12 Man Tent – The Struggles of Putting One Up Are Long Gone
Years back, the structure of large 12 man tents were designed to withstand anything that was thrown at it. The structure of poles was so solid that when putting it up it was like building an entire new building. It was never simple. You had loose poles to match, corner pieces to connect, and there was always the fear of misplacing a pole, as there were so many. Putting it up was a mission and often took up a good portion of time. And there was the fact that poles were made of steel. This made the tent heavy, and transportation was never easy.
The design of modern tents has changed so much since those days. One of the major changes are the poles themselves. No longer are they made of steel. Instead they are made from flexible fibreglass, and each pole is connected by an elastic cord that stretches inside. This means that you can never lose a single pole, and it also makes the structure lighter.
You can clearly see the changes when you compare a basic dome tent to an old tent with a solid structure. On a dome tent, only two poles are required. Because they are flexible, they can be bent into shape. Both the poles cross over each other at the top and are connected to opposite corners. This gives it the famous dome shape. With the old design, this shape would not have been possible. And it wouldn’t have been possible to take hiking as it would have been just too heavy.
The manufacturers have also taken the usability into consideration to try and make the erection of a large 12 man tent even easier. One example is colour coded poles. No longer do you have to match the poles like pieces of a jigsaw, build your structure and then struggle to pull the skin over. Now, the poles come in different colours and can be matched to a coloured patch on the skin. The pole is then threaded into a sleeve all the way through and connected to a clip. As you connect them, the poles then bend into shape – just like the dome tents – and then your tent is up. Easy, simple, hassle free.
Putting a tent up has never seen simpler, and so if you are considering buying a 12 man tent for your camping trip but are dubious about the amount of time it will take to put up, then worry no more. With the modern 12 man design, anyone can put one up.
