Eureka Tent Combat One Person (TCOP) - single modular tent from the military line of products of the American company Eureka! Tent Company.
Eureka! Tent Company is a recognized American manufacturer in the civilian and military segments of the market, whose product line includes a variety of tents for hiking, car camping, mass events, mountain climbing, etc. Not surprisingly, with such extensive experience in creating shelters from the weather, accumulated since the distant 1895, and production capacity in the continental US, this company was chosen as one of the contract suppliers of shelters for the US Department of Defense. In the framework of contracts Eureka! Tent Company supplies dimensional structures (RDS and MGPTS), for the deployment of modular tent camps and forward bases, group shelters for cold climates (ECWT), and individual shelters. The most common of them can be safely considered the Eureka Tent Combat One Person (TCOP), which is part of the individual bivouac outfit of the Marine Corps (USMC) and US Army (US Army) troops.
Its distribution and well-deserved fame, Eureka TCOP received thanks to its design features, a complete list of which is not limited to the points below.
- Flexible multi-season cover, installed in three possible configurations.
- The presence of two independent lobbies with an area of 1.57 m² for storage of personal belongings and equipment.
- Free-standing inner tent with an area of 2.60 m².
- Double-sided, fireproof, darkened outer awning.
- Taped seams external awning for extra moisture resistance.
- Dimensions in the folded state: 45 cm. X 19 cm. (Length \ diameter).
- Dimensions in unfolded state:. (width Length height).
- Main material: Ripstop Nylon with polyurethane impregnation 98P with a density of 70D, nylon mesh with a density of 40D.
- Available colors: Woodland \ Desert Tan, ACU \ Tan.
- Weight (tent, awning, arcs): 3.17 kg.
Further in the review, the Eureka TCOP tent is presented in the color Woodland \ Desert Tan.
Eureka TCOP is delivered in a cylindrical cloth bag in Olive Drab color. The entire package fits in dimensions approximately equal to 45 x 19 cm (length / diameter). The neck of the bag has an utyazhka with a small plastic cordlock, as well as a cloth cover that fits over the contents before tightening the utyazhki, and prevents dust and small debris from entering the bag. Also in the photo above you can see a paper sheet with tent features packed in a bag with a flap. This is not a “native” information sheet from the manufacturer, but a translation of its adaptation from the punisher.com.ua store, which provided a tent for review. Pleasant sign of customer care.
Inside the fabric bag with the photo above, you will be expected by the following components: an internal tent of the Eureka TCOP, an external awning, three aluminum arches for the installation of the structure, and three inch lines. Two of them are equipped with plastic buckles at both ends, and have a length of about 2.72 m., And the remaining sling does not have buckles, and its length is about 2.70 m. The purpose of these slings and buckles will become more obvious to you a little later. In addition to the described components inside the Eureka TCOP transportation bag, you will also be expected to have five rope delays about three meters long.
I admit honestly, I was surprised by the lack of a repair kit and pegs for setting a tent, but as it turned out later, Eureka TCOP, like other contract items of equipment, gets into the civilian market mainly in two ways. Usually this happens either through direct sales by the military itself upon leaving the armed forces, or as part of programs to replace and write off departmental equipment. This is true not only for the Ukrainian market, but also for such marketplaces as Ebay or Amazon, because I would strongly recommend that you be interested in bundling and the condition of such goods before purchasing them. For the most part, these are things with little wear and, in general, in good condition, but some defects or deviations from the basic configuration may still be present.
We turn to the installation of the tent, and along the way we will get acquainted with its key design features.
So, to perform the first stage of the installation, you will need an internal tent and three arches 3.37 meters long from the delivery set.
By the way, the arc for Eureka TCOP made of anodized aluminum by Easton. These guys have been engaged in the manufacture of arrows for sports target shooting and hunting for many years, so you can be sure that they know a lot about aluminum and carbon fiber. As a result, from several sections up to 37 cm long, you will have reliable and resistant to deformation arcs with a length of more than three meters, capable of supporting the weight of the whole structure, as well as possible wind and sedimentary loads. The manufacturer also claims that inside the arcs there is a shock cord whose elasticity does not suffer from low temperatures and from a long stay of the tent under direct sunlight.
To build a base cover, you need to put the sections of two arcs together, then insert their ends into special eyelets in the slings sewn at the corners of the inner tent, as shown in the photo above.
At the seams of the inner tent there are three plastic hooks through which the tent is attached to the arcs, thereby creating a more stable structure. That is what you need to fix in the next step of installation.
Due to the presence of arcs and hooks, Eureka TCOP has a completely free-standing structure, does not require pegs for stretching and can be installed as an independent structure on various types of surfaces from snow and soil up to parquet in the gymnasium, make you settle there overnight.
As a result, you will have a completely isolated space with a bottom area of about 2.42 x 1.04 m and a height of 87 cm. The bottom of the inner tent is made of 98P polyurethane impregnated with a density of 70D and has a Ripstop reinforcement from punctures and cuts. For a longer life, the seams of the bottom are raised from the surface by several tens of centimeters, which provides you with a tray of basic material that protects from dust, debris, insects and minor troubles. Above the level of the tray in Woodland camouflage coloring there is a less dense material, in the oblong side walls of which large openings are made to access the interior of the tent.
Openings have two zippers, with two double-sided sliders and long rope tacks, one of which (pictured above) completely opens the opening, and the second (pictured below) allows you to separate the base material layer from the nylon mesh.
As a result, you can either completely close the semicircular opening 175 cm wide and 65 cm high for additional isolation and individual space, or tilt the base material layer to provide additional air circulation with simultaneous protection from insects. The folded layer of the base material can be attached to the wall of the inner tent with the help of three pairs of loops and plastic crutches, as shown in the photo above. As you can see, for a hot day, two mesh windows of such a large area are all that is needed so that in the evening the tent is not overly hot and stuffy, and it does not have to fight off the hordes of insects. To protect against the latter, the grid can also be additionally processed with a repellent.
In warm weather without precipitation, the protection provided by the inner tent of the Eureka TCOP will be quite enough for spending the night under the stars. If the risk of precipitation is still present, or you need additional masking of your location - then you will need to deploy an outer tent tent too.
To do this, simply spread the outer awning over the inner tent so that the sleeve for the third perfume would cross it perpendicularly to the long side of the Eureka TCOP. If precipitation turned out to be sudden or short-term, then this step will be enough to provide yourself with a dry, sheltered space to sleep until morning.
If you need a more thorough shelter for a prolonged stay, it is not superfluous to take a few more additional steps.
The first of these is the installation of the third arc in the canvas of the external awning. To do this, simply close the sections of the arc and slide it into a sleeve located across the arcs of the inner tent. After that, install the ends of the arc into special holes in the slings at the edges of the outer awning, which by their function and appearance are very similar to those slings that are located at the corners of the inner tent.
Also find the buckles on the outer awning, and close them with the counter buckles on the corners of the inner tent of the Eureka TCOP. This step will allow you to connect the two layers of the tent together, and provide you with a more reliable shelter in the wind and precipitation. The slings to which the buckles of the external awning are attached have a free-running reserve of up to 25 cm., Which allows you to choose the optimal tension of the external awning, and the volume of circulating air, taking into account the weather conditions and the installation site of your shelter. Need more air flow and less condensate inside the tent - increase the height of the gap between the outer tent and the surface, need protection from wind and heavy rainfall - pull the outer tent stronger, need protection from the wind on one side and air flow on the other - you have a working mechanism climate control in the form of adjustment lines, use it.
After installing the third arc, the tent will take the form of a hexagonal pyramid with the carrying out of the lobbies about 70 cm from the walls of the inner tent, provide you with about three square meters of protected space to store your backpack, shoes and other equipment.
You can get inside the vestibules with the help of two zippers about 112 cm long, equipped with double-sided sliders and the same long tacks as in the openings of the inner tent. For additional protection against precipitation and debris, lightning is hidden under a one-way valve that is attached to the outer awning by means of velcro.
True, one problem is connected with these lightning. As you can see in the photo above, if you do not use the pegs to fix the Eureka TCOP arcs to the surface, then when you unzip the zipper on the outer tent, the tension of the transverse arc tends to lift the lobby of the outer tent. If you unzipped to quickly enter / leave the tent - there is nothing critical in this, but if it happens in the pouring rain when there is some equipment in the lobby, then it is pleasant too.
To solve this problem, the third line with eyelets and without buckles is included in the Eureka TCOP kit. By inserting the ends of the transverse arc of the outer tent into its grommets, and after throwing the line under the bottom of the tent, you will receive a limiter that will not allow the walls of the vestibule to jump upwards when opening the zippers of the outer tent.
As you can see in the photo above, after adding a sling, with the outer tent openings zippers, the walls of the vestibules remain in place, which reduces the likelihood of soaking equipment when opening tent doors.
It is nice that the lobbies at Eureka TCOP are two, and they are completely equivalent and independent. There are two zippers for accessing them too, which provides you with a number of useful properties. Firstly, during hot weather and strong winds, you can open both doors of the lobbies to ventilate the inside of the tent, securing a wind wall on one side. As a result, in the evening in the inner tent will be fresh and comfortable, but at the same time for the whole day in the tent does not blow dust, sand and other debris. Secondly, you have the opportunity to divide the lobbies functionally. For example, in one store shoes and a backpack while you are sleeping inside, and in the other, lay down the equipment that you do not need to solve today's problems. If you suddenly need to take something out of this equipment, you can simply open the zipper of the corresponding vestibule, and not climb into it from the inside, opening all three lightnings, bringing dirt into the inner space.
For airing and fixing the doors of the outer tent, on its inner surface at the sleeve for the transverse arc there is an elastic loop with a crutch, which can be fixed to the twisted wall of the outer tent. Also in the photo above, the sling is well visible, which keeps the transverse arc from bouncing when the door of the external awning is open.
But the installation of internal and external tent is not all that the Eureka TCOP is capable of. Using the same components, you have the opportunity to assemble another type of cover.
It is designed for extremely hot and desert climate, because the inner tent here is not useful to you. Instead, it will go into the course of the arc, and all lines, including those that have buckles on the ends. I think, here you have already understood that they must replace the buckles on the slings from the edges of the inner tent. Two slings with buckles can be connected to each other using buttons located closer to the center, and the perpendicular slings are also forwarded along the surface as before. Arcs are installed as before, as a result of which you get a skeletonized base from the photo above.
Next, you will need to turn the outer tent with the already installed third arc inside out, and fix its peak to the crosshairs of the arcs. On the inside of the tent for these purposes there is the same loop with a crutch as on the outside. With this type of installation, they replace each other, and with a normal installation, they can be used, for example, to hang a lamp to a peak of a shelter.
After hanging the peak of the outer tent, you will also need to fasten it to the arcs, for which the Velcro loops located in the upper part of the peak on four sides will be useful.
After connecting all the lines, arcs and stickies, you will have a hexagonal dome with two doors, and no inner tent. The inner surface of the outer tent is deliberately the same color as Desert Tan, so that the same Eureka TCOP tent, which is part of an individual set of camp equipment, can be used both in mountainous and wooded areas, as well as in sandy-desert areas when changing the theater of operations or the place of service. This approach not only saves “Uncle Sam” funds, but also allows you to adjust to your environment much faster, since There is no need to wait for the arrival of new equipment in a different color.
In the same way as in the standard configuration, both doors of the external awning can be opened for ventilation and hinged at the transverse arc. The color of Desert Tan is useful not only for extra masking in sandy-desert regions, but also quite justified in the summer on the territory of Ukraine, since attracts far less solar energy than the same Woodland. As a result, the internal space of the tent overheats significantly less per day, simply because you turned the tent back over. It is also worth noting that only Eureka TCOP in Woodland \ DesertTan color has this ability to turn out. ACU digital camouflage tent does not change its color when inverted.
Next to the velcro loops, with which the canopy of the external awning is attached to the arcs of the tent, there is another textile loop, to which you can attach rope ties from the delivery kit for additional fixation of the tent to the surface in case of strong wind. These loops will be especially relevant on a plain in a desert area, as well as to protect against strong wind and snow drifts in winter. Also in the photo above you should pay attention to the sizing of the main seams of the outer tent for additional protection against precipitation and moisture.
In general, I can note that the Eureka TCOP is a functional and flexible multi-seasonal shelter for one person, capable of providing reliable weather protection not only for you, but also for your equipment. Not the last role in this is played by two independent lobbies of a decent area. If we compare it with a similar Litefighter 1 tent, which we reviewed earlier, then the Tent Combat One Person's internal tent is much simpler, does not have pockets and shelves under the dome to accommodate small equipment, but I liked the external awning of the Eureka TCOP much more, thanks to the totality of its key characteristics. First, it is fireproof moisture-resistant Ripstop nylon with concomitant resistance to mechanical damage and durability. Secondly, all seams are taped to give greater moisture resistance. Thirdly, because of its high density, it is darkened, which makes it possible to turn on lighting devices inside the tent at night, with minimal light penetration to the outside. In bright light, in which we filmed the material for this review to demonstrate this feature, unfortunately, it was not possible, but with the blackout, the Eureka TCOP is much better than Litefighter 1.
You can purchase the Eureka TCOP tent at the punisher.com.ua store, which we thank for the sample provided for the review.
Source: https://secretsquirrel.com.ua
Posted by: MAD
