Tested out the Cuben Hybrid Mid last week!

[Kevin Egelhoff]

Back from a month long vacation in Europe and I finally found the much needed time to finish up the hybrid mid I started several months ago. Five in our group just hiked a 90 mile section of the John Muir Trail in 6 days and I was able to finally test out the shelter in varying conditions.

Here are the conclusions reached after building my very first shelter:

1)The 4 man shelter ended up being completely waterproof and very stable in winds up to 15 mph. Never saw any winds higher then that.

2)The actual interior dimensions of 92" x 92" ended up being very cramped for four, but was great for three with lots of gear.

3)The overall height being restricted to the 49" length of my hiking pole made for a superlight shelter BUT, if I had it to do over again I would have built the shelter at least 12" taller for additional head clearnace.

4) Like Roger once mentioned, you can never have too many vents! You can't see it in the pictures but I have two long vents under every section of the lower rain skirt, 8 total. (I will post another picture soon so they can be seen)When it rained for two straight hours in the middle of the 75 deg day, the tent was close to becoming a sauna! Venting worked great at night time though, even with light rain.

5) The rain skirt section on the bottom ended up working out great. Keeps the little critters out and sheds the rain away from the shelter, just as planned.

The total weight of the Cuben Hybrid mid came out to 18.8 oz including the cuben stuff sack, 13 stakes, and attached guy lines. I can probably drop an ounce or more just by going to lighterweight stakes in the future!

[Jim Colten]

4.7oz per person for a fully enclosed shelter for 4, or 6.3oz if used by 3 …. very impressive either way. I especially appreciate that you've included guy lines and stakes in your reported weight, not likely to use the shelter without them (OK, below tree line you can gather sticks for stakes but that will require tools that'll likely weigh as much as the stakes would have, not to mention the time and fiddle factors.

Regarding humidity and condensation: to quote Scotty "I canna change the laws of physics, Cap'n" If you are not in an arid environment or (and?) have a nice breeze, you'll be humid inside and it will condense as temps cool.

Condensation ….. "It happens"

[Joshua Mitchell]

That's a really nice looking tent… the scouts I work with would love something like that…

[george carr]

Very nice job Kevin!

[Roger Caffin]

Hi Kevin

Impressive!
> Like Roger once mentioned, you can never have too many vents!
If I might offer a suggestion, I think you need more top vents to let the moisture-laden air to escape. What I can see does not look enough, to me.

Another suggestion would be to optionally include four carbon fibre poles to support the corners in bad weather. Straight pultrusion stuff from a kite shop would be fine here (and cheapish). You might need to add very small pockets at the corners to contain the poles. I THINK that this would make it even more stable in wind.

Cheers

[Aaron Sorensen]

Kevin,
By adding the carbon poles in the corners you would be able to trust the lighter stakes.

[Mike Barney]

What Cuben did you use?
Sewn, glued or taped?
How long did it take you to make it?

Thanks,
MikeB

[Kevin Egelhoff]

What Cuben did you use?
Sewn, glued or taped?
How long did it take you to make it?

Thanks,
MikeB

Mike,
The Cuben I used is the CNO.6K.08 It seems plenty strong as long as you take the time to double or triple up on all the corner tieouts.
It is Sewn and taped on all major seams. Takes a lot longer but it really is the only way to do it correctly as told by Ron Bell!
I think I probably have 40 to 50 hours of time in this. Takes a lot longer then you think if laying out the seams, applying tape, matching up the seams, and then sewing the seam. Happy this one worked out as well as it did as I'm in NO RUSH to make another one! The good thing about Cuben is that it is easy to modify. If I want to add more vents – just cut out a section of the Cuben and add some no-seeum. Great in that aspect.
Will try and post a few pictures of the interior vents over the weekend. Also have a little attic in the top with some clips that worked out well.

[Jon Rhoderick]

This would make an awesome MYOG article wink wink

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