How to Make a Camping Tent from Scratch

Are you ready to learn how to make a camping tent from scratch?

This guide contains 5 simple steps you can implement to set-up a camping tent from scratch.

You’ll also learn:

• Materials needed to make a camping tent
• How to choose the best camping spot
• And many more…

Let’s get started.

What Materials Are Needed to Make a Camping Tent from Scratch?

When learning how to make a camping tent from scratch, you will need the following materials:

• A long rope – to tie up the ends of poles.

• 4 pieces of wooden sticks or poles – this forms the walls of the camping tent, and holds it firmly, preventing it from collapsing.

• 2 pieces of waterproof Tarp sheets – this builds the bottom and upper layer of the camping tent; one forms the roof of the camping tent, and the other one forms the ground or floor of the tent.

Once the above materials are made available, the next step would be to find the best spot to place your camping tent.

How to Choose the Best Camping Spot

When choosing the best camping spot, it’s best to look for a place that is close to a tree; the tree will serve as a natural shade to your camping experience.

And when building your camping tent, do not make it close to a dead tree or one with weak branches as they are prone to breaking in the event of a storm. This, in turn, will fall your tent.

Also, do not place your camping tent at higher grounds or altitude (close to a hill or mountain)!

This is because your camping tent will be more exposed during rainfall, resulting in colder temperatures at night time.

Instead, build your camping tent on lower grounds, better still, near a river or lake. It would also make it easier for you to catch fishes in the day time and cook them at night at warmer temperatures.

How to Make a Camping Tent from Scratch

Here are the 5 simple steps on how to make a camping tent from scratch:

1. Preparing a flat surface
2. Setting up the Tarp sheets
3. Securing the tent
4. Building formidable walls
5. Ensuring that the camping tent is firmly erected

1. How to Prepare a Flat Surface for Your Camping Tent

This involves finding a moderately damp ground surface. This would help your camping tent tarp stick to the ground firmly.

It also involves removing objects scattered around the surface, removing big stones, leaves, and twigs before spreading the tarp.

You also need to flatten the ground surface to make sure the bottom tarp stays relatively smooth on the camping ground surface.

2. How to Set-up a Camping Tent Tarp Sheet

First, spread the first tarp sheet on your well-prepared flat surface.

Then measure each diameter of the camping tent poles.

Bore small holes on each end of the tarp sheet, with each hole smaller than your measured camping tent poles’ diameter.

Now cut your rope into four equal pieces and pass the rope through the holes you’ve bored earlier.

This will make it easy for you to tie the ends of the tarp and poles later on.

3. How to Secure Your Camping Tent

The first step to securing your tent firmly is by first tying the rope a couple of times around the tree. Then make multiple knots to avoid the rope from loosening.

When securing your camping tent, its elevation angle is very important in the sense that if the elevation angle is too high, it will prevent the walls of the tarp from reaching the ground.

Also, if the elevation angle is too low, it will cause the rope to loose, making the whole camping tent prone to falling during a storm.

The elevation angle should be kept at a moderate height.

Now, place the second tarp over the rope which you tied earlier to the tree, and proceed to the next step.

4. How to Build Your Camping Tent Formidable Walls

With the holes you made earlier, grab a hammer and pound the camping tent poles in the holes slowly. You can use a rock from the ground as an alternative to the hammer if there isn’t any.

Now remove each pole one-by-one, align the holes of both camping tent tarps and pound the poles back in the holes.

Repeat this step for all the sides and proceed to the next step.

5. How to Detect If Your Camping Tent is Firmly Erected

First, double-check the knots on the camping tent poles and on the tree.

To check if the tent is firmly erected, if the camping tent feels lighter on a side, put a few large stones to increase the weight on that side and level the balance.

Below is a YouTube Video on how to make a camping tent from scratch

Conclusion

Most people feel that making a camping tent from scratch is an uphill task.

Do not get frustrated if you don’t get this at a single trial; you have to keep trying till you get it right.

Building a tent from scratch could be a time-consuming and tiring activity, but once you finally get the hang of it, it will boost your morale and put you in a better position to educate other campers on how to do it.

To ease this process for you:

• Make sure you assemble all the necessary materials needed for the process near where you are setting up the tent.

• When building your camping tent from scratch, ensure to give room for body-body warming to protect against cold at night times.

• Invert your camping tent when you are out of it in the daytime to let sunshine dry out its wet areas.

Now I would love to hear from you:

Is this your first time learning how to make a camping tent from scratch?

Do you think I missed a few things out?

Either way, let me know by leaving a comment below!