We had a milsurp, about 12' X 12' with no floor and only one door that snapped closed. I think it had 6 poles and a bunch of guy rope. Seems like it was 6 ft. at the center and the walls were 4 ft. Once my pops had it up and anchored, it was secure and pretty big, but always smelled like milsurp canvas. Then when our above ground pool gave up the ghost, my dad made a tent out of that, with a floor. He had bought a parachute loft's repair equipment, out of the surplus shed at the Oakland Naval Supply Center. All our camp gear was milsurp from there. My folks did upholstery and drapery work. It was the '50s & early'60s and we'd have a crew of 8 to 10 cousins. No cots but we'd put a felt blanket or 2 down. I didn't think it at the time, but the whole shebang was pretty ghetto. It was mostly at the beach, Pismo, Moss Landing, Half Moon Bay. I remember the first outing, a long and winey trip to Clear Lake, me and my next younger cousin, we were 6, slept/road on the rear shelf, the other 6 cousins & mom were in the passenger seats of our Hudson Main Battle Tank. The trunk was big enough for all our crap by itself, but the cars interior floor was huge too. Never under estimate the stowage capabilities of a Portagee. Not NTSB approved by today's standards. PAX
