Logistics
The Rac-Tent is designed to facilitate versatile camp configurations and transport requirements. It is a modular system with it’s shipping crates doubling as floor sections and each crate containing all the components for one 4' x 16’ section. Shelters can be extended indefinitely in 4' increments allowing planners to easily customize camp configurations and to budget camp sizes and transport requirements by the number of RT sections required.
Transport:
The standard sections, when packed, are designed to fit efficiently on a standard aircraft pallet for transport on board C-130 aircraft or can be individually handled for loading on Twin Otter or Basler aircraft. Helicopter sling loads can be easily configured to the pilots preference for the aircraft type, the weather and/or the range of the mission. Once on site all components can be handled manually.
Assembly:
Under normal conditions a 16' x 24' RT-16 can be fully assembled, from bare ground to complete building with furnishings installed, by three people (with mittens on) in 90 minutes or less. The only tool required is an 5/16 hex key for opening the interior latches on the shipping crates. The framework itself relies entirely on slip-fit or drop-fit type connections and requires only fifteen minutes to assemble once the floor sections have been laid out. The time required to attach the cover varies with the wind conditions but experienced crews have been known to successfully assemble Rac-Tents in genuinely miserable conditions and Rac-Tents over 120’ long are routinely assembled in a single day.
Safety:
Rac-Tents have become legendary for their ability to survive anything the Antarctic can throw at them, so far. We do not give it a “design wind rating” since any tent is only as strong as its tie-downs and is highly dependent on how well it’s erected. But when anchored by an experienced crew this is the structure that camp personnel can rely on when the wind gets up.
