Tent Trials- We have a tent, well sort of...

So I finally got the roof up on the poles, since we were waiting for me to be done painting and to water proof it. I also got the walls mostly sewn, I just need a couple of straps to close the doors. The guy lines that are attached to the shoulder are just temporary, until I get the real rope tied into the crows feet. I have not yet painted the walls, nor are they staked in the right place in the picture. There is a big reason for this.....

The guy lines do not keep the roof tight enough to prevent sagging, which means the shoulder is lower, which means the walls do not line up right if pulled all the way out (right side of tent), or they sag if they are in the right place (left side of tent). I do not know if it because the roof is to heavy for the temporary lines I have up or not. I suspect it is the not.

There are a couple of ways It could be fixed, we could raise the center pole 7 to 8 inches, and then the walls would hang right, but the roof would still sag. We could rig up an outer ring to stiffen the shoulder, which would prevent sagging of the roof between the guy lines, but might not keep the shoulder at the height needed. Having perimeter poles would make all the bell space unusable. If I had more canvas I could rip out all the seams, and add more, so the bells would line up, but I do not have any extra. So that leaves retrofitting a hub and spoke system, that would solve both problems of sagging shoulder and wall fitting issues.

Unfortunately I do not think that we will have time to fit it before the event this weekend.... We will have see what tomorrow brings... Maybe I will even get to paint the walls.