1.5 person, 3 season tent recommendation – TT rainbow?

[Sharon J.]

Hi,
I'm looking for an affordable shelter to share with my dog (I'm a medium woman, she's a largish mutt). From the specs, the Tarptent Rainbow looks pretty good, but I haven't seen one in person. At least one person here didn't think it was roomy enough to share. Would appreciate thoughts on it or alternatives. Some features I'd prefer:

-fully enclosed
-enough clearance to sit upright
-doesn't require two trekking poles
-wide enough for dog to curl up next to me
-vestibule (not strictly required, but would be nice for drying dog if it's raining)
-weighs no more than 2lbs, 9 oz (current shelter)

I expect to mostly use it in NF/Wilderness areas within a few hours of San Francisco: Emigrant, Ventana, Trinity Alps…. avoiding severe weather as much as possible.

Thanks much for your collective wisdom!

[MFR]

I have a Rainbow that is the go-to shelter for my wife and me. We both fit in it quite nicely, so I have no doubt that you could easily get a dog inside, so long as she isn't too large. Our 40 lb. Aussie would fit in with lots of room to spare alongside another person.

The Rainbow is a great tent, and I really enjoy it.

The only thing to consider from my perspective would be your dog's claws messing up the tent floor.

[J-L]

The TT Rainbow is a nice tent. It fits me and my 60lb dog fine. It has LOTS of headroom and is very easy to sit up in and move around.

I just started using a SMD Lunar Solo. It has good floorspace for my dog and I but the headroom is a little less than in the Rainbow. It sets up with just 1 trekking pole and only weighs 23 oz (without stakes). I recently used it on a very windy ridge line at 9000 ft and it did fine. So far, it's proving to be a good shelter and a much lighter option than the Rainbow.

30D silnylon floors and dog claws have not been an issue for me so far.

[Casey Bowden]

My wife and I also share a TT Rainbow. You'll be fine with a dog. If you want to see one in person I'm nearby (Berkeley Hills).

[Ken Thompson]

I agree with the others Sharon. You two will be fine in there. Great little tent.

[Harald Hope]

agree re rainbow, I like it, honestly, I feel like it's huge when I'm inside it, excellent headroom, hard to even consider it an ultralight tent it's so big inside. If you order a new one make sure to get a middle/center back wall guyline connector, I believe Henry will add that if you ask him to, it's worth it, in heavy winds if you are camped with the wall facing the winds, it can use a bit of support on that big panel.

But this tent is very large. I share others concerns with dog claws on a thin silnylon floor but that would be the same in any of these shelters that have floors so that's not related to rainbow specifically. A 1/8 pad might be useful to avoid issues, that's only about 4oz, and you can make the dog carry it.

I don't think I'd want to be in this tent in real rain with two people though, unless you both can squeeze together onto the 36" or whatever floor width it has.

[Sharon J.]

Appreciate all the input, and the offer from Casey (will send you a PM shortly). Since we live in town, Allie gets her nails worn down pretty well on the sidewalks. Then again, I have some Tyvek housewrap that's not being otherwise used.

[Eric Blumensaadt]

I had a TTContrail and it was easily large (wide)enough to accomodate you and your dog.

[Henry Shires / Tarptent]

We've never seen dog claw damage to floors (in over 10 years and many, many thousands of tents shipped). It's just not a concern.

-H

[Thomas Baker]

I use the Rainbow. I am 6' 4" 250 lbs and my dog is 100 lbs. We fit very well. As long as your combination is not any larger than that I cannot see any problems for you.

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