How To Set Up Your Wall Tent

Setting up a wall tent may be tricky at first, so we here at Big Sky Canvas made an easy to follow step by step instruction guide. 

How to set up your Big Sky Canvas Wall Tent: 

1. Remove rocks and sticks in your canvas tent set up area.
2. Determine canvas tent orientation. Set up your tent so the prevailing winds blow sparks and ashes from your stove pipe away from the tent. Sparks landing on a roof can burn holes in your roof and ash will cause your tent to get dirty.
3. Position angles and tent frame on floor in appropriate location for set up. 3-way angles go on the end of tent frame and the 4-way angles in the middle of frame.
4. Assemble tent frame except legs on one side.
5. Unzip all door zippers to prevent strain on zippers.
6. Drape tent over frame. Fold the sidewalls in toward the inside of the roof to keep sidewalls off the ground.
7. In windy conditions, secure tent ridge ropes to tent roof end grommets.
8. Drape fly over tent roof. It is much easier to install the fly now as opposed to when the canvas tent frame is fully set up.
9. Install legs.
10. Adjust your tent to the frame. Do not pull hard on your tent or you will weaken seams and zipper doors. If tent is too tight you must cut down your frame rafters or tent length as necessary. The canvas tent should be snug on the frame but not taunt or require any forcing to make the tent fit the frame.
11. If your canvas tent door zipper is tight you must cut down the rafters to reduce stress on the zipper.
12. Place sod cloth under the tent for an air seal and to prevent any rainwater from getting on top of floor.
13. Install stakes, ropes and tensioners. Stakes should be driven in at a 45º angle away from the tent. Ropes are approximately at the same angle as the tent roof.
14. If rain is possible, dig a 4-6" wide trench 2-3" deep around your tent to ensure water drains away from your tent.
15. The tent set up and take down procedures outlined should help keep your canvas tent clean for years.

Keeping the inside of your wall tent clean:

16. Using a towel, clean the inside and outside sections of your sod cloth. When you fold your tent with a dirty sod cloth the inside of our tent will get dirty.
17. Fold your tent walls to the inside of the canvas tent. ALWAYS have the inside of the tent touching other parts of the inside of the tent when taking down the tent or when folding the tent for storage. The outside of your tent always has dirt, dust, tree pitch etc, on it. If the outside parts of your canvas touches the inside of the tent - your inside part of your tent will be dirty- and you will have to look at the dirt while you are in the tent.
18. Do not pull out the wall stakes out by using the canvas wall as you might damage your canvas tent. A claw hammer is recommended.
19. Take down in reverse order of assembly.