Augmenting the frame of an A-frame Tent

[crazydave789]

okay so its this type of force 10



so no ridge pole and if you add one you will have to drill the holes at an angle. its supposed to have some forward lean on it and be held up by guys and internal tension



pitch it like a tunnel tent, back into any wind.

not sure if you can do what you want and get the intended result

[foxyrider]

What a dismal tent - just go buy a decent new tent, it'll be less painful in the long run.

[mercalia]

What a dismal tent - just go buy a decent new tent, it'll be less painful in the long run.

certainly weigh a lot less on a bike. I once in my younger days carted my Conquest fore runner to the Force 10's on the back of my bike. I still wonder how I did it as it is heavy, but is a very nice tent even now with a real ground sheet worthy of the name not that tissue things you get these days

[700c]

Thank you chaps. I didn't get home in time tonight to get the tent up, but I shall do that tomorrow so you can see.

[mercalia]

okay so its this type of force 10



so no ridge pole and if you add one you will have to drill the holes at an angle. its supposed to have some forward lean on it and be held up by guys and internal tension



pitch it like a tunnel tent, back into any wind.

not sure if you can do what you want and get the intended result

I beat you to it with the first picture grabbed from google

[700c]

From the help in this thread - thank you all - I now understand what I did wrong;

The gothic arch needs to lean quite a way forward, once I did that...all is well!

This is actually a super little 1-man tent, perfect my needs; really lightweight and packs down tiny.

[mercalia]

it looks a nice little tent. Have you weighed it? Is the material cotton/polycotton? it also looks to be in good nick. lucky you

[700c]

it looks a nice little tent. Have you weighed it? Is the material cotton/polycotton? it also looks to be in good nick. lucky you

All in weight is 1.95kg
The material is the usual tent material, Nylon? It looks the exact same as is on my Terra Nova.

[philsknees]

From the photos I see that yours is in fact the later Featherweight version based on the discontinued Mark 2 CN (cotton/nylon) Force 10 that I referred to in my earlier post. If the flysheet proofing is still in good nick you should be fine, if a tad cramped, in any weather.
I'd still strongly suggest fitting a ridge pole to allow you to tension out the side guylines without the middle of the ridge being pulled down to an inconvenient level - in a strong blow tightening the end guylines will only prevent this to a limited extent. The photo of the Mk 2 (orange) tent posted above very clearly demonstrates the need for a ridge pole. It's already a small tent & after a period of incarceration you'll appreciate the benefits of the preserved internal height & the support for the sidewalls.
One caveat: In such a small tent you're bound to get condensation on the inside of the fly when battened down against wet weather so it may be worth reproofing the inner tent.

[700c]

Thank you philsknees. I'll grab a ridge pole soon and let you all know how it goes...

[Gattonero]

I'm surprised that it seems to need a ridge pole for a backpacking/touring tent?
Usually the ridge is kept tight by the tension of the front and rear guylines, a good tent design would use a "catenary cut" to keep the fabric tight without the need for any ridge pole or line.

i.e. this does not use a pole nor a ridge line, it's the fabric itself staying thight (the flysheet was pitched too high, for a different purpose)

[philsknees]

Hi Gatto, while I agree in principle about the benefits of a catenary cut fly, things become a bit different when the tent is subject to strong winds - and especially when the wind veers, as it inevitably will, to act directly onto the side of the tent rather than from "astern". No matter how much the main pole guys are tightened a strong side wind will blow in the windward side of the fly sheet unless it is supported by side guys in the middle of the panel.
Tightening those side guys sufficiently to resist this deformation will inevitably pull the ridge down, as demonstrated in the photo of the orange Mk2 tent posted above. A ridge pole may bend very slightly when the side guys are battened down tight but will generally keep the ridge straight, preserving the interior space of the tent and also limiting contact between the inner & the fly(with consequent transfer of condensation to the inner).

I don't see carrying a ridge pole as being a great burden on a cycle tour. With this type of tent I'd prefer the added security it gives in bad weather, though on past extended walking/climbing tours in Scotland I occasionally left it behind & generally regretted the decision (one 3 week spell of constant rain & gales springs to mind!)
I've never resorted to RobinS's contention above that the ridge pole is best removed in high winds & my experiences with both Mk2 & Mk4 Force Tens suggest that the opposite applies, particularly so with the more streamlined smaller tent.
Perhaps it's significant that the photo of your tent demonstrating a straight unsupported ridge doesn't show any side guys in place, though there seem to be attachment points for them?

[Gattonero]

Most of the things there are true, but such design is meant to cope with a prevailing wind from the rear of the tent. There's a reason why in extreme situations they use "geodesic" tents.
In exceptional circumstances you can add more guylines to the front and the rear of an a-frame tent, but I expect the wind to be deflected before pulling down the ridge of the tent, the sidelines (not used in the picture above) would counteract enough.
On the other hand, when cycling is almost always easier to carry for another mile or two and find a better spot. Quite frankly, if such strong wind is expected I won't even cycle or I'd choose a pyramid tent (likely more roomy for the same weight/bulk)

[RickH]

When I was in the Cubs/Scouts, back in the 60s & early 70s, the big patrol tents had a ridge & we used to cross the main guys (so the guys from the front were pegged near the back of the tent & the guys from the back were pegged near the front). I'm fairly sure we called it "storm rigging", the implication being that it was stronger in a storm. It also had the benefit of not having any guys to have to avoid when getting in & out of the doors at the ends of the tents.

[drossall]

That's correct for a Patrol tent. There's an argument that pitching like that, to hold the ridge in compression (because the guys are pitched to pull the ends of the ridge towards each other), is stronger than pitching the guys out beyond the end of the tent in the normal manner. Not sure how you'd apply that to a lightweight tent, however. Patrol tents are large and likely to catch the wind. Lightweight tents for serious conditions are more designed to have the wind flow over them. And, to state the obvious, if there's no ridge, you can't put it in compression!

Modern tents, of course, don't necessarily use ridge-type designs.