Robert Saunders – Tent Designer and Innovator
Rob Howard / 25.04.2012
Bob Saunders, who died recently at his home in Essex was one of the UK’s great gear innovators, and though most of those who use modern lightweight tents won’t even know his name, he played a vital part in the development of today’s tent technology and design.
Endurance racers and runners may know his name best from the ‘Saunders Lakeland Mountain Marathon’, an event which he established and is now in its 34th year. Every year it is marshalled by members of ‘The Backpackers Club’, an organisation Robert Saunders always supported. The SLMM continues to be run today very much in the way he liked it, low-key and friendly, yet innovative and competitive, a bit like the man himself.
Roberts Saunders (Chigwell) Ltd, is no more, though there are still one or two Saunders tents around, and it says something about them that they are often sought after second hand. There was a time however when a Saunders tent was the only one to have and journalist Clive Garrett (http://www.dustyroad.co.uk/17.html) tells this story in his review of the company from a few years ago.
There is a story of two men crossing the Kalahari desert. They come across an old man sitting under a piece of polythene sheet.
'Ah', says one of the men, 'You need to buy a tent'.
'I will,' comes the reply, 'As soon as I can afford a Saunders!'
In the 1970’s Robert Saunders took tent design from the Base Camp model requiring porters to carry it, to a sub 3kg backpacking tent, developing new designs, fabrics, treatments and constructions, many of which are taken for granted today. He was the first to design tents with a transverse ridge (which developed into the geodesic hoop), to produce a tent erected flysheet first (imagine that!), and to develop soft PU coatings with good waterproofing and strong ripstop nylon outers.
With the innovation came attention to detail and high construction standards, which is why the Saunders tents was a must-have for outdoor enthusiasts and travellers, at least until the era of mass production and mass marketing caught up with the outdoor industry. (I still have a Saunders Jetpacker in the cupboard, and when I need a lightweight tent it‘s still in use. Reports for this site from Patagonia, the Himalaya, and more recently Tasmania have been typed in that 30 year old tent There are lighter, better models available ... but it still works well and they are not much lighter or better enough that I need to replace it!)
Among the outdoor gear designers Robert Saunders was one of the great innovators and his legacy is that his products and ideas have helped millions to travel and get out into the great outdoors.
You can read a tribute to him by Peter Lumley on Outdoors Magic here.
