Joe Valesko of Zpack’s new 9oz tent

Oh dear…
Since I am in deep organic material already..
Let's say that she has a lovely character and possibly a very nice voice…
Franco

Now someone should post something intelligent about this shelter…

I heard they're both air-heads…

For those waiting for info about the two person shelter…

An email to Joe confirmed that a prototype is in the works. He expects more info and pictures to be available in the next month or two.

I for one will try my best to wait patiently until then.

Have you had a chance to see if the MLD Bug Bivy works inside the Hexamid yet?

'Say it ain't so Joe." Two months…that's an eternity knowing it's out there somewhere right now; being tweeked and gawked over while we mere mortals sit on the couch (excuse the pun)and wait.

Help me someone….I NEED INTERVENTION!

couch

Should get my hexamid either tomorrow or Saturday. But I'm off backpacking Sat-Mon, so I won't get a chance to test it til next week.

Thanks! I'm definitely looking forward to the results.

got the hexamid and set it up in the yard after work. Easy setup, I did it in the dark. This is a wonderful piece of kit. I'm taking it out this weekend as a backup (supposed to be staying in shelters). I got the full mesh version.

So while I couldn't stake out the MLD bug bivy, I did slap it inside quickly to see if it would work. The short is answer is yes. The longer answer is not very well. The only tieoff point on the inside of the Hexamid is where your pole handle sits at the apex of the Hexamid. In other words, at the center, near the front of the inside. So this would not be an optimal point to tie off the bug bivy, as the netting would be 'leaning forward' and probably onto to the top of your head instead of 'leaning back' like it would be under an MLD tarp or Patrol Shelter.

Hope that helps.

Hello Doug

I ordered the version without netting. I will attempt to use the SMD bugnet. How did you know about arrival date?
Did Joe notify you ?

Thanks Jim

Thank you Douglas, I appreciate it.

"How did you know about arrival date?"

I got an email when it shipped, and he ships priority, and it was coming from Orlando, so I figured 2 days. I was right! It was waiting for me when I got home today! Just in time for my trip this weekend.

I should add that the mesh, while light, is really a very tight weave, if that makes sense. My yard was damp and had lots of 'yard bits' on it, but none of it stuck to the mesh when I got up after laying down on it for a bit.

While, as I said, I'm supposed to be staying in shelters/cabins this weekend, it's supposed to rain a bit Saturday night (shelter night, Sunday is cabin night), so I might just set up the Hexamid and sleep in it to see how it does in the rain, especially the floor. Depends on how appealing the shelter is by the time we get there, I guess! ;-)

I got mine two days ago with netting. Set it up with weights here in the basement. Who needs stakes?

Looks real solid. Can't wait to test it out.

Doug,

If you wanted Joe to attach hangers for the bug bivy where would you have them placed? The loops on top of the bivy are @ 4 feet apart and the bivy is @20" tall at the head end and maybe 16" at the lower (knee level?) end. Looking at the diagram on the Z-Pack site it looks like there's at least@ 24 inches of height out about 26-28 inches from the peak. Would some sort of clips about 24 to 28 inches down the slope from the peak and centered where there's the most head-room work for hanging the bivy?

Sorry I did a re-write after (or while) you were answering

Hey Cola,

It fit fine, probably a good six inches on either end. But the MLD bug bivy is really made for a tarp — something with somewhat consistent height — as there are tieouts on each end so you can suspend it completely off of you. As the hexamid angles down on each side, even if you put a tieout/hanger on each 'side' of the mid (and you'd have to put them on the flat side for best angle, not on a seam), it would be much lower than it should for the bivy to be optimally off you. You'd certainly have the netting above you, but not by much, I don't think.

You could make it work, but it would be a real kludge. I think you'd end up unhappy with that combo in the end.

Had the Hexamid out this past weekend in Shenandoah on about 5-6 inches of snow. Setup was easy (well, except I couldn't see the darned rocks underneath, and there were plenty!). Started raining (steady drizzle) around 4:45 a.m., kept it up all day. I got up around 7, packed up around 7:30. Stayed warm and dry for the 2+ hours it rained. No rain 'in' the shelter. Now, this was not a hard rain, just a steady drizzle. But I (and my bivy) stayed completely dry. I also used the optional doors, which really are a nice touch.

Obviously, I'd prefer my duomid in these conditions (but it hasn't arrived yet!), but it was nice to know that I could use the Hexamid in a pinch, and it's darned lightweight to carry for a pinch (we had planned on sleeping in a shelter Saturday night, but it was full).

Here's a pic of the setup before I went to bed. You can get an idea of the size from my quilt sitting on top of my bivy.

Great pics. Looks long! Perfect for the behemoths here.

Cool shelter. I will call partial B.S. on the youtube video setup since Joe already had the two back corners staked out when he started. That means the tent may have been set up first and then unstaked so it appears easy to set up the first time.

If he had started setup with the two front corners only and then tried to add the front beak tie out, it may be a little more difficult than shown, because you don't have a good "tripod" to hold the tent up, relying instead on pressure of the pole under the beak to keep up the shelter long enough to stake out the front beak. Minor gripe ; ).

Hi John!

Don't know about the video, haven't seen it. But the first time I set up my Hexamid was in my front yard, after dark, by the outside garage light. I followed the directions Joe sent with the Hexamid. Laid it out on the ground. Staked out one front corner. Pulled the other front corner taut, then 'gave back' 7-8" and staked it out. Inserted pole set up to around 46" and staked it/beak out. This held up perfectly as I then went around staking out everything else.

It really was quite easy, and didn't take much time at all (I didn't time it though). The second time I ever set it up was on my Shenandoah trip in the snow, pic above. The hardest part about setting it up then was not being able to see all the rocks under the snow! Other than that, it set up easy.

So, from my perspective, it was quite easy to set up the first time, and then the first time in the field/second time ever. FWIW.

After three set-up tear downs I was able to get the hexamid up as quickly as joe's video without the stakes pre-placed. To get a fully taut pitch I needed to move one of the stakes slightly once I was done with the first pass setup. If I have line locks I wouldn't have needed to move the stakes.

I agree that it would have more convincing if the shelter had been unstaked, but it does go up pretty easily.

–mark

Not sure about the three zip entry in the video. More points of failure? Also not sure of the lack of vestibule space and open side that can't be pitched to the ground in blowing wind.

I can't wait for V.2.

The zipper from the ground up will need to be kept out of the dirt. Entry and exit must be careful since you could stress/rip the sides where zipper begins at beak.

Doug,

Was there any issues with the netting floor on the snow? I had heard in the past (about other shelters) that snow will press into the mesh then tear it when you try to put the tent away. IS this a concern or not really?

-Tim

Hi Tim,

I only used it that one night, but it was no concern at all. When I picked it up to pack it, no snow came with it at all. None. I packed it wet, of course, but that's it. The mesh is so tightly woven I wouldn't expect it to, really. But again, I only used it that one night. Not sure how it would do it sustained freezing temps, as we didn't get those.

FWIW, the snow was a slushy snow. Freezing rain to drizzling cold rain for the 2+ hours in the morning.

What I wasn't really expecting (don't know why) was how quickly it dried when I took it out at home and hung it over a railing, still pretty wet. Maybe an hour in the house (no fan on it or anything like that, no heat source near it).

"The zipper from the ground up will need to be kept out of the dirt. Entry and exit must be careful since you could stress/rip the sides where zipper begins at beak."

I didn't find this to be the case. Because of all the netting, it's got quite a bit of 'give.' When I unzipped it fully, I let the netting fall to the inside near the front. I kneeled in the 'entryway' to both set up my bivy/quilt and then retrieve it in the morning, and didn't notice any issues with stress anywhere along the zipper. I guess if you only unzipped one side you'd need to be careful of the other side.