SCA Life

Okay, I’ve talked with you about joining the SCA, getting your garb together and picking your name. Now it’s time to talk about your home away from home and the one place you can retreat to when events start to wear you down. Your tent! You would not believe how strongly the choice of tent can impact your enjoyment of an event.

Now there are some important things to consider when choosing your tent.
1) Do not start out with a period pavilion. They are difficult to put up and can be very expensive if you don’t make your own. If you do make your own, the weather proofing d support frame may be less than reliable.

2) Your tent needs to be big enough to accommodate your whole household unless the others have tents of their own.

3) It’s better if you have a tent that you can actually stand up in. This makes it easier to put on your garb, especially if any of your garb is tight or requires a great deal of lacing.

4) Make absolutely certain that you can erect the tent alone! This is not as easy as it sounds, even with the dome tents with the spring loaded poles. Even if you are certain that you will always have someone with you, it’s still better to have a tent you can assemble yourself. After all, stuff happens.

5) Be certain that your tent is water proof. Even clear sky-ed events sometimes see rain.

6) Be absolutely sure to bring plenty of strong stakes and a hammer. I was at an event that got so windy during the night that many tents blew down and some actually rolled away. My dome tent, however, remained securely fastened to the ground though it did shake a bit. Metal stakes are better as the plastic ones sometimes break when forced into hard ground.

7) Tents with netting over the windows are preferable as bugs are abundant at events.

Tents with a floor that is securely attached to the walls will keep out groundwater and rain.

9) Tents that break down into very small bundles are better, as well. This leaves more room in your vehicle for such essentials as ice chests and clothing. And lots and lots of bedding.

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