Tarptent Moment Packed Size

I have a Moment, and unless you take out the carbon struts you won't get any smaller, the struts are sewn into the fabric I believe. I wouldn't recommend taking them out. The struts measure aprox. 18" Hope this helps.

Thanks Jack, thats the info i needed. So anyone ever take out the struts? Experiences?

Got mine on Monday and I would never take the struts out. I see no reason. The width is actually narrower than a nalgene. The struts actually help you get a nice tight rollup of the tent when packing up. The tent is a work of art. Very impressed.

Concur on not removing the struts.

My Tarptent Moment came in the mail a few weeks ago. I too also wondered if the struts could be removed to pack it down more. I emailed Henry about this and learned that there is a small section at the ends of the strut sleeves that is not sewn to allow for insertion and removal of the struts.

My advice: DO NOT remove the struts. They were easy to pull out but were a pain to put back in. I ended up having to wet the fabric to allow some stretch to get them back in. The stitching seems to have been stressed some as well.

It is not worth the frustration, even if it could be packed slightly smaller.

Thanks for your responses. I only ask because Im trying to trim my overnight pack to the size of a 20 liter. As of right now my current 20L has the girth to accommodate a Moment, but does not have the length to accommodate the 18 inches needed for the carbon struts. I was hoping to just pack the body inside my pack, and the poles/struts lashed to an outside side pocket. Doesn't look like itll go as planned.

Since its a toss up for me between the new rainbow/ and the moment, and I could go with either…i gotta ask the same question, but for the rainbow. Is it possible to pack the main body of a Rainbow down to the size of a wide mouth nalgene, if the poles/stakes are packed separately? thanks again!

Rainbow
It will fit into an Up Sized Nalgene…
It is a bit loose inside that stuff sack so compressed is about 25% smaller than in this picture.
I will have a Moment soon, so i will take a look at those struts.

Franco
franco@tarptent.com

Konrad,

A 20 litre pack? What pack is smaller than the ion? Is it a MYOG?

Maybe a clio gear?

Hey Franco, Thanks for the Visual!! I also see you have an official email at tarptent now…woohooo!

James, I have a TerraNova Laser 20

These packs are fairly new, and are largely overlooked

Not as light as some cottage industry packs, but light enough (floats around 10-11 oz if you remove extra webbing, zipper pulls, replace with smaller cordlocks) Also the price is good if you find it domestically (round 50 bucks on sale). Its meant for adventure racing, but the water bladder pocket acts as a perfect pad holster for my neoair. I also like it because it has a real hipbelt with pockets, as well as 2 water bottle holsters that fit aquafina and other commercial water bottles. For me, if I were to get a rainbow, I can def pull off a summer overnighter (presuming temps dont go below 40) in this pack.

More info at
http://www.terra-nova.co.uk/Product_Reviews/Terra_Nova_Laser_20L_Pack_in_Adventure_Sports.html

They also have the 20 elite, which is a rolltop 20 liter (Because it has pockets and shock cord, its a pretty good alternative to the defunct 25 liter golite ion, and it weighs around 7oz), and a 35L pack

Konrad,
I also like to store my poles and struts, especially carbon ones, separately; in my case, in the 20" long skinny sack that hold my REI mummy shaped airfoam inflatable mattress. The poles are better protected, and the tent can be folded to a much smaller size.
The simplest way to make the struts removable involves some modifications.
To get an idea of what this involves: If you can get a look at a TT Scarp, check out how the struts can be removed from velcro capped sheathes that cover the MIDDLE struts on each end wall of the Scarp.
In any event, instead of trying to pry the strut out through the side opening TT provides, it is necessary to sew a small velcro flap onto the sheath right at the inside of the bend where the strut ends. Then a slit must be made (and hot sealed) in the inside bend of the sheath for the pole to slide out. You could also put the slit on the outside of the bend, but I prefer the inside, so that when the tent is stressed, the strut is less likely to force the velcro flap open. Then a reverse velcro patch must be sewn just above the slit on the sheath to hold the flap when you close it. Once you have a good workable flapped end opening, you can sew up the side opening TT provides.
Since the ends of the carbon struts are raw, you can make very light end caps from carbon arrow plastic nocks by sawing off the two forks on the nock and buffing the raw ends out to a rounded shape. You can drill a small hole in one nock to hold a short length of fine cord that will help when pulling the strut out of the sheath. I use the fine cord that comes on the smallest Flexi dog leashes after removing and replacing that cord with Spectra cord from BPL or GG. I use urethane glue to attach anything to carbon because it expands and does not have a hardener that can weaken the resins in carbon fiber composite.
Since there are four struts on the Moment, you need to do this operation four times, with 8 end caps. Each strut must be shortened a bit so that length with the caps will still be 18". The plastic caps will weigh next to nothing, and will protect the strut ends from splitting or abrading with repeated removal and reinsertion.
This may sound like a lot of work, especially if you are not into MYOG, but it is the best solution I've found if you are going to leave the TT sheathes sewn into the tent canopy the way they come with the tent, and not add weight.
I have another solution that involves removing the sheathes altogether and substituting silnylon sleeves on the outside with an alloy rod elbow at the top corners.
For this one, tougher caps must be used, and there is more work involved, but the end product allows the removal of most of the grossgrain sheath material, shaving a couple ounces off the tent. I am doing this to my Scarp, and will post the result on MYOG if and when the end product is tested and shown to work (let's hope).
I would not be surprised if Henry eventually provides flaps as he does on the middle Scarp sheaths. They would add no significant weight, and satisfy the likes of us.

As you suggested, it does sound like a lot of work.
I see no reason to ever go though all this to remove the 18” strut poles unless you can‘t live with the 18” length.. Right now mine are as well protected as need be (I think) rolled up in the Moment tent in the big side pocket on my Mariposa Plus pack.
The longer 20” tent poles in a separate skinny sack seems like a good idea. I don’t use any sack with my sleeping pads, so right now my poles are packed in the same side pocket as the tent. My pad lines the inside of my pack and I have saved an ounce or two with fewer stuff sacks.

One of the easiest tents to setup. It would be my choice if it could be packed smaller than the 20×4 mentioned in the Tarptent specs.