Lightweight shelters

[redefined_cycles]

Obviously I'll be using it without the innards

It doesn't have a removeable inner. It's a tent / tarp hybrid and the inner is formed by mesh sewn to the outer and groundsheet.

Thanks for peeing on my bonfire. Just in time. Hmmmm. Then I will just have to erm get erm an erm... Deschutes. Does Deschutes take same height of pole... have you already started making the pole Stu. If not can we do them ones that can be reduced to 45 inch as well as up to 49?? Will send forth the extra dosh when you have a chance to quote it...

[RIP]

'banshee wailing' - hmm, my dawn farts have been likened to that in the past, so maybe that's what woke you up!

[PaulB2]

'banshee wailing' - hmm, my dawn farts have been likened to that in the past, so maybe that's what woke you up!

Phew, I thought it might have been me - I only left about 15 minutes after Mart.

[whitestone]

A slight thread resurrection and back on topic ...

Stu, what length pole do you use with the Gatewood? I've got a CF pole you made for me a couple of years ago that's 115cm (just over 45") which SMD say is at the shorter, "storm mode" end of the spectrum. A bit of trickernometry would suggest that length of pole would give 300mm clearance at head and toe for a six footer, that's without using the side stake out lifters.

[Bearbonesnorm]

what length pole do you use with the Gatewood?

114cm Bob, so 115 would be fine. There's a little more wiggle room with pole length than there is with a Lunar.

[whitestone]

Thanks Stu. The reason I'm asking is that on Saturday night I pitched the Trekkertent tarp quite low as it was pretty windy so didn't have a lot of room, at the end of the night my feet were sticking out of one side It was the first time I'd used it pitched as a half-pyramid (like this https://bearbonesbikepacking.blogspot.c ... t-got.html), normally I pitch it as a dropped tail A-frame, so was a bit of a learning curve. I'd got the pole positioned about half a metre in front of the tarp and the rear line fairly low on my bars, the windward edge of the tarp was almost at ground level. All this combined with Exped Winterlite sleeping mat and both Minim bag and Cumulus quilt, well let's just say it was snug!

A test pitch in the garden today with the pole as close to the tarp as possible and with guy lines extended then the front corners are 300mm off the deck and the rear corners 200mm. Plenty of room now But it would only be suitable in sheltered spots if it was at all damp.

To be fair, I got the TT tarp for using in ITTs so "comfort" bikepacking isn't its forté hence the question about the Gatewood.

[BigdummySteve]

After weighing my telemark without inner (580g) I thought I’d have a little look a another nordisk offering.
The very nice folks at The Climbers Shop, Stony Stratford shipped over a nordisk lofoten for me to have a look at. First impression was bloody hell its tiny, it really would fit in a cargo trouser pocket. Part of this is due to the special short section poles, pitching it with the Velcro pegs was super quick a think two minutes would be a reasonable target. Minimum peg count is five due to the foot end pole. I was expecting to dismiss it straight away once I put a pad in it but although tight there was enough room for a bag without too much risk of a soggy bottom. As this was the two person inner absolutely no vestibule, hard one this....tiny,light, bug proof,expensive and very easy to pitch possibly ideal for racing where you need a proper shelter?
Ultimately I think it’s too focused for me but I did buy a thermarest uberlite pad in large size (being broad shouldered my arms drop off normal pads leading to errr cold arms) this has dropped a whopping 230g compared to my exped HL MW
Also just before last weekends outing I picked up a new filter, a katadyn befree, it’s essentially a filter element which screws into a soft bottle, 61g and you can fill it and either squeeze it into a normal bottle or drink straight from it. Being floppy it’s tricky to use on the go but stops that waiting while you filter with the trailshot.

[RIP]

Arg, stobbit! Too much slinky gear to slobber over in one post . Lofoten 'race' (495g) excludes one pole (?!) and says it has 1g 'pegs' - does anybody use those other than in a windproof room? Interesting idea to have same outer but option of single/vestibule or double/no-vestibule. The Befree looks handy too. The Uberlite is a big weight saving isn't it, although I read somewhere that it's R2 - summer only? Crinkle-free too apparently - bonus. Gonna start calling you 'Q' now Steve, with all this nice cutting-edge research going on

( oh, and we were asking a while ago what comes after hyper and ultra - now we know )

[redefined_cycles]

The flysheet seems to have a HH of 1600mm... Thats cutting it a bit fine isnt it Q

How'd you managed to get the Climbers shop to just send you out a sample!?!...

[PaulB2]

I weighed my tent the other day and it was 1.75kg including footprint, inner, outer, poles and (titanium) pegs. My thermarest prolite mat is another 780g. My -2C sleeping bag is 900g - not sure what my summer bag weighs. Time to start working on losing weight!

[ScotRoutes]

Selection of Pegs and BB pole disc 90g
6 x Guys (includes lineloks and mini-krabs) 70g
Trekkertent DCF tarp (270x180cm) 124g
Short BB pole 65g

Phantom 32 sleeping bag (zero rated) 653g
or Cumulus 250 quilt 480g

TiGoat Kestrel bivvy bag 185g

Exped HL7, pillow and inflator bag 481g

That seems to give me an all-up weight for sleeping and shelter of 1670g for bag and 1500g for quilt. Of course it also doesn't take into account any other clothing I might add for warmth but that just tends to be the stuff I carry anyway.

[whitestone]

I did post tarp and bivy weights a long way bag in this thread but here's my lightweight summer setup. All weights done on my kitchen scales and rounded up to the nearest 5g and include any mods like extra lines or tie outs. Note that I use the handlebars of my bike for the rear pole so if you didn't want to do that you'd need to add in the weight of a 70cm carbon fibre pole - 60g?

Trekkertent DCF tarp (the small size) with lines: 145g
BB Pole (115cm): 80g
BB carbon fibre pegs(6): 40g
Borah Gear lightweight bivy bag: 180g
Cumulus 150 quilt: 365g
Klymit X-frame mat: 260g

I make that 1070g.

Here's the tarp and bag setup:



To go "race mode" (sorry Colin), swap out the bivy bag for the DCF version @ 130g for a saving of 50g and swap the X-frame for the torso version @ 170g for a saving of 90g. That brings the total down to 950g.

For more comfort, and which is probably what I'd usually go with in summer, swap the X-frame for my Exped Winterlite sleeping pad @ 420g so that's an extra 160g making the total 1230g.

If you swapped the Trekkertent tarp for something like the Gatewood you'd add another 135g making 1365g for what would be a very comfy setup.

[firestarter]

I like the look of that tigoat kestrel bivi

[BigdummySteve]

Arg, stobbit! The Uberlite is a big weight saving isn't it, although I read somewhere that it's R2 - summer only? Crinkle-free too apparently - bonus. Gonna start calling you 'Q' now Steve, with all this nice cutting-edge research going on

( oh, and we were asking a while ago what comes after hyper and ultra - now we know )

Well I could justify the pad, even in large it’s saving 230g over my exped and I need another for my lad who has started coming out with me, if I got him one too the total weight would be the same as my exped HL. The R value is indeed 2, what that means in the real world I don’t know but winter trips tend to be heavyweight affairs anyway.

Shelter wise I appear to be a a crossroads, unless I pop down at midnight and do a deal it’s big money or some large compromises. A tarp might possibly be in my future, perhaps I need a ‘taster session’ can’t imagine liking it though.

[RIP]

Have u gone for the S Uberlite then? Hardcore! My Hyperlite is 360g and the Uber is 240 (M) and 170 (S) it sez ere. Just been nosing at Klymits but not entirely convinced although I see RichNShona might still have one for sale that I could risk .

[whitestone]

Some interesting views in the comments to this review - https://sectionhiker.com/therm-a-rest-n ... ad-review/, sounds like it's definitely a summer only mat.

Reg - are you looking at the Klymit X-frames with the "holes"? They are basically fancy Lilos, there's no insulation in them, I wouldn't expect anything other than a bit of cushioning, the bottom of your bag is meant to push in to them and provide some insulation. I use a quilt with them coz I is tough Actually it's the opposite and the discomfort wakes you up when racing.

Steve - hadn't got you down as a Robert Johnson aficionado

[redefined_cycles]

Bob... you're well ard

[RIP]

Ta Bob.. an experiment too far pour moi then methinks...

("coz I is tough" . Just had a little flash of you doing an Armstrong and Miller Pilots sketch there... Klymit and this and that and everything else, cos I is a tough geezer isn't it, isn't it though, standard!)

[mechanicaldope]

Ta Bob.. an experiment too far pour moi then methinks...

("coz I is tough" . Just had a little flash of you doing an Armstrong and Miller Pilots sketch there... Klymit and this and that and everything else, cos I is a tough geezer isn't it, isn't it though, standard!)

If you change your mind I have (what I think is) a klymit ozone that I could be pursuaded to part with. Used for 1 night only then had to buy an insulated one for the Winter Event then brought a quilt for the summer which isn't really suitable for the cutouts.

[BigdummySteve]

Have u gone for the S Uberlite then? Hardcore! My Hyperlite is 360g and the Uber is 240 (M) and 170 (S) it sez ere. Just been nosing at Klymits but not entirely convinced although I see RichNShona might still have one for sale that I could risk .

No the large one at 330g, my exped HL is the medium wide. The normal pads are just too narrow for me.
I picked up a klimit x frame in the shop, it’s like some medieval torture device

[Oli.vert]

So....can I just check - I'm sure I saw this info in this thread somewhere -

Between the SMD Luna Solo and the Deschutes, the Deschutes is the longer of the two right? Being a person of restricted shortness (but some extra height) I need as much space (headroom) as I can get. I'm happy with a single skin thing with no bug net on the whole but not brave enough to go full tarp just yet. Been using a Telemark2 with just the outer and finding that just long enough at 235cm.

Benefits of the telemark are it has loads of floorspace, and just enough head and foot space if it's just used as the outer. The telemark has 20cm (ish) upstands that lift the sides of the tent which must add to the headroom a bit so I'm wondering if I'd be getting less headroom with the Deschutes? Pondering pondering....

[whitestone]

These are from SMD's site. Note that they quote external dimensions

Edit (following Stu's comment): the length of the inner is also quoted, so the Lunar Solo is 160mm longer than the Serenity inner when used in the Deschutes. There's no quoted height of the Serenity though. [end of edit]

Deschutes


Lunar Solo

[Bearbonesnorm]

The Deschutes uses a 122cm pole, so without any form of inner, that is your headroom. Obviously, the sloping sides mean that height is only available over a small area but it's an area big enough to sit up in (as long as you fit, if you see what I mean). Useable length of the Deschutes will be longer than the Lunar as the mesh 'walls' take up some space in the Lunar ... not obvious from Bob's pictures.

[Oli.vert]

Thanks both. By headroom I really mean from a lying position. As in, amount of headroom I have to move around in when undertaking a succession of naps and moving from back, to side, to the other side etc.

[redefined_cycles]

Dont forget. Theres also the trekkertent Stealth 1.5... thats similar weight (actually almost 100g less) and has the advantage that the outer and inner come apart. So for ultralight days you could go with the outer only.

Also being tested in the Carignorms, apparently its really been put through its paces.

One of the downsides that Colin mentioned was trying to get inside and past the pole into the mesh. I emailed Trekkertent and he said he plans on having a soon to be available sidwdoor Stealth 1.5 which has slightly less useable length.

Another upside for the Stealth 1.5 is that it comes fully seam sealed (i understand its not a big job but still surely we cant do a good a job as TT or SMD and besides its an extra cost)...

One thing I'd be happy to know is the hieght of pole required for the TT Stealth as I have a few options (multi length BB pole arrived today) but would need an extra length for the back end I think...