Differences Between Sectional and One Piece Tents
Sectional or One Piece Tents: a Sum of Its Parts
Most tents styles come with an addition option once you’ve decided on your brand, your size, and whether you’re going to customize the fabric. Yes, it’s the Sectional versus One Piece dispute. The issue boils down to where you would like to save time and effort when it comes to tent installations. But before we get too far into the specifics, we are going to define our terms.
Sectional refers to any tent where the top fabric to create the final canopy is in a series of fabric portions or sections that can be laced together to form the final dimensions to cover the framework or pole footprint.
One Piece indicates that the entirety of the fabric is manufactured into a single unit to be stored, transported, and installed as a single piece.
Single and Loving It
Any one piece tent top is perfect for smaller tents and any company that doesn’t have a lot of storage space. With the whole tent fabric contained in a single bag it’s easy to pack and load into the truck to take to the installation site. When you arrive, the tent top is ready for immediate installation once it is removed from the bag and spread out on site.
Unfortunately, single-piece tops can begin to get weighty once the size begins to expand. The top will need to be rolled tightly in order to reduce the bulk between installations. Should the fabric experience massive damage, the whole piece would need to be replaced since panel replacement is time consuming and not economical.
Divide and Conquer
Multi-piece tops offer versatility when you have a large inventory of tents. Because sections are created with either Lace or Grommet ends along with a universal mid, you can add or subtract pieces with the same widths to form nearly any tent length you need. With an inventory of West Coast Style Frame hardware or poles of the same length, you can draw from the same pool over and over again. Should any individual piece get damaged, you can always use one of the additional pieces in its place, or replace individual section as opposed to re-buying the full tent top.
Sectional tops at installation sites do require that you remember all of the pieces when you are packing your equipment, along with the added time it will take to assemble the top on site. Sectional tops require lacing – combining a lace line and grommet line to connect the fabric panels together – before they are installed on the support structure hardware.
Whether you are looking for the mix-and-match ability that accompanies an inventory of sectional pieces or just want the simplicity of a completely contained one piece top, Celina has a wide variety of tent brands, styles, sizes, and additional options to make sure you have everything you need to host a successful event. For a more personalized experience, chat with us online or give us a call at (866) 438-8368 and a Customer Account Manager will be happy to guide you through the process of choosing the best fit for you. You can also email us at sales@gettent.com.
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