Seaside Storm Tent

Living by the South Coast of the UK means one thing to most people; the beaches. Imagine golden stretches of summer sand dunes, deep blue pools of ocean, white-peaked, splashing waves...

However the reality is that beach days usually have one of two possible outcomes: gloriously warm, horrendously wet.

Picture this; the forecast is beautiful all day, the sun's out, you've pumped up the paddleboards and kayaks, and lugged them down to the sea. Now for the good part- you commence your paddling, oh, how serene! How peaceful!

Suddenly the heavens open up and hammer you down with fat droplets of rain. A gigantic gust forms a massive wave, tipping your boat. Now you are even wetter, and only wearing a swimming suit. Blues skies are engulfed by billows of grey, blocking out the light...

What now? Shame you don't have some sort of storm-proof beach shelter, I suppose...

This project is a walkthrough of how I designed a prototype model of a portable, environmentally-friendly beach shelter for less desirable weather days!

For prototype:

1. Washed and dried, clean crisp packets.
2. Thin plastic bag (e.g. the ones in Covid test kits)
3. Sellotape
4. Iron
5. Wooden board
6. Baking paper
7. Scissors
8. PLA (any colour)
9. 3D printer

For testing:

1. Shower
2. Hair dryer
3. Temperature probe
4. Fridge

Before I started designing, I set out some basic requirements and how I hoped to achieve them:

1. Weather-proof- Dome shape, anchoring into sand, waterproof, insulating.

Crisp packets can be cleaned & stitched together into insulating (the tinfoil layer keeps warmth in, and cold out), waterproof blankets. I could use a large "crisp blanket" like this to cover my tent, making it warm, keeping it dry, and keeping the wind out.

1. Portable- Folds up into small bag.

The tent bag would fit into a bag which was also made of crisp packets, complete with carry-handles for easy transportation.

1. Lightweight- Strong but not-very-dense materials.

A strong but lightweight frame is essential. Fibreglass (often used to make tent poles) would be suitable because it’s cheep to produce, although difficult to recycle. Steel is also used for making tent poles, however it can corrode if not maintained, rendering it less suitable in a wet environment. Recycled aluminium is strong, lightweight, corrosion-resistant and affordable. Recycled aircraft-grade aluminium is widely used in outdoor gear, and would be a suitable option.

1. Inexpensive- Uses cheep & readily available materials.

Crisp packets are free, and great for reducing amounts of landfill. In this way, this project could even become carbon-neutral, as it would directly lead to a major reduction in non-biodegradable waste being produced.

1. Easy to use- Stot-together design.

To achieve a simple-to-use but effective design, the best approach would be using as few pieces as possible and minimal complex connection points. All tent poles should be the same length, for example; users don’t want to struggle pitching their tent when rain is pouring down on them!

1. Reusable- Pack away after use, ready for next time.

No materials that are brittle, easily damaged, or single-use will be used in my design.

1. Made from recycled materials- Use old crisp packets (and similar waste).

Reusing crisp packets means less go to landfill. The project could be carbon neutral.

1. Recyclable after use- Crisp packets are recyclable in many supermarkets.

This way the product would never reach landfill- it can be remade into something new all over again!

Pictured above are my initial designs. As you can see, I quickly found that some features looked better than others, or were likely to be more practical, and rapidly came to a final design.

1. First I aimed to design a round/spherical-shaped tent frame. I annotated each design to highlight features and their advantages/disadvantages.
2. Having considered features of my favourite designs, I produced my final design which consists of 8 sets of curved poles that meet at the top of the tent, creating a dome shape. This will allow water to run off and mean minimal surface area to reduce the effect of wind, but also allows large doors for accessibility and expansive windows so you can enjoy the view from inside!
3. Finally, I made a sketch of what the tent could look like from the inside; I wanted it to be as spacious and comfortable as possible.

If this tent were to be sold commercially I realised that different sizes would need to be produced, eg single, double, family size. I also thought that the interior must be easy-to-clean because of sandy feet and paws!

As a final touch, I decided to add a small LED bulb at the peak of the tent interior, as a precaution should the sky suddenly turn dark or foggy. This also means that users can enjoy evenings at the beach from the comfort of their tent, and use the light e.g. to read a book.

1. I decided to 3D print the prototype frame due to the lightweight but strong and flexible nature of PLA, and for accuracy. First I designed it using Autodesk's Tinkercad (a 3D design and modelling software). because I love its easy-to-use, quick-and-simple nature- making it ideal for projects like this! Above is a screenshot of the frame design in Tinkercad, and the file to print is attached below.
2. The most difficult part of this step was ensuring that the rods fitted perfectly into the rod connectors so that they would not move about too much. I ensured it had a bit of 'wriggle room' to pull the rods out easily without risk of breakage. I started with a 1.5mm hole in the connector, then tried 2.0mm, 2.5mm, and 2.3mm until I finally found that this was the perfect fit.
3. I also experimented with the thickness of the rods: I found 1.0mm too flexible, 2.0mm too rigid, and at last, 1.5mm was perfect.
4. I printed the final pieces in just over 1 hour, and simply slotted them together to create a surprisingly satisfying tent frame! Things were really starting to come together now!

1. First, I collected a few crisp packets and washed them out, ensuring they were clean and dry throughout.
2. Then, I cut them in half to expose their metallic lining, essential for its insulating properties.
3. Next I lined the layers up in pairs and smoothed them together with an iron, ensuring a seamless finish that wouldn't let in the rain. Originally I had considered stitching sheets together, but decided against this solution because the holes from stitching would make it less waterproof. When ironing, I used a wooden board and baking paper to avoid damaging my worksurface.
4. In addition, I ironed on (on both sides of the crisp packet "blanket") a layer of plastic bag from some old Covid test kits that were otherwise going in the bin- this would improve the waterproofing and strength of the tent, but also make it smoother and more comfortable to sit on. This is a great way to reuse unwanted plastic bags as well as crisp packets!
5. I repeated the process above so that I had separate pieces for the mat and tent cover.
6. To make the floor mat I simply drew around the bottom of my tent frame to get the shape, and cut around it. On a larger model I would have melted small holes around the circumference of the mat through which I would insert the bottoms of the tent poles, however due to the scale of my model I decided to Sellotape the mat onto the 3D printed frame instead. I put the shiny side of the packets facing inside to prevent heat loss.
7. The tent cover was more complicated; I Sellotaped parts of it to the frame and cut slits that allowed the material to bend over it. In reality I would need to leave small "flaps" around its open end onto which stones could be placed to weight it down (as appose to normal tent pegs and/or guy lines that would not hold in the lose sand), but this wasn't possible on a micro-scale model.
8. The finishing touch was cutting out the gaps for the doors and sticking on some clear plastic bags to cover the openings.
9. Finally, I attached the tent cover and mat (the shiny side of the packets facing inside to reflect heat back in) to the frame and got my first look at my completed prototype! I was impressed how rigid and strong it felt, despite being quite lightweight and relatively simple-to-make.

Now for the fun part- testing!

I set up a mock beach environment in a plastic tray consisting of sand and small pebbles from the local beach, then placed my prototype in the middle.

1. Insulating?

Method:

I proceeded to place the tray in the fridge for about 5 minutes, mimicking the drop in temperature during a storm. I then used a digital thermometer to take a temperature reading both inside and outside of the tent. If the tent were insulating, the temperature inside would be warmer than the temperatures outside.

Results:

1. Temperature outside tent: 3°C
2. Temperature inside tent: 5°C

✔ The prototype seems to be insulating!

1. Wind-resistant?

Method:

Next I turned on a hair dryer and held it 10cm away from the tent, at approximately 45 degrease (from the positive horizontal), at the lowest power setting. After 20 seconds I turned up the power setting, and then again after a further 20 seconds so it was running on its maximum setting. If the tent were able to resist the wind, it would hold its ground.

Results:

1. Minimum power: no movement
2. Medium power: no movement
3. Maximum power: movement

✔ The tent is unlikely to be exposed to such strong winds as equivalent to the maximum power of the hair dryer, and anyway it should have people or objects inside it to weigh it down (I performed this test with nothing inside the tent at all). Therefore I think I can call this another successful test.

1. Waterproof?

Method:

I placed the tent in the shower and started the flow of water. If the tent was watertight, it would still be dry after 30 seconds.

Results:

✔X From the video below, this experiment yielded poor results- unfortunately I didn't think about the fact that water would collect in the tub and eventually cause the tent to start floating! Although this does invalidate the test in reality, I noticed that before it was completely flooded and started to float about, very little water seeped in at all.

In reality conditions shouldn't be this extreme so I think it is likely that the tent could be reasonably watertight, although it was difficult to tell from this experiment. In an ideal world I wouldn't have it contained in a tub so this problem wouldn't occur, but this was my only option (other than ending up with a lot of sand and stones going down the drain)! And on the plus side, floating's better than sinking, right?!

To wrap it all up, I want to reflect on my project... And overall, I think I've been fairly successful.

1. What went well:

I think I set out my requirements well, considering there was little information available on beach storm-proof tents online. It was a challenge creating initial design ideas because of this. I also like the way that my project is designed to be as environmentally-friendly as possible, as well as practical and useful!

1. What I would change:

If I had the facilities at home, I would have liked to make a much larger prototype model, which I could test at the local beach. However this wasn't possible with my limited resources.

1. My favourite part:

Definitely the testing! It was great fun to test my project to the limit with a physical prototype!

1. My least favourite part:

As expected, testing out dimensions of components with 3D printing can be a lengthy process, and takes a lot of time to make small adjustments until you get it right- but that adds to the satisfaction of completing the prototype!

1. What I learnt:

Think my experiments through more before hand?!

Thank you for taking the time to read this Instructable- I hope you found it interesting and inspiring. If you did, please check out the rest of my Instructables here: https://www.instructables.com/member/MistyPearl/