[Rhodes22-list] Boom Room Update

[DCLewis1 at aol.com]

I’d like to endorse Wally’s post.   I’ve been following  the Boom Room  
thread with interest.  No immediate plans for a BR, but  may get one in 2 years. 
 
I’ve done a fair amount of tent camping.  The tents we use today go up  with 
aluminum tubes and shock cord - they've come a long way since I was a  kid.  
They go up very quickly and they’re robust.  The tents are made  with thin 
light weight tent cloth and they commonly have a fly over the top  (it’s part of 
the tent).  The purpose of the fly is to reflect radiation  and let air 
circulate beneath to cool the tent.  Also, the  fly is water-proofed, as is the 
entire tent, but the fly takes the brunt of any  rainfall and directs most of the 
water away from the tent.  Finally,  the fly catches the brunt of the UV. 
Collapsed, the tents fit in a backpack  (supports and all).  You’ll see mountain 
climbers using them in very  stressing (i.e. high wind) environments.
 
If the material and supports these tents are made with are strong enough  for 
high winds on a mountain, why aren’t they good enough for the water?   I'm 
not suggesting those explicit tent designs and structures, but use the tent  
cloth and aluminum/shock-cord technology.
 
The tent cloth is easily worked by hand or with a standard sewing  machine. I 
think that it will likely be cheaper to fabricate a BR with tent  cloth than 
sail cloth or Sunbrella, and the resulting BR will be more compact to  store.  
The aluminum/shock-cord technology will be much more compact  than PVC.

Dave