Lightheart Gear has Gone Cuben

[John Mc]

I noticed this morning that Lightheart Gear has jumped into the cuben fiber market. I emailed them this morning and their solo cuben fiber tent is 14 oz. I don't know if that's with or without stakes and tiedown rope.

Any thoughts on this tent???? It looks pretty sweet to me.

[Hendrik Morkel]

Ryan Jordan has been speaking very highly of his LightHeart Gear Cuben Solo tent, and a review is in the making, afaik. They're already since a good two or three months in the cuben market, btw!

[John Mc]

It was my understanding that Ryan's only had a modified cuben rainfly with a silnylon body @ 19 oz. They're now showing an all cuben at 14 oz. I could be wrong…which wouldn't be my first time.

[CW]

John's description of Ryan's tent is correct, IIRC. The full cuben tent has been in development for a couple of months I believe and it is also seam taped which should be interesting.

[John Mc]

Help me out with this. Is Lightheart's 'seam taped' the same as what Hyperlight Mountain Gear does?

From HPG's site…."we employ sealed seams which have tested stronger than the fabric itself".

[CW]

Possibly. You'd have to ask the two vendors to be certain. I believe Lightheart is sewing the seams and then employing a tape over that like most mainstream tent manufacturers do with nylon. I also believe HMG is not sewing their tarps but instead using a bonding method (tape, glue, etc.).

[. .]

This is great news. It is exciting to see the fabric being used more by tent makers.

From http://www.lightheartgear.com:

"Now taking orders for Cuben Fiber LightHeart Solo Tents
All Cuben Fiber tents will come seam sealed (taped), and will have ultralight mesh windows."

Full cuben tent – walls and floor of WHITE CT0.6 – $550.00

Cuben tent with sil-nylon floor – $450.00

Full colored cuben tent – $575.00

Colored cuben with silnylon floor – $475.00"

[Rakesh Malik]

"I also believe HMG is not sewing their tarps but instead using a bonding method (tape, glue, etc.)."

Yes, they do bond rather than stitch. I guess we'll find out what Lightheart's doing before too long, now that their Cuben tents are going into production.

As Aaron said, it's good to see Cuben getting more popular. Maybe we'll see some more breathable Cuben in the future, too :)

edit: looked at the name of the poster I was agreeing with :)

[Judy Gross]

HI, This is Judy from LightHeart Gear.

All seams will be double stitched, and seams that need it will be taped over the stitching for seam sealing. I have tried the double sided tape that is recommended for taping/gluing seams in the cuben but was not satisfied with it (I was able to pull the seams apart after a day). Aqua Seal seam sealer does work on it, and I use that to glue on reinforcement patches where the tie outs go, but it would be too difficult to use that to seam seal the entire tent. silicone seam sealer while it does stick to the fabric,did not adequately seal the holes (if you pull on the seam and stretch it, the silicone opened holes.

It is more critical to seal the cuben adequately than silnylon, since the cuben is not a woven material, needle holes leave gaping holes in the material, woven fabrics like silnylon, the needle just pushes the threads to the side and then they fill back in – it's like poking a hole in a piece of wax paper – the hole is there, so I feel taping the seams will be the best solution. And, it's NOT easy to tape these things!

I will ONLY be making solo tents in the cuben. There will be a seam in the floor of the tent since the fabric doesn't come as wide as the silnylon. These will be custom orders only, and I"m starting to offer options such as a zipper in the back wall to access the back vestibule, If there are any other options you think might enhance the tent, or something you would like, please feel free to email me.

Judy

[Judy Gross]

I've been asked to provide more of a review – I'll write something up in the next day or so, but I want to mention about the floor. I was using a 2ml plastic groundcloth (it weighs 2 oz vs 5 oz for the tyvek). This was my only mistake. I had a hole poked in the floor on day 2. (patched with duct tape) As many of you must know, the JMT is full of pine cones, rocks,more rocks, and more pine cones, the 2ml plastic was not enough protection. I swithced out for a 4ml plastic groundcloth when I could and that was much better, but in the future I will certainly use tyvek. The option to have a silnylon floor (without a floor seam) is available, but I like the cuben because it is more waterproof than the sil.

The 14 oz was without stakes, but with all tie out cord. If you look at the picture of the tent I made for Ryan, one side had an awning, and there were 2 doors, he had water get in the tent (he had not seam sealed it, and I haven't heard back where the water came in from, I suspect some came in the windows. I'm going to play with the design, making smaller (higher) windows on the side of the awning, in cuben, this would lower the weight a little as the mesh weighs twice what the cuben weighs.

We started on a full moon, and it shown like a spotlight into the tent, so if someone is sensative to light, the plain standard white cuben is not the way to go.

I had no problems with condensation, but then it's pretty dry on the JMT. We had only a light rain/freezing rain or snow one night, I woke up to ice on the fly. what ever it was that fell from the sky that night made an interesting metallic sort of tinkling sound.

I'll be taking it out on the AT the first week in October. Hopefully I'll get a downpour to test it in the rain! ( I have set my lawn sprinkler on it for a few hours and got no water in it).
Judy
LightHeart Gear.

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

Just to clarify, you're using CT0.6K.08 (0.48oz.yd) right? The Lightheart site says it's made from CT0.6 which leads me to believe that, but maybe you meant 0.6oz cuben?

Have you considered using a heavier material than 0.48oz cuben or silnylon for the floor? It wouldn't look as good on the specs sheet, but 1.5oz cuben is a lot more durable and could likely be used without a groundsheet so it would actually be lighter overall. I personally like a nice 30-70D PU coated nylon floor which is more waterproof than silnylon in my experience and it's durable enough to be used without a groundsheet.

[Frank Deland]

Pine cones in Yoemite? Here is one next to my size 11 shoe!

[Judy Gross]

The cuben that I used was the CT0.6K.08.

Cuben comes in many many different weights, there is even one that has bias laid fibers to increase the overall strength of the stuff, but the heavier you go or add the bias fibers and it makes it much more expensive.

groundcloths are one of those personal issues – you either like them or you hate them. I am personally a big proponent of them, many here are not.

I am willing to make tents to whatever specs someone wants. That's the benefit of being able to offer custom sewing. I just can't give weights up front.
Judy
LightHeart Gear

[drowning in spam]

I'm so glad this design is now done in cuben fiber.

[John Mc]

Does anyone know when Ryan's review is coming out on this tent?? I'm ready to get this tent, but I want to know if he's come up with any options he feels must be added.

[Greg Mihalik]

You can find his comments Here.

Among other things he says –

"…I specified a Cuben Fiber rain fly, dual zip doors, and one side of the fly set up as a porch for cooking and views. The dual doors let me stow gear on one side and cook and enter/exit on the other, and allow the whole thing to be completely unzipped with the fly rolled up when neither weather nor insects threaten.

I took this new 19 ounce shelter into …"

Looking carefully, I'd say the body is silnylon.

[Judy Gross]

Yes, the body and floor of this tent is silnylon. It was made to his specs.

[Robert Burke]

Do you think he is using a stick or extra pole to hold up the awning? Really like that awning because you can have it open in the rain and still be able to look out/cook. Question for Judy, is the awning something that can now be ordered on your tents.

[Marc Penansky]

This is Judy – Yes, I am working on the design for the awning right now. I'm trying to make it possible to close up the awning side in a blowing rain to keep the interior dry, We did supply a pole for Ryans tent. When I get the design perfected, I will offer it as an option in both silnylon and cuben versions. The tent I'm working on right now like Ryan's will have 2 full doors and the regular fly side will have a fly that opens.
So, there are more zippers in the tent (more wight). When I get it finished, if I can get good pictures I will post them on the website and the facebook page. Hopefully it will dry up here a little so I can put it up outside to photograph it.
Judy AKA HeartFire of LightHeart Tents

[Robert Burke]

Looking forward to the pics. Thanks! Will you provide a weight as well?

[Jake Palmer]

The tent she's building right now is actually mine. I asked her to make me one similar to Ryan's, but made entirely from silnylon for cost. The major difference (other than material) is I asked if she could figure out a way to make the awning convert into a standard fly for bad weather. I believe what she came up with will work quite well with only a minor weight penalty. I'll take some pictures of it in my backyard once I get it.

[Robert Burke]

Thanks Jake. Sounds great! I look forward to seeing the pictures. What are you going to use to keep the awning up? Are you going to just use a branch you find around or are you going to bring a lightweight pole?

[John Mc]

Can't wait for the pictures Jake. I'm in line for an all Cuben tent from Judy. The material won't be in until mid-January. If the awning works out I'll specify the same.

[Jake Palmer]

She's putting a pocket at the tip of the awning and another at the base of the tent to hold the pole. This makes using a branch impossible, but the advantage is the awning will be much more stable. I'm going to make a 3 section Easton Nanolite pole which should weigh about 1.6oz and collapse down to around 14 inches.

[Robert Burke]

I was looking at pictures of other tents in the snow and wondered how this tent would do with a Cuban fly in the snow. It appeared to me that this tent should hold up well as long as the trekking poles can withstand the weight. Would a Cuban version of this tent be able to withstand a foot of Appalachian snow?

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