date: Fri, 21 May 1993 22:48:06 GMT
In article <1993May21.193414.28909 at umr.edu> asparrow at cs.umr.edu (Aethelynda d'Eath) writes:
>Puzzled greetings from Calanais.
>
>My lady mother and I are constructing a
>A-frame Viking Pavillion as per the CA "Pavillions
>of the Knowne World"
>
>However: Figure four of the article has nothing
>to do with what the text says it does. It should
>give the dimensions of the tent's end, but instead shows an example
>of opposing frame decoration.
>
>I have done the calculations for the triangle
>and would like someone who has made such
>a tent to confirm. The dimensions are (not counting
>seam allowances) 4' base, 7' height, and a bit over
>8' on the hypoteneuse.
>
>If anyone has any other suggestions on tent-making,
>I would be interested.
Having been using this type of tent for something over 20 years....
My ends are 8-foot equilateral triangles, so that makes the end flaps
what you've calculated. It is, however, a good idea to allow them to
overlap a bit. You can also drill holes (about 1/2") in the bottom
board, stick a rope loop through the hole, put grommets near the edge
of teh flap and tie the loop to the grommet to keep the flaps closed.
For heavier weather, have a row of grommets all the way up and either
lace the flaps shut or otherwise fasten them together.
--Hal
Hal Ravn, West Kingdom
Wilson H. Heydt, Jr., Albany, CA 94706, 510/524-8321 (home)
--
Hal Heydt |
Analyst, Pacific*Bell | If you think the system is working,
510-823-5447 | Ask someone who's waiting for a prompt.
whheydt at pbhya.PacBell.COM |
From: haslock at rust.zso.dec.com (Nigel Haslock)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: tent size
Date: 26 May 1993 21:16:35 GMT
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation - DEC