Finished my Dbl wall tent

[dale stuart]

The old tent was a clone of the Gossamer Gear "The One" made of silnylon. I always seemed to have issues with condensation (single wall)unless I left the beak completly rolled up leaving the front completly open, which didn't slways work out in the North Cascades.

My last tent, which served me well for 3 years has gotten replaced. The new tent is much roomier, I can store my pack inside rather than under the beak. It's a not quite a 2 person tent but a roomy one person for sure. The tail is 39" wide and the center 53" wide. The tail is 23" high and center 44" high. It gained weight over the last tents 27oz trail ready weight and weighs in at 34oz trail ready (including the 4ozs of ridge spreader and tail pole) But as you can see it is a complete 2 door, dbl wall tent. You can scroll the front of the fly open for views or you can roll the rainfly off and store on rear hoop, for a big bug shelter. It's a 4" bathtub floor also.

Happy trails.
-Dale

[Michael Duke]

Looks really good. Nice design

[drowning in spam]

Very well done!

[Warren Greer]

Dale, that is an awesome looking tent. Love the two doors and two pound weight. Let us know how it works in the field.

[David Goodyear]

very impressive. looks like you have plenty of room in there. Great design.

you should sell them.

Dave

[Clint Wayman]

Good GRACIOUS! That is L-E-G-I-T! Great looking tent that should only be followed up by a field test and TR!

[Wild Exped]

Nice roomy design, well done!
I'm curious how the top vent works wouldn't it act more like a funnel?

[Brian UL]

nice, this seems to be the direction that UL tents are going.
like the Lightheart, Skyscape. The advantage is being able set it up in the rain and have it all one piece, yet able to roll back the fly for views and ventilation. I like the dimensions. A good roomie tent for one but can probably accommodate a close companion if need be. I have been sketching up ideas for a tent that is very similar to this based around the Coleman Inyo 2. Very similar dimensions and shape the big difference is I didn't think about using the attached fly idea which I think is great. Also, my idea is to use struts on the foot end instead of a pole.
Inspirational.

[Roger Caffin]

> I'm curious how the top vent works wouldn't it act more like a funnel?

Reckon it might.

Cheers

[Mark Fowler]

Congratulations, a good looking tent. I have thought for a while now that for a top vent(s) to work well air really needs to have a easy path through the top of the tent (possible venturi effect) or be vertical (chimney effect). Two vents on opposite sides of the tent should promote air flow and so reduce condensation by maximising air flow. In this situation I would have placed two vents, one in each side wall to maximise the slope on which they were placed. This should help with leakage problems in a storm while still promoting air flow through. In bad weather one or both vents are closed and one puts up with any increase in condensation.

With my Gatewood Cape I usually open up the hood so warm air can exit vertically, only closing it up in bad conditions. Doing this I seem to get less condensation than when I used to leave the hood opening oriented in a vertical plane.

[dale stuart]

Thank you for the kind words.
My reason for going away from my “One” was condensation.(Cold calm nights) I thru-hiked the JMT this year and would be awakened around midnight with a drip of condensation to the face. I would give the roof a quick wipe and go back to sleep. Then by 4am condensation would be frozen. Bottom line, I had to dry my tent every day during lunch.
My design ideas were generated from the lightheart and skyscape. I wanted more tail room and did not want the great length of the lightheart. Yet the tail design of the skyscape worried me a bit. I chose the offset A-frame so there was no tent right over your face and a hoop tail because it gave generous room (no foot of bag contact). “IF” there was condensation it would run down the outer walls and not drip on you. In my opinion, a hoop also allows for a better pitch, much less sagging. I used the hoop pole from the squall classic and it added 3oz. , going with a square tail and corner stays (18” carbon fiber struts in a sleeve) would have added just over an 1oz. So my 2oz difference in pole weight didn’t seem too bad.
The Vent; I was worried about the vent myself. But being paranoid about condensation I put it in. I would think that most of the moisture would come from breathing (head of tent), so the vent is at the apex of the wall above your head. Like the skyscape you set the tent with the bow into the wind that makes the vent opening down wind. But if all else fails, there is a Velcro vent strap that allows for opening/closing the vent.
I’ll let you know how it goes and if my design pans out.

-Dale

[Sam Farrington]

Beautifully done! I wouldn't dare to even attempt a catenary cut like that on the tapered cone. It is a little reminiscent of the Holubar Chateau in shape, but much improved. Thanks!

[fan zhang]

nice job!

[James Marco]

Really Good Looking Tent, Dale!

I would not worry overly much about the vent. Unless you are placing it directly into the wind, it looks like it should work fine. The old Spectrum 1-2 had a similar scheme(except two outside vents supported by a small pole)and there were no problems with leakage. They were, however, way too small and that tent had some condensation issues. The Stephensons 2r places the upper vent on the front with an internal, somewhat adjustable, flap sewn in. As with most small tents in the 2-3 pound range, it too had some condensation issues.

The overall "tunnel" effect of the warm, moist air rising will mostly be lost, by the length of the skin over you. Soo, you really need some wind to drive ventilation to keep air moving. I was calculating an 8-10(~50-75sqin) in diameter upper vent to stay fairly condensation free…about the same or slightly smaller lower vents in ~1mph winds. This jives with what Mark F. was saying, too. The average hood opening is around 7-8" uncinched.

Good Luck with the tent!

[Ismail Faruqi]

Great work! btw just curious, would the mesh prevent condensation from dripping into the tent?

[Sam Farrington]

Did I miss it, or did you not tell us what material you used to make the tent.
If you are on to something other than silnylon, please let us know.
Thanks.

BTW, was thinking that you might be able to leave the doors guyed slightly open as in the photo, to improve ventilation in long drizzling rain, and use the neat little clips from a supplier mentioned on another thread to let yourself in and out. Just a thought: http://www.jsburlys.com/index.php?app=ecom&ns=catshow&ref=mcgizmoclips

[Backpack Jack]

Dale, that is a nice looking tent. I tried to send you a PM but you're not set up for that. I had some questions I wanted to ask you, and didn't want to plug up the thread, you can email me at

[email protected]

Great job!

[dale stuart]

Yes I did make it out of 1.3oz silnylon.
I also do have center tip clips on half of the side doors. (each half of the doors can be tentioned) 1- to allow single side wall stakes and 2-for keeping pitch tight when in storm mode or beak open mode.
-Dale

[Rob Daly]

Great job Dale. It looks like it will serve your purpose well. Let us know how the roof vent works for you.

[Brian Johns]

Just saw this likely old thread. Looks amazing. Kudos deserved. Nice. Wow.

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