A-Frame Tent Cheap!

This is what my kids got for Christmas, a tent.  And NO Santa didn't bring it, mommy made it...  I just couldn't give the Fat Man credit for this one.

So here is what I did, I started out with this tutorial... DIY A-Frame Tent

but did it a little bit different.  She uses a wooden dowel on top, and elastic for the ends of the tent.  I decided that I would rather replace PVC than a wood dowel if my kids get crazy with it.  Also I thought that I could make my cover less droopy if I hemmed the ends and put PVC through it.

So here are the materials that I used:

2 pieces of wood, 1x3x10 (had Home Depot cut them in half) and (if they are not sanded you can tell them to smooth them out for you too)

2 pieces of 3/4" PVC 10 feet long

6 end caps for the PVC

material/sheet (I got my material free from a friend, but you could get a sheet second hand and it would not cost much)

twine or hemp (on hand)

drill with crown drill bit

sand paper

So since my fabric was free and I had hemp and tools, my total was $13!

First off I drilled a 7/8" hole in my boards. Sanded them, then I wrapped and tied the hemp around the boards as shown.  This was ingenious... I knew it would hold my boards together and make the hole a little more snug but I didn't know that when you put the PVC through and spread the boards it squeezes the PVC tightly AND makes it so that the tent can't collapse, ingenious, like I said.

As for the PVC I cut one of the 10' pipes a little LONGER than 5' for the top so that we could hang things on the outside of the tent. Then for the other pipe I cut it exactly in half so I had two 5' pipes for the bottom of my material to hold it tight.

So you put your PVC through and then spread the legs place the end cap on the PVC and repeat for the other side.

Throw the material over and feed the pipes through the bottoms and TA-DA!

What I love about the pipe being on the top of the tent is that the kids can hang flashlights from carabiners, which they love.

And this is all the space you need to store it!