PE - Ropes or not to rope!

[Carl Chipman]

Ok, I also have a question about this....

you say "If you make a spoke wheel tent they are top heavy and they can 
come down."

I say back to you that they are no top heavier than another round tent. 
 After our conversation on the phone way back in may, I did a lot of math, 
and although it is not available now I'll find it again and post it 
sometime.

Some supporting thought:

1) We cut out the spoke and the wheel poles for a center pole pavilion. 
 They hub weighed about 2 lbs, and the spokes each bout a pound and a half. 
 For the 12 spokes then, thats a total of twenty lbs.   This weight might 
be an over estimate.

2) The design that we are doing has the center pole with a height of 13 ft, 
and the spokes to fit @ 7 ft up.
	a) This is approximately one half a foot above the center of gravity of 
the pole.
	b) Additionaly, the torque generated from each spoke is counterbalanced by 
its counterpart on the opposite side of the pole.
	c) The weight of the canvas pulling downwards will probably generate more 
torque than the spokes and hub.

Marguerite, I feel that the addition of the spoke hub does not make the 
design any less or more safe than the standard central pole pavilion.  The 
additional weight (which I think I have overestimated) is balanced and 
distributed, and fairly close to the center of mass of the tent.  Were the 
spokes an additional 4 or 5 feet up, I would feel that it makes it more top 
heavy, but with the weight of the canvas, the weight of the central pole, 
the spokes are an small portion of the wieght....

My opinion only.

Jean Paul de Sens


Carl Chipman
Nomadics, Inc.
cchipman at nomadics.com
http://www.nomadics.com

On Tuesday, October 03, 2000 7:56 AM, Cherie Nolan 
[SMTP:marguerite at ih2000.net] wrote:
> Well it seems that this was a issue about ropes and not ropes that has 
come up on the list before. Being a regional Chirurgeon I think about 
peoples safety. I do not like
> tents with out ropes and just staked to ground. I do not promote this in 
any tent maker. We need to think safety. I know some people that have had a 
lot of happiness in a
> no rope tent. I have also heard a lot of people telling that there tent 
fell over due to the ground being over soaked and the stakes didn't stay 
due to high winds. The
> spoke wheel design is not yet proven to be documentable. If any one has 
documentation please let us know where it is we have been trying to get 
real documentation for a
> long time but you have to see the actual frame. They look great they are 
very nice looking but they are not period.
> The reason I say this is because I don't want people to get hurt. there 
is a lot of new people on the list and they need to know the differences. 
If you make a spoke wheel
> tent please they are top heavy and they can come down. You cannot stop a 
heavy canvas tent weighting about three or four hundred pounds wet! From 
falling and you do not
> know who it will fall into. So please make sure it is roped down. 
Remember we camp with a lot of great people in our lands and I don't think 
you want anyone to get hurt so
> please be safe.
> Marguerite
> Off of my soap box now. Thank you for reading.
> 
========================================================================  
====
> Go to http://lists.ansteorra.org/lists.html to perform mailing list 
tasks.
> 
============================================================================
Go to http://lists.ansteorra.org/lists.html to perform mailing list tasks.