Polish 2-Person tent, surplus

Old fashioned, two-man canvas tent in the form of a tipi style contraption, split to two parts. Surprisingly not-bad for a Polish army Cold War era product, this is a nice choice for the traditionalist - not only cheap and well made, it also doubles as a rain/camo cape or a one-man shelter! The availability is getting sketchy.

Comprises of two shelter halves which you button up to form the tent. An age old idea, both soldiers are supposed to carry their half of it. Alone one half can be used for a number of camouflage and protective purposes. These are made of yer olde canvas, very windproof, quite waterproof. The tent is completely cordless, you just have pegs and the center pole split in two bags!

To set it up, you'll have to button up the halves to each other, erect the pole inside and start poking in the pegs through the grommets. If you're alone, you can start by inserting the pegs to approximate locations, keeping the pole up, and then start fine tuning them.

About 1,4 m tall, with about 2 metres diameter. Weight for the set about 3,4 kg. One fabric can be packed about to a size of a 1,5 l milk carton if done well. If you are something like 190 cm tall, you'll find the space a bit tight.

When worn as a cape this has that East Bloc fairy tale look to it. But such a cape isn't actually half bad, as it offers warmth and protection from wind and rain. It also has a hood.

Bushcraft!

Yes, these are very bushcrafty, being made of traditional materials. Some people have even gone so far as to build little stoves of ammo cans and stuffing them inside. Needless to say, this is done entirely on your own risk, we have no idea about any fire retardant treatments of the fabric.

You could also sew the two halves permanently together for a more rigid construction. This would of course omit the use as a cape.

Genuine army surplus

Old Polish army stuff, but in nice general condition. The one we picked up for the photos turned out to be pretty much unused.

A note on sizes: YES, they made these in three different sizes. We will not pick; these come to us in rather nice and tight packages which are a pain in the ass to open, check, sort and pack again (would show in the price). Also, these physically are some 5 cm bigger per size. Moreover, the largest size is virtually non-existent and the second largest pretty rare too.