Single wall 4 season shelter

I can't think of any of the cottage guys making exactly what you are looking for off of the top of my head but if I were you and otherwise happy with the duomid I would have bearpaw wilderness designs sew a floor to it.

I know he will put a floor on a mid I just can't remember where I saw the picture I'm thinking of. I found this on the bearpaw site though. Just something like this without the netting:

http://bearpawwd.com/custom/custom_images/cwildoasisfloor.jpg

Best of luck finding what you are looking for.

ETA: Another pic similar to what you want:

http://bearpawwd.com/custom/custom_images/csl2netfloor.jpg

Why would a pyramid tent with mostly solid fabric inner not work? I don't see much difference between a pyramid with a sewn floor and a pyramid with a solid fabric inner, except the latter is much more versatile

Locus Gear is about to start making a single wall eVent dome tent. I'm guessing it will be expensive.

The Firstlight and Direkt 2 are the only acceptably light single wall wedge tents I know of. The Rab event versions and Black Diamond Toddtex versions (Eldorado) are fairly heavy and very bulky. The Eldorado is a great tent in every other respect.

The problem with the Firstlight is that it's not 100% waterproof over time (it seems to degrade with age and dirt), and the problem with the Direkt is the lack of venting.

Would a deep, clip-in bathtub floor solve your issue?

Anton, what is the upper weight limit you are willing to consider?

You could get a bathtub floor from MLD for your Duomid

"Anton, what is the upper weight limit you are willing to consider?" — I think the Firstlight weighs around 1200-1300 grams. A little lighter would be better, of course, but probably hard to achieve. I think with a set of custom poles Firstlight gets to 1150 grams or so.

My current plan is to try out BD Firstlight and see whether it actually solves the issue. I am still planning to use the Duomid for the majority of trips and pick a fully enclosed shelter for special cases.

Good thought on using a no-mesh inner for a pyramid, the only question would be that it might be too heavy.

Where can you get the custom poles, and how much do they run? I've always liked this tent design since Bibler first came up with it back in the day.

Fibraplex makes Carbon fiber poles. It could be worth a look.

Yep, Fibraplex makes a CF replacement pole set for the Firstlight. $138 gets you from 374 grams for the original poles to 210 grams, shaving off 164 grams. Black Diamond's web site says 1280 grams for the Firstlight, so minus 164 grams leaves 1,116 grams, or 2 lbs. 7.9 oz. Nice.

The one thing that seems missing from the Firstlight is mid-height tie-outs on the sides, but that could be easily remedied.

Both tents mentioned (BD and MH) are true summit/mountaineering tents, and pretty much suck for everything else…they are not even waterproof (made for snow, not rain at all).

Warmlite and Big Sky would both be nice choices…Warmlite 2 Climber (2C) comes in a little over 2 lbs and is roomy, very weatherproof, and proven in the field.

Big Sky has some nice single wall, 4 season choices that look really nice.

When you say "no mesh", I have to wonder why. The dust concerns? Because it's hard to find a lightweight tent that doesn't somehow incorporate some mesh, for instance in the way most TarpTents do. Or, for that matter, so do all of these floors that have been mentioned for pyramid tents.

My go-to group tent is an MLD SUperMid, and I have an inner for it. I find this to be very versatile, though I will admit that the inner is still almost-new. :)

My solo tent is also a DuoMid, and I use a SuperLight bivy as my dust/mud/bug/wombat protection.

A pyramid isn't a true 4 season tent, anyway. More like 3+. A true 4 season tent is going to be heavy.

"When you say "no mesh", I have to wonder why. The dust concerns?" — yes, in a wind storm in Utah you get a layer of fine sand over everything in an hour. Seems like a fully enclosed tent would solve this. I suspect this is why a well known canyoneering store sells BD Firstlight as the only tent.

BTW, what is special about 4 season tents? I have used 4-season MSR and NorthFace tents. Seems like the only difference was additional poles. Otherwise just regular double layer tents. A hiking pole in the center of a mid is stronger than any set of flexible aluminum poles. At this point it just becomes a question of the fabric strength. It is not clear to me whether Duomid would be more wind resistant than a freestanding expedition tent. It could be.

I concur with NW Hiker. The Warmlite 2C (or even 2X) and the Big Sky's are good options. I have the 2C and a Duomid. The Duomid is great but I prefer the Warmlite by far when camped on windy exposed ridges.

A "wedge" design (2 hooped X-ing poles) is about THE worst design I've ever owned. I had the 1st wedge tent in 1977, a Jansport.

Open the door and in comes the rain or snow. No vestibule and not very stable in high winds.
A tent designer needs to follow some BASIC design criteria and the wedge misses on too many important criteria.

As I've said here before, it is a failed design.

"yes, in a wind storm in Utah you get a layer of fine sand over everything in an hour."

Utah sounds kind of like Afghanistan or Iraq. Point taken.

"BTW, what is so special about 4 season tents?"

Uh, didn't you specifically ask about 4-season shelters? Did I miss something?

Or are you asking why they are "heavy?" If that's the case, just bear in mind that this is backpackingLIGHT. "Heavy" is relative. A couple of extra poles and thicker fabric will be heavier than no extra poles and thinner fabric. You will never find a fully-enclosed 4-season shelter as light as your DuoMid, frex. I'm not certain, but I suspect that even a 4-season bivy will be heavier.

So, it seems like your criteria are Light, Bomber, and Dustproof. Hmm. Tough one. And it'll almost certainly cost you… As others have mentioned I'd check out Big Sky- I'm pretty sure they make all-fabric (no mesh) versions of most of their stuff.

Not a fan of wedge tents myself but I'd consider them potentially good in high winds if the profile is streamlined enough and the size not too big (1-2 persons max). A 2 person square-ish dome with a hefty frame is very strong: unsupported fabric panel area is limited and the shape can take wind in any direction. They can be difficult to set up in high winds though.