If Only Someone Made A…..

[Ron Bell / MLD]

If Only Someone Made A…. What do you dream about?

* Spinnaker solo size tarp type tent….

* Graduated loft (foot to head) Down/Synthetic Quilt…

* Solo Size Spinnaker Mid…

Dream Parameters: Gear made from UL/SUL Materials currently avialble to outdoor manufacturers.

hehehe

[Brian UL]

I dont have any real original or great ideas but…
I would like to see a real "bomber" UL pack, as in around 8 oz. like the volume of my Zip but all dyneema and no or minimal outside pockets for serious bushwacking. As the mesh can hang up on branches and it would be hard to get that kind of weight without stripping it down.

[Christopher Plesko]

Light hooded synthetic vest

[Christopher Plesko]

Silnylon small (sub 1500 cubes maybe less) pack with good padding and well padded shoulder straps and load control. Think light Nathan 759 or Osprey talon 22. Running and biking useage.

[Christopher Plesko]

What about the golite Ion? That's basically what you're asking for?

[J Her]

X2 on the vest… but with with zip off sleeves

[Mark Verber]

Ron… you got it on your first try: 3.5 season solo shelter. I would love to have something that would weight less than my existing systems (spinnshelter, polycro ground cloth, a16 bug bivy) that is faster/easier to set up and provides a bit more room. The alphamid with mesh door would be pretty close, though I am not sure about ventilation. Specifically what I would like is:

1) less than 1lb

2) walls steep enough so I don't worry about modest snow using it in the shoulder seasons. Spinnshelter is "ok", the Lunar Solo might be better, the Alphamid looks good. The Contrail flattens out too much for my comfort toward the feet.

3) Can handle up to 50mph winds without worrying.

4) Can be set up in a lock down pitch which blocks significant amounts of wind. Spinnshelter in lockdown is adequate for me in this regard. Tarptent squall was a bit too breezy on some trips.

5) Has a bit more headroom in full protection pitch than the spinnshelter in full lockdown. e.g. need a bit more headroom so I can easily sit up and move around enough to pack / unpack / etc under the shelter. I can manage under the spinnshelter… but it can be a pain and I have to be very conscious of my movements.

6) The option of good ventilation with basic bug protection, e.g. at least mesh around the edges to block flying bugs. A high vent would be good.

7) As fast and easy to set up as the tarptent squall. When I am really tired the spinnshelter wants more attention that I want to give it. Lunar Solo seems a bit too temperamental and often seems to require a bit of fiddling / restaking.

8) I would be happy with an intergrated floor or without a floor. If it doesn't have a floor then shelter + groundcloth should be less than 16ozs.

9) Made from a material that doesn't stretch or contract.

10) Extra goodies… a way to attach hang my light, if it uses guidelines little tabs like what Henry is using for no hassle adjustments, a place to do a hanging line to dry things out a bit.

[Jason Klass]

Single wall, well ventilated, four season, two person tent that weighs 3 lbs. They can make a double wall 3 season version (e.g. BA SL 2), so I don't understand why there isn't one that meets the above criteria…

[Brian UL]

The problem with the ION is that its volume is too low for me. But ya,I basiclly want a 2000-2500 c.u. pack like the Ion but with the same sort of hipbelt wings as the Zip, some tabs for bungee cord and other refinements you expect from MLD.
I know it might not be possible? But I can dream.

[Robert C]

I don't desire a lot more in the way of shelters than what's currently on the market, but I think there is something to be desired in insulating garments made out of the lightest materials and multi-use sleeping bags.

I'd like to see a graduated loft (cut the loft in half in the sleeves) synthetic or down jacket with a detachable hood and a true dropped tail (I hate my ass being chilled when I'm sitting down). Also, I'd like to see a lightweight synthetic vest with a detachable hood.

I have another idea that I've been knocking around, which may or may not be practical, but what if there were a full sleeping bag, rated to 20 or 30 degrees, that had sleeves, and you could zip off the bottom half, below the waist and use the top, with the hood and sleeves, as a jacket. There are plenty of ideas like this on the market, but nothing quite like it…with quilt users who have modified their quilts to be used as insulating ponchos, and the Feathered Friends Rock Wren and the Exped Wallcreeper sleeping bags, but I'm thinking of something that you could just zip off all the bottom material and it would be essentially a parka as opposed to pulling out a full Rock Wren sleeping bag to try to use for breaks while hiking. Also, the upper part of the sleeping bag I'm imagining could be cut generously, so it would be roomy enough to sleep in (if one were to pull their arms into the sleeping bag body), but it could have internal shock cord or elastic so it would hug the torso and not be drafty when used as a jacket.

[Jeremy Cleaveland]

the SUL daypack I designed that is 2 oz in "heavy" silnylon and big enough for a full day way back in the mountains. with cuben fiber it would probably be 1 oz OR LESS!

a SUL running hydration pack – silnylon or lighter fabric, 2-3 liter capacity, about 500 cubic inches capacity. no frills, no more than 3 oz.

a light and indestructible guiding backpack – tough fabric (more durable than dyneema gridstop) about 4800 cubic inches, a minimal suspension, hipbelt, waterbottle holders, cordlock compression. Think Golite Pinnacle with more durable fabric and a basic internal frame. Affordable for tight budget wilderness programs. Weight goal: 2.5 lbs or less.

bugproof socks. with tongueless breathable trail runners my feet get eaten alive in mosquito country like the Adirondacks, so I made some bugproof socks out of 1.1 oz breathable ripstop. I'm sure others suffer the same problem. Also useful when it gets colder than you thought.

UL synthetic loft mittens. Primaloft back, thick fleece palm, Momentum/Pertex shell. NO features – it is meant to be worn under a waterproof/breathable shell on really cold days in winter.

variable girth quilt/bivy combo – make a normal variable girth quilt with a Momentum/Pertex top, then sew a bottom on as wide as the maximum girth, then sew in a bivy-style hood (you could insulate it, but I think a high-loft balaclava is more heat efficient since it fits closer to the head), and you have a variable girth quilt and bivy, but you save weight on the top layer of bivy fabric and have better breathability on top, with all the advantages of a breathable bivy. I haven't actually made this though.

[Jeremy Cleaveland]

SUL helium balloons to carry the pack for you!!

[Chris Jackson]

I second Mark Verber's comments, though for me the bug netting and integrated floor are optional.

There have been a couple of threads by Canadians requesting a SUL 3.5 season solo shelter than can withstand wind, rain and light snowloads. They found that tarps were too drafty in these conditions, and were looking for a shelter with a lock-down pitch to block drafts. I am intrigued by the concept, but wonder whether condensation would be unmanageable?

[Mark Verber]

> but wonder whether condensation would be unmanageable?

I would think it depends on the person. I have used the spinnshelter in full lock down (flush to the ground and doors closed) without significant issues. Yes, there was concensation, but it was completely managable. But one of my friends can't do this because he seems to perspire 2-4x more than me at night.

[Mark Verber]

Two Hand Systems.

#1: Warm-up Double Mitts

Seam sealed eVENT mitts with grippy palms, modest gauntlet which is paired with an inner mitten which uses a high loft synthetic insulation. The inside mitt should be lined with a good wicking material like Marmot DriClime, and the shell should be highly breathable with a few grippy strips to provide a good interface with the external shell. They can be easily seperated and dried over night in the sleeping bag.

#2: Active Double Gloves

Seam sealed (if you this can be down without being too stiff… otherwise don't bother sealing the seam) eVENT shell gloves with a very durable and grippy palm and finger. Inner glove have a highly breathable shell with fleece insulation on the bottom which will be used for gripping, and some high loft insulation on the back of the hands. They can be easily seperated and dried over night in the sleeping bag.

[Brett .]

If Only Someone Made An… uninsulated waterproof/breathable shell glove.
Been searching off and on for years and never found one. Minimum insulation I've found is 100 polartec or sealskins thick foam sponge gloves which absorb their own weight in water!

Event would be ideal, goretex ok.
Anyone know of one?

@Jason, I think the answer to your dream tent question is because fabric that light and strong does not yet exist at a reasonable cost. I also want one!

[Thomas Knighton]

If SMD made a cuben Gatewood Cape.

A sub-1 lbs internal frame pack with carbon fiber stays and something like Spinntex for the fabric. Something like 3000 ci.

Tom

[Steven Evans]

If SMD made a cuben Gatewood Cape….
I wonder what that would weigh? regardless, it would be light, and I'd be buyin' one! I remember someone (gg?)made a cuben single wall prototype in one of the threads…

[John S.]

Brett, I think the original poster sells an event glove at MLD.

[Thomas Knighton]

Sub-2lbs double wall tent.

Honestly, I don't know if existing technology would let this happen, but with carbon fiber poles, titanium stakes, and perhaps a cuben fly, it might be possible.

Truth be told, I'd settle for a sub-3 lbs double wall ;)

Tom

[Dale Wambaugh]

Komperdell has some new gloves that are seamless and reported to be 100% waterproof and 100% breathable. http://www.komperdell.com/en/handschuhe/index.htm

I saw an ad in backpacker magazine that has better photos. The palms are covered with bumps for traction. Interesting design.

[Benjamin Smith]

Hey Tom,

Check out this insanity:

MYOG double-walled cuben tent

[Thomas Knighton]

Ooooooooooo

Me wants one! Guess it's time to learn how to make my own stuff then ;)

That is, unless Ron wants to make them instead :D

Tom

[Robert C]

Along those same lines, I've always wanted a nice lightweight solo tent which I could sit up in, change clothes in, but which also allowed me to see outside (to not be enclosed from nature like in almost all comercial tents when you have the fly on). Making the body out of nearly clear cuben fiber is a nice start. However, maybe a solution already exists for me, as I now use a bivy and a tarp for this exact reason of not wanting to be cut off from nature. But in the winter, bivies and tarps are cold.

Now a 3.5 season double wall tent, which weighs less than three pounds, had a minimal of air circulation to provide some insulation and reduce drafts, but also allowed me to have a view of outside the tent and not be disconnected from my surroundings, that could be interesting…

[dan mchale]

Brett: I picked up a nice set of uninsulated waterproof/breathable shell gloves made by Marmot at Wilson's in Bishop, California 2 years ago – they must still make them.

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