Homemade Beach Tent

This Homemade tent can be used on the beach (which is my main use), but can easily be constructed for any outdoor activity.

Hope you will enjoy this Instructable as I had assembling it.

Lycra fabric (the original roll is 1.5m width), so in order to get 4x3, i took two parts of 1.5m X 4m.

22mm Aluminum pole (the total length needed in 4.3m).

2 Tennis balls.

4 Dog Corkscrew (eBay).

4 Spring Snap Clip Hooks (eBay).

~12-15 meters of nylon rope.

Shhhhh..... (shortcut for the poles).

There are two option for this step:

Option 1 - Make your own:

To have 2m long pole we need 2.15m of 22mm aluminum pole (the extra 15cm are for the attachment).

Cut 3 X 55cm you will remain with the last part of 50cm.

To create the attachment between two sections of the pole, I used professional blacksmith's help who engraved the poles (5cm from the longer 3 poles).

Finally, cut the tennis ball and insert the pole in (the propose is so the pole won't tear the cloth).

Option 2 - Ready Made:

Buy it ready made at the nearest camping store, it will be more expensive than the first option but might be better quality (depends on your expertise).

I choose lycra fabric because of its elasticity, this is very important as you will need the tent to be stretched (to endure the beach winds).

I wanted the shade area to be 3m X 4M, this step is relevant only if the cloth you manage to get is smaller than the total area you would like to have. I managed to find Lycra only in 1.5m width and was left with no choice but to sew two parts of 1.5m X 4m.

Thanks to my wife who help with this part ;)

Important thing here is to sew with elastic thread and not regular thread for the same reason of endurance.

The stitch kind was "overlock".

In this step, you will need to firmly connect the cloth and the rope from one end and the clip hook on the other end.

First cut four 2m long from the nylon rope.

The simple part is to connect the rope and the clip hook.

Now for the cloth and the rope, tie them in a way that they will be bounded together (take a look at the attached picture).

Setup steps:

1. Unfold and lay out the cloth on the ground.

2. Also lay the strings in a way that they will continue the rectangle diagonals (see picture).

3. Set the 4 "Dog Corkscrew anchors" at the end of the strings, make sure the cloth is stretched.

4. Assemble the 2 poles with the tennis ball at the top, lift each one in the front of the tent (about 40cm from the edge to the cloth).

5. Enjoy!

If you liked it, don't hesitate to leave a comment or even vote ;)
Y.