Small rain fly

Question and opinion regarding Living History / Reenacting.
42swing
Sergeant Major of the Gee
Sergeant Major of the Gee
Posts: 448
Joined: Mon Nov 21, 2011 1:44 pm
Location:

Small rain fly

Post by 42swing » Mon May 15, 2017 7:06 am

I had my Jeep and pigeon display at an event last weekend. Splendid event, but it was raining lightly most of the weekend - not hard enough to keep people away, just enough to force me to cover the display periodically. I'd like to get a lightweight rain fly that would look in keeping with a WWII event but not break the bank both as a rain fly and sun shield. I don't want to use a modern pop-up. Any suggestions?
Malvern, PA
1942 MB 180635
1943 Willys MBT
1940 Elgin male bicycle
1940 Columbia female bicycle
1943 M3A4 Hand Cart
1943 Harley Davidson WLA with side car


User avatar
Quartermaster
Sergeant Major of the Gee
Sergeant Major of the Gee
Posts: 436
Joined: Sat Jul 19, 2003 8:07 pm
Location: Waynesboro, VA

Re: Small rain fly

Post by Quartermaster » Mon May 15, 2017 3:40 pm

jeep tents 05.JPG
jeep tents 05.JPG (43.13 KiB) Viewed 2716 times
Start with a modern tan (khaki) canvas tarp which are available at many places. You'll need to do some measuring to figure just how big a fly is needed to protect you vehicle and your display. Now figure a bit bigger to really give you protection if the wind is blowing the rain sideways. Now figure a little bit bigger as you will certainly have some visitors who would appreciate either shade or protection from the elements.

Depending on your desire for authenticity - obtain military tent poles tall enough to raise you fly to clear your vehicle and display and give you ample headroom - otherwise head down to your local lumber yard and make your own. Consider side poles to raise the sides a bit if you wish. Next are ropes (manila or cotton ropes) and tensioners plus enough pins to hold everything up. Don't eliminate the ridge pole because without one, your fly will have a sway back worse than an old army mule!

Now fashion a "US" stencil large enough and in an appropriate fount and use black spray paint to mark both sides (mask it well to avoid overspray.)

Now coat the tarp with some water repellent product (CanVac is an excellent choice) so you won't be surprised with unwanted leakage during a deluge.

It's not that hard and it won't be exactly cheap but it will look good and provide protection for you and your goodies! Compared to obtaining a complete and authentic WW2 tent fly (if you could find one AND afford one!) - the above method is an valid alternative. Also take into consideration the value of the items you wish to protect.

Good luck!
Dwayne
1943 Willys MB
1945 Bantam T3

42swing
Sergeant Major of the Gee
Sergeant Major of the Gee
Posts: 448
Joined: Mon Nov 21, 2011 1:44 pm
Location:

Re: Small rain fly

Post by 42swing » Tue May 16, 2017 6:07 am

Dwayne,

Perfect, and very well described. I really like the tan color as my display is 1942/3. Looks like a nice project for the next couple weeks.

42swing
Malvern, PA
1942 MB 180635
1943 Willys MBT
1940 Elgin male bicycle
1940 Columbia female bicycle
1943 M3A4 Hand Cart
1943 Harley Davidson WLA with side car

User avatar
Quartermaster
Sergeant Major of the Gee
Sergeant Major of the Gee
Posts: 436
Joined: Sat Jul 19, 2003 8:07 pm
Location: Waynesboro, VA

Re: Small rain fly

Post by Quartermaster » Tue May 16, 2017 8:49 am

ww2 08.jpg
ww2 08.jpg (126.39 KiB) Viewed 2680 times
I have found tent flies to be very useful. I do displays with a small wall tent - you can see I have a khaki fly over the tent which helps keeps the interior cool on a hot day plus a little more insurance against the wet if it rains hard! Then there's another fly positioned as a "front porch" which allows me to get out of the tent and present an nice display without worrying about the weather -- plus it helps with crowd control - you know kid's with sticky appendages and grownups with "sticky fingers!"
Dwayne
1943 Willys MB
1945 Bantam T3

daveww2
G-Corporal
G-Corporal
Posts: 27
Joined: Fri Jul 20, 2012 9:24 am
Location:

Re: Small rain fly

Post by daveww2 » Tue Jun 20, 2017 12:17 pm

Make sure your tarp is square, as big length-wise as Width-wise. Like 16 x 16, 20 x 20 ....

David :twisted:

User avatar
Quartermaster
Sergeant Major of the Gee
Sergeant Major of the Gee
Posts: 436
Joined: Sat Jul 19, 2003 8:07 pm
Location: Waynesboro, VA

Re: Small rain fly

Post by Quartermaster » Tue Jun 20, 2017 1:44 pm

Actually the correct size for a fly used on the Small Wall Tent is 15' 6" X 9' 4".

For the Large Wall Tent, it's 21' 6" X 14' 5".

Other flies follow those proportions.

If you use a square size, you lose your coverage as the slant eats up the footprint of your canvas roof.

Even if you do not wish or need to match a US Tent size, the roughly 3 to 2 sizing works well.
Dwayne
1943 Willys MB
1945 Bantam T3

42swing
Sergeant Major of the Gee
Sergeant Major of the Gee
Posts: 448
Joined: Mon Nov 21, 2011 1:44 pm
Location:

Re: Small rain fly

Post by 42swing » Wed Jun 21, 2017 7:27 am

Thanks very much for the dimensional information. I've been having an ongoing discussion with she-who-must-be-obeyed on size (no snide remarks please) and I think we've settled on the 21x14. Most of the car maintenance and early summer events are done now, so will be starting this in earnest in July.
Malvern, PA
1942 MB 180635
1943 Willys MBT
1940 Elgin male bicycle
1940 Columbia female bicycle
1943 M3A4 Hand Cart
1943 Harley Davidson WLA with side car

User avatar
retro-roco
G-Brigadier General
G-Brigadier General
Posts: 2492
Joined: Thu Mar 27, 2003 10:54 am
Location: Bloomington, IL, USA

Re: Small rain fly

Post by retro-roco » Wed Jun 21, 2017 11:51 am

42swing,

Not sure where you're located, but I had a Fly, Large Wall Tent fabricated by Chicago Canvas chicagocanvas.com. Here is a picture of it at our last event. Missing a couple of the eave ropes. Image

The fabricated cost was under $200. I fabricated the sectional poles, and the sectional ridge beam.

I can send you a PDF file of the fabrication dimensions if you're interested.
Last edited by retro-roco on Wed Aug 30, 2017 6:24 am, edited 1 time in total.
Kirk Gustafson
359th Infantry Regt. 90th Div. WWII HRS

1942 Chevy G506 1-1/2 ton 4x4 Cargo
1943 Ben Hur water trailer

baerdus
G-Private First Class
G-Private First Class
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri Jan 08, 2016 7:20 am
Location:

Re: Small rain fly

Post by baerdus » Mon Aug 28, 2017 11:15 am

Hello retro-roco,

I interested read your post about the small-wall-fly. Last weekend i bought a original small wall tent from 1951, unfortunately without the tent poles and the ridge beam. Now i want to rebuild the missing parts. May you can send me your pdf-file from the fabrication-dimensions of the fly-poles and ridge-beam?
Do you also have the correct dimensions of the small-wall tent poles and the ridge-beam of itself?

Thanks and regards from Germany

Jürgen
GPW 55107, 8/10/42, USA 20140106 (est.)
Bantam T3 15399, 03/25/43
M151A1 2M5949
M416

User avatar
Quartermaster
Sergeant Major of the Gee
Sergeant Major of the Gee
Posts: 436
Joined: Sat Jul 19, 2003 8:07 pm
Location: Waynesboro, VA

Re: Small rain fly

Post by Quartermaster » Tue Aug 29, 2017 4:08 am

Try the manual (starting on PDF page 21 = document page 14)

http://www.easy39th.com/files/FM_20-15_ ... g_1947.pdf

Plus a listing of WW2 US tents

http://users.skynet.be/jeeper/tentage.html

Should give you most of what you are looking for.

Be aware, with an original tent there may be shrinkage over time so the original pole dimensions might need to be tweaked. You'll need to lay out your tent and measure.
Dwayne
1943 Willys MB
1945 Bantam T3

baerdus
G-Private First Class
G-Private First Class
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri Jan 08, 2016 7:20 am
Location:

Re: Small rain fly

Post by baerdus » Tue Aug 29, 2017 9:17 am

Hello Dwayne,

thanks for your quick response, the links works and the dimensions are well described. I just have a other question to the ridge-pole:
does it have an rectangular profile or just a round/hexagonal profile like the tent poles?
May you have by chance the diameter of the tent-poles? I searched in the net on the basis of the Stock-#, but there was no satisfactoring results about the diameters.

Jürgen
GPW 55107, 8/10/42, USA 20140106 (est.)
Bantam T3 15399, 03/25/43
M151A1 2M5949
M416

User avatar
Quartermaster
Sergeant Major of the Gee
Sergeant Major of the Gee
Posts: 436
Joined: Sat Jul 19, 2003 8:07 pm
Location: Waynesboro, VA

Re: Small rain fly

Post by Quartermaster » Tue Aug 29, 2017 6:36 pm

For the upright poles - 8 sided (octagonal) wood pole measures 1.75 inches from the center of one flat side to the center of the opposite flat side.

For the ridge pole - This pole is rectangular in shape - taller than wide with dimensions of 2 1/2 inches tall and 1 3/4 inches wide. The top side on the ridge pole is formed slightly rounded like in a hump - the other 3 sides are flat. This is to eliminate any sharp edges where the top meets the canvas ridge and could cause undo wear to the canvas resting on the ridge pole.

Hope this helps!
Dwayne
1943 Willys MB
1945 Bantam T3

User avatar
retro-roco
G-Brigadier General
G-Brigadier General
Posts: 2492
Joined: Thu Mar 27, 2003 10:54 am
Location: Bloomington, IL, USA

Re: Small rain fly

Post by retro-roco » Wed Aug 30, 2017 6:23 am

My post was about having a Fly, LARGE Wall Tent made to specs. The poles and ridge beam I made are larger than the dimensions provided by Quartermaster. If you are looking for a SMALL wall tent fly, I would use the dimensions he provided. Because of the lengths involved, my poles and beam are made in sections, with sleeves for joining the sections.
Kirk Gustafson
359th Infantry Regt. 90th Div. WWII HRS

1942 Chevy G506 1-1/2 ton 4x4 Cargo
1943 Ben Hur water trailer

baerdus
G-Private First Class
G-Private First Class
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri Jan 08, 2016 7:20 am
Location:

Re: Small rain fly

Post by baerdus » Wed Aug 30, 2017 9:13 am

Hello Dwayne, Hello Kirk,

Thanks a lot for your efforts, these informations are a great simplification for the rebuild of the poles.
GPW 55107, 8/10/42, USA 20140106 (est.)
Bantam T3 15399, 03/25/43
M151A1 2M5949
M416

User avatar
Farrell Fox
banned
Posts: 4847
Joined: Sat Jan 17, 2009 2:17 pm
Location:

Re: Small rain fly

Post by Farrell Fox » Wed Aug 30, 2017 6:08 pm

[Post Deleted By Author]
Last edited by Farrell Fox on Sat Oct 26, 2019 10:12 am, edited 1 time in total.
4th Tank Battalion, 4th Marine Division
M1A1 Main Battle Tank Mechanic
M88 Armored Vehicle Recovery Operator
AVLB Operator


Post Reply

Return to “Living History / Reenacting Knowledge Base”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 16 guests