While visiting my friends home, i ended up trawling through his german militaria books (he collects WW2 German helmets) i came across the triangular ponch/cape that was used , what i found interesting was the adaptability in its design thanks to all the buttons/holes and drawstrings, so that it could be modified for various situations ,


marching - worn as a std poncho or slightly shorter with the excess wrapped and buttoned round to form an apron at knee level

horse riding - shoter top but this time with the excess forming into a chaps style

bicycle - where the bottom of the ponco was buttoned up to provide a trouser arrangement

an finally being buttoned to another 3 to provide a 4 man pup tent

Has anyone come across one of these or are they modern day equivelants , My current ponch is a rather cheap and nasy affair and i am tempted to make this one as there was a drawing with all the button/buttonhole placements .

i went right off using ponco's when i had to use my own one while out hillwalking and got caught in highwind / rain and had the thing flapping like mad with a noise like a fish being skelped on a emptyoil drum <img src="images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />, nowadays i use it as a groundsheet when erecting a tarp shelter.

don't know a modern version of it, but i do know a url ( form mine HUGE fav map ) about the Zeltbahn: http://members.shaw.ca/deutschesoldaten/zeltbahn.htm

Thanks for that link, now wheres my sewing kit <img src="images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />
zeltbahn thats it , knew there was something wrong with the name <img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

show us the result, if you are going to sew one !

Will Do , and it looks like i'll have to , went lookin now that i know the spelling and all thats out there are originals being sold on ebay for 100 bucks plus , and as they were made out of a heavy cotton garbadine theres also the weight\bulk issue.As soon as i find a supplier in the UK that does the same material as the US Army poncho (coated ripstop nylon i believe)then i'll get to work knocking one up (well i say me but what i really mean is finding someone with a sewing machine to do it for me )

purely amazing!
How many pocho's do you need to make a pyramid shaped shelter. And those were for four men?!

www.wephaus.com Checkout tent section for a few options.

Check this out http://www.dpage.dial.pipex.com/zeltbahn_manual.htm It's got some pretty decent illustrations for 4, 8, & 16 man shelters using the zeltbahn

This http://www.choiquehobbies.com.ar/revista01/html/rev/zeltbhane.htm shows the various ways to wear it and has some actual photos

This site is about the best that I've seen so far http://www.zeltbahn.net/ Very nicely done.

From what I've read a 4 man shelter would be made from 4 zeltbahns but would actually only sleep 2 comfortably or 3 snugly. The last guy would be on sentry. I guess the sentry would just have to suffer if it started raining unless the section managed to scrounge an extra "z" for just that purpose.
Ed

Richard

Try this link for really good service and keen prices:

http://www.pointnorth.co.uk/

I've bought loads of stuff from them and they're really helpful

Scott

Thanks everyone for your help , i've decided to manufacture one and i am currently waiting on some samples of material (i'll probably opt for a PU coated ripstop nylon with a removable lining of midge netting for the summer when bivvying out)

I own four Austrian 'shelter quarters' (i.e. zeltbahns) which make a great tent for the kids. When I first got it, I - being too curious for my own good - fiddled with the panels in all sorts of configurations, tent-wise and raingear-wise. Besides confirming to my wife that I am quite mad, I concluded that the zeltbahn is superior to the poncho in all respects save one - a critical one: You can't sleep in it. Folded in half, a 'zelt makes a cone shape which is no good as a sleeping bag cover/bivy. When I used my poncho out in the field, typically it was as a ground sheet, bivy, or tarp - things a single panel 'zelt does poorly.

Hope this helps.

.....CLIFF