2. Installation and equipment of tents

The site for setting up tents must be horizontal. As a last resort, the heads of those lying down should be higher than their feet. In the mountains, the site can be leveled by laying flat stones.

The chosen place is cleared of stones, branches, cones, in winter the snow is trampled down or cleared of it, depending on its depth and density. When it is windy, place the tent so that the wind blows against the back wall. It is advisable to orient the entrance to an open place - the edge of a forest, a river, a lake - preferably to the east or south.

Tents, which are most often used on simple and summer hikes, resemble houses in shape. Tourists call such gable tents “pamirs”, “half-dats”, “serebryankas”, “hunting tents”, depending on the material from which they are made and on some design features. On sale they can have a variety of names that say little. The number of sleeping places in the sales passports of tents is also determined arbitrarily. Therefore, you need to know that the “average” person needs about 50 cm of tent width. Therefore, if the dimensions of the tent floor are 150 x 200 cm, this dwelling can “accept” three.

However, house tents, for all their simplicity and even their light weight (it is advisable to have a tent weighing no more than 1 kg per person; there are almost no such tents on sale) are inconvenient in autumn and winter when it rains and low temperatures. At this time, it is advisable to use large tents for 10-15 people, which can accommodate the entire group.

At the same time, since only one tent needs to be installed, work on the bivouac is reduced. It is warmer in such a tent; it can be heated with a stove. In addition, the weight of the tent per one of its inhabitants is noticeably reduced if, say, for a group of 9-10 people, instead of 3 “houses” they take one “tent”.

The design of such tents is described in the section on equipment.

A house tent is usually installed by two people, while more complex tents (“tent”, “chum”) are conveniently installed by three or four people. I start by raising the roof. It is placed on the main poles or stretched (depending on the design of the tent) and secured. Then I tighten the corner and side guys. It is good to use nearby trees for this, especially for stretching the ridge of a tent-house. Guys can be attached to pegs, round stones, trees. It is better to drive the pegs at an angle to the ground and perpendicular to the stretch.

If in rainy weather water can get under the tent, you can dig a groove under the slopes to collect water. The tent needs to be stretched, especially during rain: it will be better for water to drain from it and it will not leak.

Tent-houses can be erected without first fixing the floor. Before setting up the tent, it is advisable to zip it up, otherwise it can be stretched in width or height. When tensioning ridge guy lines attached to poles, which is preferably done first, you need to make sure that the ridge of the tent, the poles and the pegs for fastening the guys are on the same straight line. The direction of the corner guy lines on the wings of the tent should not be in line with the edge of the side slope, but should go diagonally. If there is no danger that the floor may move, then it can only be properly stretched without being secured with pegs.

If the roof does not wrinkle in folds, the walls do not sag, and the floor is not raised, then the tent is set up correctly.

It is advisable to have metal pegs for tents (metal rod, duralumin corner) or plastic ones, which are constantly used with the tent. If you also make racks, then you won’t need to spend time making pegs and racks at each parking lot. Of course, you cannot cut down living trees, branches or bushes for these purposes. Tent poles can be duralumin tubes with a diameter of 10-15 mm. One rack requires two, or preferably three, pieces of tube. Wooden plugs are hammered into one of the tubes on both sides, onto which the other two tubes are placed. When disassembled, these six tubes, 40-45 (60-65) cm long, can be carried along with the tent. In the mountains, stones are usually used instead of pegs, and racks are replaced with tied ice axes. In winter, instead of pegs and racks, you can use skis and ski poles. In water trips, oars are often used as stands.

In the old days (not so long ago, about 15-20 years ago), when there were much fewer tourists and other people in the forests than now, you could afford to make a bedding for a tent from the spruce branches of coniferous trees in populated regions. It turned out soft, dry, warm, especially in winter. The scent of pine hung in the air. But now, when avalanches of vacationers, mushroom pickers, tourists (especially near big cities), even if all the rules of nature protection are observed (which, by the way, never happens!) with their mere presence cause significant damage to the forest, trampling the soil, it is unacceptable to allow yourself to break off coniferous trees for the sake of just an overnight stay.

What to lay under the tents? Place plastic film on the ground, cleared of knots and pebbles and cones. Lay polyethylene foam (foam, foam rubber) rugs or mats. Now you can lay out the sleeping bags. In summer you can get by with flannelette or wool blankets.

If it is going to rain or snow, then the tent if it gets wet; you need to cover it with a cape, tying it to the tent guy ropes or securing it with clothespins. You can also use a special awning made of light fabric or polyethylene film, stretched over the tent (with a gap between the awning and the roof) on its own guys.

For tent tents, if they are made not from calendered nylon, but from tarpaulin or other waterproof material, it is also good to have an awning, despite the fact that the slopes of such tents are located at a large angle to the ground and snow or water easily rolls off with it. The awning for a tent can be sewn from light parachute nylon, repeating the shape of a tent without lower vertical walls. rings, poles or skis to which tent guy lines are attached. If the awning is well stretched, it will protect the tent from rain, even if the fabric is waterproof. An awning is also useful in winter, even in the absence of precipitation, since a tent with an awning freezes less (there is less difference between the air temperature outside and inside the tent). If snow falls, freezing on the tent makes it significantly heavier, and it can easily be shaken off the awning. It is very difficult to clean the tent from external ice and internal frost - frozen condensation that permeated the tent canvas during a camping trip and is only possible with prolonged drying, which takes a lot of time and most often does not work (there is no fuel for a large fire). The outer awning can be replaced with an inner tent, preferably a light parachute nylon. The inner tent is attached (tied) from the inside to the main one using specially sewn short ribbons. There is always a gap between the main and inner tents. In addition, this double tent is warmer than a single tent.

Large tents usually do not have a floor. This has its advantages, which have already been mentioned. Installing such tents is not difficult, but, like any business, it requires a certain skill. Such a tent is supported by a central stake (or stand) 190-200 cm long or by a pair of skis of the same length (two skis are fastened with two clamps so that such a stand rests both at the top and at the bottom on the tail ends of the skis). Guys are usually attached so that the area from the inside of the tent approaches the shape of a circle, unless there is an intention to stretch it into an oval, which is sometimes more convenient for accommodating people. When using multi-person sleeping bags, there is approximately 0.4 x 2 m of floor space per person.

The area for the tent is usually trampled down with skis without removing the backpacks. Trees, skis, and sticks are used to secure the tent. In the taiga in remote areas, you can lay a layer of spruce branches under the tent. The floors (gates) of the tent can be covered with snow.

Installation of the tent begins by placing the top of the tent on the central stake. The tourist holding the stake finds himself inside the tent and commands its extension, since he can clearly see the shape that the tent takes. The vertical part of the tent walls usually has extra length or special folds that can be pressed from the inside of the tent with sleeping bags, backpacks, etc., without specially fixing them. The existing loops, however, make it possible to secure the tent more clearly. Multi-person tents (factory-made or home-made) are generally installed depending on the design. If there are trees, guy ropes are tied to them. At treeless sites, guy ropes are tied to skis or ski poles.

A large tent can be heated in winter with a special stove - a replacement or a floor one, the weight of which, together with the pipe, usually does not exceed 1 kg. The fuel for such a stove is small logs about 10 cm long, chopped from dry logs. Such stoves consume little wood. A small sushina is enough for 10-12 hours of continuous burning. True, you also need a fire for cooking. If you slightly change the design of the stove and make it a floor-standing one, standing on retractable legs, slightly increase its volume and provide a hole for a bucket, you can cook food on it. The weight of such a stove with a pipe is about 3 kg. This is a different class, as they say, since the savings on the time of bivouac work and their labor intensity become very significant. No tedious “logging” is necessary. One small dryer will provide heat for the whole night and will allow you to cook dinner and breakfast. There is also no need for a campfire set - flyers or tags, ropes, hooks, etc. An hour after stopping, the group can already rest in a tent. With such a warm overnight stay, when the people on duty serve “coffee in bed” in the morning, people rest more fully and comfortably. In addition, with such a stove, you don’t need to look for a long time for a forest area with an abundance of dead wood - it’s enough to find one drying bed in a suitable place for an overnight stay. and you can set up a bivouac and, at the same time, save fuel and save forest. Experienced tourists have long noticed that when hiking with fires, especially in winter, people get more tired not during the transitions with natural human movement, but during the “fuss” of bivouac work and, most of all, during winter “logging”, when you have to cut down, cut and drag thick timber through deep snow. It’s good if the hike is short, 2-3 days. and great fatigue will not have time to accumulate. On longer routes, when after a day of walking you have to cut down and cut up the forest for several more hours, drowning in snow, the romance of a campfire no longer brings joy. In these conditions, not very trained tourists only dream of getting to a sleeping bag, and on long, long hikes, where there are especially many difficulties and stresses, even a trained team will happily give up the fire if there is an economical stove that will provide it. warmth, food and comfort.

In tents in which you have set up a kitchen and dining room - with a primus stove or a gas stove - a linen floor is not needed at all. This is the opinion of many tourists. The floor will only bring inconvenience here. It will always be dirty, wet, and scorched. What about without gender? Just lay the same plastic film, polyethylene foam mats and foam mats on the ground or recessed snow, but only with sleeping bags. The remaining area is free from coverage. You are not afraid to tear, stain, get wet or burn the floor. In such a tent it is no colder than with a floor, it is more comfortable to live in, and it weighs less.

Tent equipment

Living in a tent requires certain skills, knowledge, order, and in a tent all objects and things must occupy a certain place during the entire trip.

Polyethylene foam (foam, etc.) rugs or mats are placed on the spread film, sleeping bags are placed on rugs, and soft things are placed at the headboards. Small items - compasses, glasses, toiletries - are placed in tent pockets, soft backpacks can be placed under sleeping bags at the feet. Easel backpacks are left covered with film outside the tent or under the awning.

In summer, shoes are placed at the entrance to the tent under the floor, dishes are left by the fire or in any other convenient and visible place.

Rice. 3. Hanging lamps for tents a) paraffin, b) for candles 1. Box covers - reflector. 2. Chains. 3. Asbestos wick on a wire frame. 4. Paraffin. 5. Box. 6. Candle.

For lighting in the tent, an electric or other lantern (“laterna”, candles) is installed (Fig. 3). The fuel for the lamp can be paraffin or transformer oil. Paraffin and stearin are easy to transport. The wick for the lamp can be made from asbestos tape 1-2 mm thick and 15-20 mm wide. The height of the flame is regulated by the position of the wick, held by a wire frame, as well as by greater or lesser immersion of the wick in paraffin. You can also attach a candle to a hanging candlestick, which must be moved upward as it burns.

Electric torches are used for portable lighting. For winter hikes, it is better to use electrodynamic flashlights that are not afraid of low temperatures. Flashlights with batteries must be protected from freezing in winter.

On a summer trip through a forested taiga area, it is advisable to sew a canopy of gauze or nylon mesh to the entrance of the tent, treating it with some kind of repellent - a liquid that repels midges.

In tents with a waterproof top used without an awning, it is advisable to hang a removable gauze canopy under the slopes to prevent condensation from forming in them. Drying a piece of gauze is much easier than drying a tent as a whole.

A stove in a tent requires a special place: hanging - a reliable support in the form of a central stake in a tent or a ridge rope in a gable tent; floor - support for legs. The supply of firewood for the stove is stored in the tent, usually near the entrance. You can dry things on a stretched rope in a gable tent or by attaching hooks and hangers to the central stake - in a tent.

On winter hikes, as if complete with a tent, group duty shoes are needed that any participant could wear. Usually they take one pair of felt boots, but it is better to replace them with lighter “chun boots”, sewn from double wool batting or padding polyester and covered with children’s oilcloth and “shod” with galoshes sewn to them. It is enough to take one pair of chunyas per group as spare warm shoes.

Electric energy-saving lantern

Rice. 4. Scheme of an economical electric flashlight R1 R2 R4 R5, R6 - resistor type MLT 0.125; R3 - resistor type SP4-1; T1; T2 - transistor type KT-315, KT-340 or KT-306; TZ - transistor type KT-501, KT-814, KT-816.

The attached circuit (Fig. 4) increases the battery life several times. It can be mounted in the housing of any industrial-made flashlight. The basis of the circuit is a symmetrical multivibrator. Its pulses open and close the transistor T3, the collector of which is connected to the incandescent light bulb L1. A pulsed current flows through it, but the glow remains continuous; the light bulb filament does not have time to cool down between pulses. Variable resistor 2 regulates the light intensity.

In the most economical pulse mode (the pause lasts 0.125-0.375 μs), the consumed position is 0.2 V. The total service life of the battery in pulsed mode increases by approximately 6-10 times, since the capacity of galvanic cells increases by 1.5-3 times when discharged with a current less than the nominal one and intermittently.