Fabricating the Ultimate Galley Tent

[swoody126]

PERSEVERANCE PREVAILS...

DON'T STOP NOW, YOU'RE ON A ROLL

sw

[Dusty Mark]

Thanks! Hoping to "roll" up the project today and use it camping tomorrow...

[Dusty Mark]

Worked hard on the tent today, but failed to complete it as I had hoped. I still need to make the galley sleeve.



This the floor. It's a heavy tarp that forms a border that is 16" wide and is sewn to the walls. I have a heavy mesh RV patio mat that will clip into this floor.



Here's a floor corner. I'll install a grommet to receive the tent pole.



This is a big tent, so I'm using 8 stakes to hold it down and 6 guy lines.



These marks locate the floor/wall edge. I added 1/2" seam allowance and then pinned them before final sewing.

All that remains is to sew the galley sleeve!

[KTM_Guy]

Nice work! Is that a Sailrite machine you have? I have been looking at them more and more lately. I keep looking at things I could use it for around the house. Are you happy with it? Is the zigzag worth the extra $100?


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[S. Heisley]

Good Job! When you get to your camping spot, would you please take a picture of the inside of your lovely tent, in use, with the rug down? We'll want to see how you clipped the rug to the tent, too Thanks!

[Dusty Mark]

I love the Sailrite sewing machine. I'm glad I have the ability to do a zig zag stitch, definitely worth the extra money!

[Dusty Mark]

We're out camping in the rain this weekend and are quite pleased with the galley tent.
Pro's
• Complete game changer for all-weather cooking
•• Able to leave table and chairs set up
•• Like having a great room attached to the teardrop
• Good place to use the porta potty!
• Dog can be off leash
• Easy to pitch
• Just the right size for cooking and lounging around
• Heavy material allows tent to warm up when running stove burners
• Roof doesn't leak

Cons
• Materials were crazy expensive
• Bottom of windows collect water and leak a bit
•• Anticipated this in design phase
•• Water drains through patio mesh floor as designed
•• Not really a problem when you don't sleep in there
• Galley sleeve may be fitted too tight to accommodate unlevel sites
• Long side walls sag a bit in the middle
• Against my wife's better judgment, I oriented the zippers backwards on the entry
•• I'm starting too think she was right (I hate it when that happens!)

Punch List
• Sew a tie-down to pull out each side
• Sew clips to floor
• Sew door holder straps
• Decide final fit of galley sleeve and sew second row of stitches
• Decide on fastening hardware that holds galley sleeve to teardrop and install
•• Held in place by Gorilla tape this weekend!
• Sew a webbing loop inside peak of ceiling to hang a light
• Possibly sew flaps on lower portion of the windows
• Reverse the entry zippers

I'll post some pictures when I get back...

[DezPrado]

Outstanding effort all round.

[Dusty Mark]

Here are a bunch of pictures from our first weekend using the galley tent in pretty heavy rain.



Here's a view of the galley area. Fresh water positioned on left, gray water on right. See the stream of water coming down the right side from some missed stitching where the galley sleeve connects to the tent body?



There's enough room to have a sitting area with an end table.



Our 4' by 28" Cabela's aluminum roll-up table works great on the left side.



The porta potty fits nicely in the entrance corner.



I'll sew clips in to tie the patio floor to the tent floor.



Keeping the two windows closest to the stove closed while cooking protects the flame from the wind.



My goal was to make the tent big enough to be functional but not too big to catch a lot of wind or look bad. I think we accomplished our goal.



View of galley sleeve on passenger side. It's a little too tight to accommodate unlevel ground situations. It's also fastened with Gorilla tape while we decide how to fasten it.



We offset the sleeve to the driver's side to give more clearance from the heat of the stove.



Due to the offset, the driver's side of the sleeve has a third dimension. We just pinned it as we went and it worked out quite well.



The corner windows give a good view to the outdoors.



Copper spends less time on the leash with a 9' by 11' galley tent to lounge in!

[S. Heisley]

Terrific job! It looks very comfortable; and, with all the windows, you probably feel like you're in a large, screened cabin porch! Copper doesn't seem to mind a bit, either. Thanks for the follow-up camping pictures.

[Dusty Mark]

Thanks and you're welcome. The tent is dry and I'm chipping away at my punchlist.

[Aguyfromohio]

Very nice, both in design and execution.
Congratulations.

I especially like how large the screened windows are, and how many they are.

I've been shopping for a screen room that has zip up waterproof sides that can close out a rainstorm.
I've found two, both over $400, neither has a floor, and of course neither put the kitchen into the shelter tent.
Your galley tent really hits the sweet spot.

[Dusty Mark]

Thanks! I contacted customer service at PahaQue and they have nicely done galley tents for some of the Little Guy campers listed in their Custom Site. It sounded like they could do custom work to suit people's specific needs. The products they show are quite a bit smaller, but I'd imagine they could produce a bigger one easily enough...

[Dusty Mark]

I finally came up with a good design to seal the galley sleeve to the side of the camper and make it more weather and bug proof. I opted to completely redo the sleeve, ripped it off the main tent, and started over with heavier Top Notch 9 polyester material. Wow is that nice material, but I believe it's too heavy to make the whole tent from it.



I'm using tent poles to support the sleeve so it mostly keeps its shape even when the galley door is closed. I used 3/4" aluminum tubing and formed a bracket that receives the 7/8" tent pole tubing. I cut slots in the 3/4" tubing, heated it with a torch and bent the tabs to 90 degrees to create a way to fasten the bracket inside the hurricane hinge track.



Here the sleeve poles are resting on top of the brackets.



This footman loop, on the driver's side, holds a piece of 1" webbing to adjust and support the sleeve pole.



The corresponding footman's loop on the passenger's side.



Snaps installed across the top of the galley roof and down the driver's side wall.



Snaps installed on the passenger side wall.



Driver side view of sleeve attached to camper. The ground was sloping up at this site so there is a little bit of material bunched up at the base of the hinge. I sewed a sleeve for the pole midway up where the strap connects. I also sewed an open sleeve where the galley sleeve meets the tent body. Leaving it open allows the pole to slide further into the tent when the tent is pitched on an upslope and we still level the camper.



Passenger side view of galley sleeve.



The galley lid is closed in this picture. Notice that the sleeve mostly maintains its shape even without the lid supporting it in the middle. I could install a third pole in the center, but I'm going to use it this way for a while first.



Water pooled here a bit after a pretty good rain shower, but it did not come through the sleeve.



This weather stripping is amazing. I installed pull-the-dot snaps every 10" to hold it in place. This is very effective!



A closer look at the corner. I sewed a layer of Shelter-Rite material under the weather stripping. I saw this on a Sail Rite Kits video and decided to give it a try. I like the way it turned out.

I sewed a strip of velcro to the bottom edge of the tent that borders the bumper. I installed self-stick Velcro on the back side of the bumper. This provides an effective means to seal off the bottom edge of the galley sleeve. I could install a couple of snaps, but will just use it with the Velcro for now.

I'm very happy with how fast we can pitch the tent. The galley sleeve looks like quite the "operation", but it goes on without much effort. Other campers stop by to check out our set-up and we're getting a lot of good feedback on the design. Attempting to make the "ultimate galley tent" was an epic quest, but it proved successful after investing way more time and money than I anticipated.

[Dusty Mark]

I sewed storage bags for the galley tent that allow it to fit on the galley counter during travel. My kayak cover storage bag is 11 1/2" in diameter and seemed a little tight, so I made the main tent storage bag 11" in diameter. The tent bag is constructed from Shelter Rite material. This is an outdoor vinyl that should contain the mess when packing up a wet tent.



There is a full-length zipper on the top to allow easy packing of the rolled tent.



I made the pole bag from scraps of galley sleeve material and Shelter Rite material. I designed a wider bag so that the poles would store on top of the tent bag and still allow the galley lid to close. Notice the aluminum roll-top table stored on the floor of the galley. The RV patio mesh floor is stored on top of the cooler.

Here are the weights of the final product:

Bagged tent = 30 pounds
Bagged poles = 8 pounds
RV patio mesh floor = 9 pounds