Building a Modern Whelen Tent
Many here already know what a Whelen tent looks like, but here is a very nice review including photos.
http://masterwoodsman.com/2013/whelen-lean-to/
The original Whelen Tent was developed in the early 1900s and was made from Egyptian cotton canvas. It was very popular amongst backwoodsman and hunters, but it suffered from two obvious short comings. Here is Whelen's own thoughts on the subject.
"I know of no better tent for one or two men, doing their own camp work, except for bad mosquito country, or at temperatures lower than 20 below." – Townsend Whelen
As the basis for a long term survival shelter, I can think of one additional problem. It is not very stealthy, particularly if the bad guys have thermal (FLIR) detectors and key in on your body heat, your fire, or the straight edges and flat sides of the shelter's design.
So I am building a modern version of a Whelen tent and I hope to address these issues. Here is what I have in mind.
Add a sewn in sod cloth and removable misquote netting.
The roof and sides are more rounded and the ends wrap further around.
The front flap is long enough to allow complete closure during very cold weather. I may add a stove jack.
I will use nylon camo material and add a thermal radiant layer.
My plan to complete this project is to make the first prototype from cheap cotton drop cloths. I will pins these together using safety pins so I can change the details as needed. Once I produce a suitable design, I'll use the cotton cloth as a pattern.
The thermal radiant material I have in mind is called insulated foil wrap. I used it on my pole barn this spring and it comes in 4 ft wide, 125 ft long rolls. http://www.ecofoil.com/All-Products/Double-Bubble-Insulation
Since I have already moved my sewing machine into storage, this project may take me a while. I will try and build the pattern first and see how that goes.
Many here already know what a Whelen tent looks like, but here is a very nice review including photos.
http://masterwoodsman.com/2013/whelen-lean-to/
The original Whelen Tent was developed in the early 1900s and was made from Egyptian cotton canvas. It was very popular amongst backwoodsman and hunters, but it suffered from two obvious short comings. Here is Whelen's own thoughts on the subject.
"I know of no better tent for one or two men, doing their own camp work, except for bad mosquito country, or at temperatures lower than 20 below." – Townsend Whelen
As the basis for a long term survival shelter, I can think of one additional problem. It is not very stealthy, particularly if the bad guys have thermal (FLIR) detectors and key in on your body heat, your fire, or the straight edges and flat sides of the shelter's design.
So I am building a modern version of a Whelen tent and I hope to address these issues. Here is what I have in mind.
Add a sewn in sod cloth and removable misquote netting.
The roof and sides are more rounded and the ends wrap further around.
The front flap is long enough to allow complete closure during very cold weather. I may add a stove jack.
I will use nylon camo material and add a thermal radiant layer.
My plan to complete this project is to make the first prototype from cheap cotton drop cloths. I will pins these together using safety pins so I can change the details as needed. Once I produce a suitable design, I'll use the cotton cloth as a pattern.
The thermal radiant material I have in mind is called insulated foil wrap. I used it on my pole barn this spring and it comes in 4 ft wide, 125 ft long rolls. http://www.ecofoil.com/All-Products/Double-Bubble-Insulation
Since I have already moved my sewing machine into storage, this project may take me a while. I will try and build the pattern first and see how that goes.
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