Tips on Assembling an Army Style Camp Cot

Learn how a 10,000 year old tool can help you out-strength a brand new army style camp cot.

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Howto & Style

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• army
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• camping
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• tenting

[sedition11]

I just snapped my dowel in two trying to assemble to G.I. one!

[marksvideotips]

@sedition11 Amazing! To think that manufactures expect us to assemble cots by hand. You may have to attach one end of the cot to an immovable object and the other end to a winch to stretch that sucker into position. LOL!

[CCBCadmin]

Had to set up to army cots today, the kind with the plastic fittings. The first I got together by hand by using my legs as instructed. The second cot demanded a quick trip to a nearby hardware store for the pinewood lever.

Thanks for the tip.

I was almost surprised when the cot didn't tear under all the pressure.

Afterwards I discovered that a new, tightly stretched cot makes for a decent percussion instrument, at least until slept on.

[marksvideotips]

Thanks for the funny comment about the percussion instrument thing.

With the popularity of kettle drum bands maybe we could create an army cot band. We'd just need to figure out how to tune each cot to a different pitch.

Mark Hanson - Army Cot Virtuoso!

[co3omega]

There's a lot more stretching for the real army issue cots. Both a more rigid material and the nipple style button make it hard to get to that over the edge.

Another bit of help: Heat the material. Leave it out in the sun for a few hours or lightly go over it with an iron. It makes it easier to stretch.

[marksvideotips]

Thanks for the comment.

You're the second one to mention having difficulty assembling a real army camp cot. They must be a bear to assemble if they're a lot harder to stretch than the one's I've worked with.

[12gage1930]

The handle of a hammer works the same way.

[bastlake]

Well, it took some doing but I've gotten my cot set up. It's an older one with heavy beige canvas and a wood frame. I used the "Lever" approach, but had to use a freakin' baseball bat for a lever! The canvas definitely needs some heat-stretching, though.

Thanks for the video!

[IBallistaphobia]

@co3omega A hot blowdryer worked for me and i worked the material with my fists.

[seffy333]

I'll third that. The G.I. cot is hard to stretch. I'm 6' 2" and was a month training away from getting 300lbs on bench press. I still couldn't stretch that cot. Thanks for the tip co3omega.