I spotted a comment this morning about setting up a tent in less than two minutes and "perhaps even less than one" so I thought of starting a contest on speed set-ups.
Here are the rules based on the way I do it (yes I am already ahead...) :
1 setter upper only (no group effort)
the shelter/stakes/poles have to be in the stuff sack at the start
The time starts when you touch the stuff sack and ends when your hand leaves the tent fully set up.
trekking poles can be extended to the correct height (my elbow height happens to be the height I need)
No marking the ground
"shelter" is the complete tent, fly with the inner (or fly only for a single wall)
It needs to stand up looking as it does in the official photos
for full accreditation you need to have a YouTube clip of that with one uninterrupted take , no cuts/editing but you can submit your times without video anyway
All of the tent needs to be visible during the set up
(I get my times from the timeline in my editing programme, 25 FPS)

nothing serious here because backyard set ups are not exactly the same as in the bush but it may be just something to do for some.
so lets see the best time overall and the best time for your tent.
I have 49 seconds for the Moment and 50 seconds for the Contrail.

(be careful not to damage poles or fabric doing it)

As an example this is not a valid set up :



This is :

sample of YouTube set up :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY6W62N1cPo&list=UU0PuLUKvG7Fxxex5BMVK4vw&index=27

Oooh. This will be good.

I've thought about getting a children's pop-up play tent, change out the fabric and sew two ends out for the head and feet.

all you would have to do is put it on the ground and stake off both ends, (so 10 seconds).

I mean... The Moment has to win, right? one pole and 2 stakes?

There's just less to do...








man... I want every tent

Pop UP tents

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8Gvo4VWA3w
(4 pegs minimum)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKJ_0GMK_ZU
maybe 25-30 seconds ?
Of course I meant hiking tents , still someone somewhere could be using a pop up tent hiking
With a small mod you could turn the stuff sack into a trampoline bed for the dog

Good idea!

20 years ago in an Interior Alaska trip, we were using a 3-pole Jansport Yellowstone free-standing dome. And for fun, and motivated by the squitters, we'd time ourselves. Got down to 44 seconds (2 people, though) from opening the vehicle door to being inside with the zipper zipped.

This tent set up this way ?


2 people 44 sec, from car to zipped inside , that is incredible

Edited by Franco on 03/07/2013 17:58:57 MST.

Franco: exactly that tent, set up exactly that way (quick job on the photo search!).

We were highly motivated and had tweaked our performance each night for 2 weeks. She was the best camping buddy I never married.

Also, having working in a BP shop, I had long known and taught, "Push, never pull, tent poles through sleeves."

For this or a classic 2-pole Half-dome tent, you want a asterisk or a cross of poles, flat on the ground, BEFORE tensioning any of them into the grommets at the perimeter. i.e. insert poles into a planar tent, never a 3-D tent.

Edited to add: there's a knack to the fly as well. Insert the awning pole in the sleeve and then use the stiffness of the pole to sweep the fly over the erected tent. It is very much like a bull-fighter using his sword to wave the cape over the top of the bull.

Also: the two people must agree in advance on how to move. An obvious default is, like high-pressure systems: clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and the reverse in Oz.

Edited by DavidinKenai on 03/07/2013 18:30:18 MST.