The Rac-Tent is a custom-built modular shelter system designed specifically for the support of scientific research in remote Polar Regions. It is unique in its ability to provide a highly functional and easily customizable interior work environment in a fabric covered structure.
By allowing most desk and storage functions to occupy the outboard “work-bays”, rather than being crowded inwards towards the centre of the structure, as in most tents, the Rac-Tent feels far more “ship-like” than “tent-like” — with far less of the awkward and cluttered space typically associated with tent-based field work. Users can quickly customise their interior with whatever combination of desk and shelving space best suits their requirements.
The Rac-Tent is designed to facilitate versatile camp configurations and transport requirements. As a modular system, with its shipping crates doubling as floor sections, each crate contains all components for a single 1.2m x 4.8m section. Shelters can be extended indefinitely in 1.2m increments allowing planners to customise camp configurations as required.
TransportThe 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 pilot’s preference for the aircraft type, the weather and/or the range of the mission.
Under normal conditions a 4.8m x 7.2m Rac-Tent 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 framework relies entirely on slip-fit or drop-fit connections with the only tool required being a 5/16 hex key to open the crates. Experienced crews have successfully assembled Rac-Tents in genuinely miserable conditions, and Rac-Tents over 120′ long have been assembled in a single day.
Rac-Tents are built to survive Antarctica’s worst conditions. 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, the Rac-Tent system has consistently proved itself in the Antarctic’s most severe storms.
In addition to the standard RT-16, Rac-Tent also provides custom sled-mounted hard panel buildings. These structures have been used successfully both as traverse modules and in conjunction with Rac-Tent sections to create hybrid buildings. Hybrid “Turtle Hut Galley/Rac-Tent Dining Hall” structures have been used with great success at both the WAIS Divide and the Byrd Field Support Facility on the Western Antarctic Plateau. Stand-alone Turtle Huts have been used as berthing modules, mechanic’s shops, generator sheds and general purpose work and office space.
Years of experience building commercial boats, combined with years building Antarctic field camps, led to the original concept for the Rac-Tent system. Most boats make remarkably effective use of their interior space by building furnishings, work surfaces and storage into their outboard walls. Pipe framed, dome shaped, quonset shaped, pneumatic beamed and other traditional tent forms don’t allow this — typically forcing all the functions of living and working inwards and away from their fabric walls, making for an awkward use of space.
The Rac-Tent resolves this by using plywood web-beam frames with wide sidewall sections to form outer work bays which can be easily configured with whatever combination of shelving and work surfaces the project requires. The result is an exceptionally strong, highly functional work space that feels safe in any conditions.
The Rac-Tent system has been the recipient of two major design awards; one for its framework and the other for its covering system.
Our customers include the US Antarctic Program, NASA, Antarctica New Zealand, the Australian Antarctic Division and the national program of Germany, all of whom have been using Rac-Tents in the field with great success for many years now.
With over 35 years of Antarctic experience and Polar problem solving we work closely with our customers to provide the best possible equipment for any given application.
We recognise that every project is unique and are happy to discuss custom shelter options and related requirements for any polar project.
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