[MR] tents

[Terri Morgan]

> The wall tents from fcsuttlery use only ropes for the
> side walls and those from blockade runner use poles and ropes. 
> From what I have been told it is better to have poles because
> your overall footprint including ropes is smaller than with
> ropes alone.  Can anyone confirm the actual per person tent
> footprint allotment?  I understand that part of the Pennsic 
> allotment is for your own tent and part is for your overall
> group camp area.  

First - The wall tents from Fall Creek Sutlery do use poles and ropes. I
know, we have three of them. :)
   You *can* use just lines with any of the wall tents, just as you can use
a set-up of "upright & long horizontal pole & upright" down each side if you
desire to have only 2 upright poles on the sides. (That's not my preferred
set up but I have seen it. You end up with (essentially) three ridge-poles
but you do use few ropes & stakes.

Second - the standard Pennsic allotment is 250 square feet of land per
registered person. However, groups on 'tight' blocks have had to negotiate
down, sometimes to 200 sq. feet per person, in order to fit everyone on the
block and not have a group move. Single campers won't have to worry about
that but if you are camping with a group, that is something to keep in mind.
   Out of that 250 feet must come all the room for your tent, the walkways,
the fire pit, and the shared accommodations (group kitchen, shade tent,
shower). The formula we in Marinus use is 10-15% of each person goes to the
common camp.

in service,
Hrothny