diamond shelters

Steve, I am surprised you haven't gotten some replies. One reason might be that diamond shelters are pretty controversial among the re-enacting communities, practical as they are.

BillinOregon said:

diamond shelters are pretty controversial among the re-enacting communities, practical as they are.

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Really? I figured they would have surely been used back then. Is it because of lack of documented use?

Well we know they had canvas covering there packs on the horses so, why wouldn't they use one in such a manner? I know I have heard the chatter from the pc crowd but it's just not conceivable that they never existed. IMHO

I don't have any photos of my usage but I did use diamond shelters when I first started doing events due to the lower cost of getting set up.
I was much younger then and the aspect of sleeping on the ground wasn't a big deal. I suppose even at 72 given enough dry clean straw I might be able to do it but a tent with a stove jack makes winter outings a heck of a lot more comfortable.

I know what you mean, at 65 I didn't know I could have so many aches and pains. The club I'm in has a couple rendezvous a year and I never was much into the reenacting end. I figure I could handle sleeping on the ground for a couple nights. We'll see.

stevew said:

we know they had canvas covering there packs on the horses

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We do?

Examples please and thankyou.

I'll play.. How big a tarp does it take to cover a pack on a horse?

I've camped under modern 5x8 poncho tarps and a 9x9 flying diamond tarp extensively solo.

A civil war shelter half is 5.5x5.5 and I'm sure someone got paid to come up with that size.

Which happens to be what Wilde came up for a matchcoat size.

I heard about folks using blankets as tarps.

A 3.5 point blanket is a palatial 63x81"

Comparatively, it seems to me that a 10x10 tarp is a big piece of cloth to have around for an "improvised" field shelter, and for about the same square yards of cloth and weight you could have a wedge tent.

All that said, I'm planning on making a square tarp, but I want to see just how small I can cut it down before charm succumbs to suck.

Interesting thread. If you go to the AMM site, there seem to be a few diamond shelters used and those guys seem to have strict PC/hc rules. I don't know myself, although I'm interested in trying one just to be closer to the fire in the cold weather. No heat in my wedge tent.

I've got a semi permanent lean-to in the back yard with a fire place . I added 2 small winged out tarps to the sides and pretty much have a Whelen tarp. Its a 2 pole rig with lots of guy lines, and an embarrassing amount of overlap from the side tarps. So, I have 3 tarps pitched in a Whelen form, but not a banned non period correct Whelen tarp. If I wanted to I could tighten up the wings and have a Baker pitch. But not a Baker tent.

I set my tarp up in a little different configuration.
I use a 12x12 and set it up so that can be closed up in foul weather or in bad skeeter environment.
This configuration allows me to open the front which makes it a semi- diamond.
HC? It's just a square tarp so it's possible.

We can’t document anyone setting up a Dimond in these time.
They have big squares of canvas, so they could have set up such a shelter.
I go with a wedge as we can document them.
And it’s acceptable to any time period
This is a shadow zone.
For me they are an anachronism, but the most we can say is they are historically unknown.
Of note, bakers are a post WTBS design
But we have a painting of Cooks voyage showing sails laid out on land in what looks like a baker design in 1776.
If you have a diamond your welcome in my camp.

I really prefer a simple lean-to but when the flying cannibals come out in huge numbers I prefer to leave them outside.
I've been considering a wedge for ease of set up and room for a cot.........I'm not getting any younger and I don't crawl so good anymore

I'll suggest the plausibility of some one cutting the end and doors off of an old wedge tent to have a big tarp...

I can set up my wedge tent in about 10 min. I’ll likely stick with just that.

Moleman said:

I set my tarp up in a little different configuration.
I use a 12x12 and set it up so that can be closed up in foul weather or in bad skeeter environment.
This configuration allows me to open the front which makes it a semi- diamond.
HC? It's just a square tarp so it's possible.

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I really like the outside a frames, good setup.

Moleman said:

I really prefer a simple lean-to but when the flying cannibals come out in huge numbers I prefer to leave them outside.
I've been considering a wedge for ease of set up and room for a cot.........I'm not getting any younger and I don't crawl so good anymore

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Wedge with open side, can close when needed, and a cot as ground has gotten noticeably harder there last decade or so

tenngun said:

Wedge with open side, can close when needed, and a cot as ground has gotten noticeably harder there last decade or so
View attachment 307407

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That could get pitched as a campfire tent, lower and closer to the fire. The "awning" half could be folded back over to make a double back wall with an air space creating insulation. Not a Whelen....

This thread makes me want to camp and get the coffee on the fire.

I used a diamond shelter for years had my two sons camping with me most of the time. We put a small fire just behind the point worked great. We eventually out grew it and I got too old to sleep on the ground. Now we have two wedges and a fly and I sleep on a cot.