Gatewood Cape photos

David wrote: “I would’nt feel comfortable wearing the current harness system inside the Cape while hiking in risk of it falling off without notice. With dangling, loose harness straps, I can pretty much guarantee that the hooks would unhook themself from the loops at some point along the trail, and you’d most likely be out of a sheltered nights sleep”

I agree. It would be a definate pain in the neck– no pun intended. All the talk about the harness is really minor stuff, IMHO— the rest is so easy it stands out. We are talking about is putting six toggles through six loops– if that is daunting, y’all better stay away from beaked tarps! The Gatewood has the harness, six stakes and one string, sheesh! If you can tie your shoes and zip your pants up by yourself, you can pitch this shelter in a few minutes.

If you lost the harness, a small ring off your gear or a loop of line would serve for a center and six short lines need to be tied out to the loops. I could do that in the dark with a headlamp in 15 or 20 minutes if I had to. I carry a small roll of braided nylon seine twine for such things– making substitute shoe laces and other minor repairs. In fact, if all else were to fail, you could make a harness from the drawstrings in your sleeping bag, shoe laces, etc. Dental floss might be a little light :)

More speculation – I haven’t seen the Cape or its harness. Would it be possible to add a single, soft (i.e. not uncomfortable to wear all day)extra loop to take the pole point on a temporary basis? This would only be used while you pitched the Cape, then you could fit the regular harness and change the pole over from within the pitched Cape.

I would guess that for heavy rain, with a bit of practice, you could kneel down and get the stakes in and the pole in its temporary place before removing your head from the hood.

“I would guess that for heavy rain, with a bit of practice, you could kneel down and get the stakes in and the pole in its temporary place before removing your head from the hood.”

I think we need to get out more– a little rainwater will probably just make us smell better :) I’ll wear a garbage bag if conditions are that bad! Trying to put the stakes in while wearing the thing sounds like a Charlie Chaplin skit.

Fair enough, Dale. I put the bit about pitching before removing the Cape in for general entertainment. I nearly added that you could use the other hand to get the water on for tea while you pitched, but decided that would be silly.

I am, however, enjoying my vision of a fellow taking off his waterproof layer in heavy rain, donning a garbage bag, then talking about people looking like a Charlie Chaplin skit.

Would the idea of a temporary fixing point for the pole work?

“Would the idea of a temporary fixing point for the pole work?”

I don’t think so. Just more fuss.

I just got back form a short mid-week jaunt into the wilderness with the cape as my shelter. My semi-sheltered campsite was around 8500′ just below a ridge. There was a front coming in during the late afternoon and into the evening; lots of wind and some snow.

The cape was somewhat difficult to set-up in the wind, especially with the loose soil. The front guyline stake kept popping out of the ground until I placed a huge rock on top of it. Some of the other stakes had a similar but much reduced problem. Given the tension on the front guyline next time I will be bringing some ‘fatty’ stakes. Some edges of the tarp I staked directly into the ground and others had a short guyline attached. This really helped with the wind. I was also able to change this from inside the shelter during the night, definitely a plus.

There was fair amount of fabric flapping in the wind. This came from the rear section of the shelter. You can see this area in David’s first post; 2nd/3rd from last pics. I found it difficult to create enough panel tension with the 2 rear corner stakes. This may be a design issue or due to my use of a carbon fiber collapsible tent pole for the center pole. (Ron feel free to educate me on this!) I’m not sure that I can advocate using a flexible tent pole for center support. There was just too much give.

Other notes: no problem with condensation, although I am in New Mexico!! shelter shed light snow easily although it did gather around the snaps on the loose rear section mentioned above. I can finally sit up fully in a lightweight shelter, yahoo!! I love the vestibule/door area, very similar to a tarptent.

Did you use guylines on the two attachment points to help with the wind flapping?

I used my Gatewood last weekend for 1 night. I pitched it up on the 6″ loops and left the hood open all night. Unfortunately, as soon as it got dark the wind stopped, the sky cleared off and the leaves aren’t out yet = lots of condensation. Probably not anymore than I would have had on a similar shelter (Hex, ID SilShelter, etc). Temps were around 30F.

Hope to try it out again this weekend, maybe as a poncho and in some actual rain and wind. So far I really like the enclosure – I weathered several decent rain storms in my SilShelter and think this will be comparable protection.

Thanks to all for this thread, I’ve learned a lot about pitching the cape and the proper way to use it that weren’t covered in the instructions.

-adam

“Did you use guylines on the two attachment points to help with the wind flapping?”

Adam, I didn’t use those attachments. As far as I can tell those attachment points are only useful if an above ground anchor point is available(a tree, branch or log for example.) I tried before to use the ground as an anchor but the angle was ineffective. This seems to be a potential ‘design issue’ (again Ron or anyone feel free to learn me on this one~:)

If you’ve got sticks available were you’re camping you could try elevating the guy line with a clove hitch to a stick in the middle of the guyline, and then stake down the end of the line. If you’ve got a BPL membership, the ID Silshelter review has a good picture of this technique.

-adam

Thanx, good tip!

Can any Gatewood owners comment on the feasability of using single-piece carbon fiber trekking poles for support (mine are 130 cm)? Someones stated earlier that the max was 44 inches, which would be around 110 cm. It seems that a longer pole would extend through the face hole of the hood and force it to stay open to the elements. Any comments?

Dylan, I just got back from a trip where I used my CF poles with the Gatewood. Mine are 130 cm too. I did it successfully two ways.

The first way was to wrap and frap a cord around the grips and spread the poles A-frame inside the Cape, and slip the harness over the top of the poles.

The second way was to use one pole vertically. To my surprise, that worked very well too. The walls were much steeper that way, giving more usable space inside. It created a 6-8 inch gap on the back and sides and a 12 inch gap in front. The front sags, so I will have to add a guyline to stake it out.

Happy hiking,
Will

Thanks. It sounds like that might be workable. I’ll just have to order one and experiment ;).

I just picked up a Komperdell/REI single staff to experiment with (it is used and has a damaged expander so I’m waiting for parts).

There are many trails where a single staff would be fine. I do like to take photos so the camera stud on the top of the Komperdell suits me. It’s one way to drop skin-out weight. It will certainly work well with the Gatewood.

http://www.rei.com/product/47670657.htm?vcat=REI_SEARCH

Dale, two things. 1) Leki also makes similar staffs (in fact they also make them for Campmor). 2) if you’re sure that it is a Komperdell, please email me at the email address that we used for the Flex-Air pillows – i have a FREE offer for you.

PJ, I don’t have that email address.
You can reach me via dwambaugh aaaaaaaat yahoo.com.

It says Komperdell right on the shaft. I think all the REI branded poles are Komperdells anyway.