Alternative Camping Structures

[Buggie 110]

My son's old troop had two nice alternative camping structures, instead of the standard tents. They didn't use them all year round, but they had them for various uses.  

One was a carport tent. It's main use was at summer camps, either as the standard weather coverall over the tables in case of rain or as a group tent where the scouts lined up their cots and slept in a single hut. The sides were lifted out and tied down for maximum ventilation and in case of bad weather, they could be brought in for extra coverage. 

The other was rather cheap to build and used at summer camp or at Trappers in Kansas. Online I can only find it as a "Monkey Hut". Basically rebar in the ground, PVC pipes as ribs, and a tarp spread over it all with the appropriate tie downs. A self made Quonset hut for the scouts to use a group sleeping tent. And extendable with another hut added to the end. 

What sorts of alternative camping structures does anyone else use? 

[WonderBoy 36]

Way back in the dark days, when I was but a boy and all transportation consisted of station wagons, our troop had a couple of "Canadian" tents. These monstrosities got brought out only when the travel times were short and the available station wagons were plentiful. Picture a smallish, circular, circus tent with sidewalls. The center (and only) pole broke down into two sections, but still had to be lashed to the roof racks as the halves were too big to fit in the cars. If I remember correctly, one station wagon could carry both canvases, but nothing else besides a front seat passenger.

Three older Scouts could carry the canvas but four made the job easier. It took a real team effort to lay out the canvas, raise the center pole and stake out the "corners". Then the rest of the staking and guy-lines could be handled by a smaller crew. If the weather was nice (it never seemed to be so) the side walls could be rolled up and tied off for comfort. This tent could sleep up to 15, although I never remember more than 7-9 members of the Leadership Corps (remember those?) in there at a time. The tent's greatest asset, aside from sleeping an entire Patrol under one roof, was that, if properly set up, it could take a storm. The wind would just whip around it and blow on by. I remember one storm that blew down every poorly set-up Voyager tent in our campsite and a few of the well-set up ones too. The canvas of that Canadian tent just ruffled in the wind and we stayed snug, warm and dry.

[Saltface 165]

My CC owns a couple teepees that we drag out for longer camping events. They take a solid hour to set up but they’re very weatherproof and can fit about ten to twelve people. They also gather a few oohs and aahs from onlookers. 

[Chris1 60]

My Explorer post in the 1990s used 1 or 2 GP-mediums. 

[ianwilkins 366]

We have some, well, we call them teepees, because it's easier, because everyone thinks they are teepees, and it would be tedious to explain it to every new person that sees them. We have some lavvus, in modern fabric, they are kind of like a bell tent with no walls, and one central pole. We can sleep up to about 8 in them. In theory you can have a wood-burning stove in them, but we're not usually brave enough to let the explorers do that.

I have seen a few groups over here with german black jurte tents,  I try not to covet them as I go say hello, look in, and see a kitchen set up on one side, stores next to it, tables and benches for about 25 people on the other, and in winter a fire bowl in the middle. They always look cosy, but I can see it would be a beast to transport, dry, and store.