The International Cessna 170 Association

Just curious - does any member have any experience or knowledge of tents that are made for high wing Cessna planes? I know creative pilots can "McGuiver" anything, but I was wondering if anyone know of a commercially mfg rig or has ever used one.

Thanks

Joel
N3437D

I searched the internet and didn't find anything of that description. All I've ever seen is people tieing a large tarp over the wing, which makes a really nice shelter to pitch a tent or picnic under.

I believe Wag-Aero used to make wing tents for their planes as well as Piper aircraft and others. I don't recall if they made them for 170s or not. Seems like they called them a wag bag or something like that, Been a long time since I have seen them advertised. They were made to slip over the wing, and snug up to the fuselage. Thats about all I remember about them. Jon

Joel,

On the AOPA Forums a while back there were posts about a German product called Plane Tent. You can get info at planetent.net , they are very pricey though I think they went for around $400.00.

Steve
N8293A '53 C170B

If I was going to make a wing tent, I would get two 16'x24' blue tarps for about $45 each and put one over each wing and stake down with parachute cord. That would balance any wind loads and give almost complete coverage of the airplane.

They are relatively light weight, fold up almost to nothing, and you can't find a better piece of survival gear than a tarp. I carry one everywhere I fly.

Ten years ago I was plane camping on the OR coast and was parked next to a family in a C206 with a "wing tent". This was the coolest thing in that it was essentially a nylon(coated for rain protection) sleave that slipped over the wing and formed a sort of tunnel with zipped doors on each end. Stakes held the floor corners out at angels of approx 45 degrees from the leading/trailing wing edges. The finished dimesions were approx. 8' long/ 5' wide at the foor/and whatever the bottom surface of a C206 wing is for height. It was outboard of the strut/wing attach point and also outboard of fuel drains. As I recall only about a foot of wing extended beyond the outboard edge of the tent. The doors were pattern cut to form a triangular "end" with a center zipper and the floor was reinforced coated material. Don't know what the weight was or if it would work that well on a slanted wing of a tail dragger but it worked well on the 206 and eliminated the need for poles etc.

At Oskosh 2007 the folks camped behind us in the north 40 had a wing tent on their C-185. They are from Billings, Montana & last year was their 31 consecutive visit to OSH. Don't know much about the tent other than it appeared much as Bentley mentioned. They slept in it and had a couple of tarps for sitting in the shade, eating, etc. on the other wing.

Just keep in mind that whatever you put over a wing (no matter how slippery) your sanding the paint....The slightest movement is eroding the paint, usually not uniformly.....Just adding my, (KILL-JOY) two cents worth .....Brad

I dunno... A wing tent looks to me like a solution to a problem that doesn't exist........ For around a hundred bucks or less you can get a nice spacious lightweight tent and put it under your wing, or by the river, or under the shade tree, or by the fire pit or......... For $350 or so you can get one you could actually survive a winter storm in...

A wing-tent disables your airplane. You can't fly a local out/back without dismantling your tentsite. And it's likely to be useless in a survival situation following a crash. I'd rather have a tent with it's own support-structure.

A wing-tent disables your airplane.

Something to think about when camping in bear country. As they are attracted to foodstuffs, particularly the sweets (candy bars and the like) and that one would probably be snacking on something whilst sitting in their wing tent, bears would be attracted to the aircraft. It might be more prudent to set up that $100 tent well away from the a/c, be sure all food is out of the a/c AND the tent, and use a bear bag for food storage. The aircraft would then be available for a quick getaway. A 200# black bear, like we have here on the East Coast, can do some real damage to upholstery and aluminum. I've seen them rummaging through the Dunkin' Donuts dumpsters...

Yep. It is said that a typical bear has over 200-TIMES the scent-detection capability as a bloodhound.