PRODUCT DESCRIPTION FOR VINYL TENTS

The 14 and 18 oz. vinyl film we use was developed especially for us and has been improved many times since 1980. The 18 oz. was designed especially for tents that endure rough use and inclement weather in remote areas. It is also ideal for other tough applications requiring exceptional strength in a medium weight fabric. The 14 and 16 oz. vinyl we use is of the highest quality.

 

Its strength-to-weight ratio is greater because pound for pound, the polyester inside the vinyl is about 100% stronger than cotton. It possesses excellent adhesion, and protected as it is, retains that strength for many years. It is durable because it is exceptionally resistant to abrasion, holing, chemicals and grease. It is economical because of its long useful life.

Permanently fire resistant! It meets all the requirements of the NFPA 701 Large Scale Flame Test and the California State Fire Marshal Small Scale Test. Flame resistance and char length meets and exceeds California state fire marshal requirements. All tents have a large California Fire Marshall emblem sewn to each section of the tent top. Certificates of flame resistance are also sent with every tent shipment. If your fire marshal has any questions regarding the material or the test, please contact us, and we will provide whatever additional information is needed.

 

Cleaning the tent top can be done any time the tent is up - or down - even just before putting the tent away. A vinyl tent can look new, bright, and shiny year after year. The vinyl's gloss can be maintained indefinitely with an application of ULTRA GLOSS SEALER.

It cannot leak until cut clear through. An oil-based product, vinyl never loses its water-repellant character. The seams are permanently covered with 3" wide vulcanized stripping.

Strike Resistance: In comparison with ordinary tent top vinyls such as we first used, the new vinyl laminate resists hard, sharp blows from objects such as wall pole spikes from 50% to as much as 500% better. This represents a major breakthrough in fabric design where that fabric must endure a variety of perils.

Field reparable. The material we introduced to tenting is almost tear proof. But if it should be cut in any way, you can repair it on the spot, with the free repair kit included with every tent.

Mildew has only been known to occur on this material where the temperature and humidity are both 95 or above. Then it is preventable and controllable with a solution of 1 part Clorox, 3 parts water.

Appearance is a great asset day or night, especially with material as bright and color fast as ours.

Vinyls of every quality are being made today. The characteristics described above relate primarily to the vinyl-polyester laminate designed by us and engineered especially to our specifications.

	Weight in oz. per		13	14	16	18
	yd., +/-10%
	Tear strength (Tongue)	Warp	133	54	54	157
	FSTM 191 Method 5134	Fill	128	50	50	151
	Tensile (Grab) 5100	Warp	250	268	268	398
		Fill	230	252	252	283
	Burst Resistance		365	200	200	565
	(Hydrostatic)

Superior materials are used throughout

A unique vinyl laminate* made to our specifications (18 oz.) and the highest quality (14 & 16 oz.) makes our tent a lot better.

The fabric (scrim) in the 18 oz. laminate that provides much of the extraordinary strength of our tent, is a 1300 x 1800 denier polyester (Dacron). The 14, & 16 oz. laminate, is a 1000 x 1000 denier polyester (Dacron). All have 18 rip-stop cords every inch, 9 each way.

The vinyl has good color-fast pigmentation. All our colors should last for years without fading.

The vinyl contains extra U. V. protection, including plenty of titanium dioxide, which enables this unique vinyl to exceed all others in sun resistance and length of life.

The extra thick 18oz. contains even more, which enables this unique vinyl to exceed all others in sun resistance, abrasion resistance, smoothness and length of life.

An abundance of polyester, U. S. manufactured, is used in our seat belts on every seam, and in our thick (#207) thread-as well as in the inner "scrim" of our vinyl. Even our ropes are wound with polyester for guaranteed sun resistance and abundant strength.

Polyester is about twice as strong as cotton, and being an oil based product, like vinyl, it is all but impervious to mildew or rot of any kind.

Polyester does not react very much to extremes of temperature or humidity. Its size, shape and strength are stable, unlike cotton, hemp, or even nylon.

All the steel-to-steel connections, are hot-dip galvanized, like coated nails, for 30 year rust resistance!

SUMMARY:

The tent top and side-wall are composed of nothing but the finest vinyl, domestic polyester, and galvanized steel hardware. What this means is that your tent is not only as strong as modern science and modern technology can make it, but it will not grow slack when cooling, soaking rains come, and then sag into "water bags" and come down. By the same token, it will not stretch too tightly (like nylon will) in the sun. It will not change noticeably from one month to the next.

Superior design and detail work may be found throughout.

The unique bail-ring (pronounced "bell-ring") (38' and wider
18 oz., 50' and wider on all others) is suited to either "push-pole" or pulley raisings with never a chance that the center pole could damage the tent through abrasion.

 

Unique hook and ring connectors (at tent top, eave, and in 60' and wider tents, at the quarter-band) help the tent easily endure the enormous forces in storms that can destroy weaker tents.

 

Our triple stitch seams with #207 polyester thread are about four times stronger than a normal double stitch with #138 thread. And again, polyester is about twice as strong as cotton. This is the miracle of modern materials. This translates into a product you can depend upon.

 

The quarter-pole positions: In 60' and wider tents, the quarter poles carry most of the wind load as well as the weight of the tent itself. We therefore make these points particulary tough. The quarter poles are naturally positioned where seams cross with their 5700 pounds-strong seat belts.

 

To that we add:

An extra seat belt for 4 feet on both seams where they cross. A small and then a larger piece of kite-shaped vinyl over the area. Three layers of our powerful vinyl laminate, adding over 300 lbs. per inch, each. Quarter pole domes on 60' and wider tents have tough, aluminum "heads" of 28 square inches (a 6" disk) built right into the tent at every quarter pole position. They articulate, staying flush with the tent at all times.

These areas therefore become very reliable "strong points" that can easily carry the weight of virtually any storm. One tent-100'x148'-took 14" of wet snow in Philadelphia. That surprised even us. With slanted quarter poles, the wind pressure simply passes through the quarter poles harmlessly to the ground. With vertical quarter poles that some medium sized tents may use, about one-half of the load passes into the ground, the rest down to the stakes.

Double belting: To add strength and safety to every area susceptible to stress, we use two seat belts in the following areas:

All edges including the entire perimeter. Quarter-pole positions as indicated above.

The seam at each "end" of every tent. This means that if you elect to add one or more "middles" to lengthen your tent you can pull the tent from each end very hard without special guy lines. (The strength of this one seam is over 13,000 lbs!)

The center-band of every middle (from center pole to centerpole) is a special belt. We use 2" wide on our smaller tents. On our medium to large tents we use a 3" wide with 18,000 lbs. in breaking strength.

The 10" rain-flap over the laced edges of the tent section is closed 100% effectively with industrial vel-cro, and it looks great. The valance of each section also connects firmly to other sections with vel-cro. And even in winds of 100 mph, tests show they always stay right in place. Movement simply causes vel-cro to tighten up.

Our deluxe side-wall (curtain) is special in four ways:

1 1⁄2" belt around edge.

 

Stainless steel snap hooks and zinc grommets that will never rust.

 

Bi-fold corners, 4 layers thick, so any one edge of the sidewall can absorb up to 1000 lbs. of stress if need be.

 

The vinyl scrim of the sidewall is as strong as any tent top material we've seen except our own. A score of significant detail items that cannot be enumerated here, but can be seen, used and appreciated.

Continuous research and development, evaluation and testing, insures that Miami Missionary Tent Company will continue to advance the state of the art.

* Two layers of vinyl bonded permanently to either side of a polyster fabric.

Thank you for reading all of this!