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Slipping and Sliding in the Lunar Solo

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PostedJul 7, 2010 at 10:41 pm

I took my virgin Lunar Solo out in the mountains last night and had an interesting experience. Once I found my campsite I was bummed to see it was hard as a rock, so I used the six rock tieout lines I had made earlier that morning in anticipation of this scenario. Setting up the tent with rocks was comical, but eventually I ended up with a decent pitch I guess. Well the next issue was that the campsite was on an incline, probably of around 5 degrees. This posed serious problems. I was sliding all over the place, and so I took some of the biggest rocks I could find, wrapped them in my spare (or so I thought) clothes and put them inside the tent at the corners at the top of the tent. This took some pressure off the bungee cords that were being stretched to within an inch of their lives, but it did not make for a perfect solution, or a comfortable nights sleep. So, with all this said, how do I keep my shelter from turning into a slip and slide while i'm trying to get some rest for cryin' out loud?

PostedJul 7, 2010 at 10:59 pm

Silnylon floors can be pretty slippery. I tend to find it pretty annoying since I like to sleep on a slight slope. You can treat to the floor to make it less slippery but it does add weight. Essentially you mix silicone caulk with low odor mineral spirits and paint that on. Here is the more detailed how to:
http://jwbasecamp.com/Articles/Silnylon1/index.html

Alternatively, you could put a few spots of silicone on the bottom of your sleeping pad so it grips the floor better. To actually improve the grip between your floor and the ground you'll probably need to paint it via the above-mentioned method. In addition to adding weight, it also makes dust/dirt stick to the floor somewhat so it's harder to clean out the inside of the tent. Painting the outside and putting spots of silicone on the bottom of your sleeping pad may be the best solution.

Mary D BPL Member
PostedJul 8, 2010 at 7:26 am

All silnylon floors are slippery! My solution has been to paint 2-3 inch diameter spots, rather than the recommended stripes, of Silnet on the tent floor in the area my sleeping pad will be. It's a lot easier to clean the floor if you can "sweep" between the spots. I also paint several spots on the underside of my sleeping pad. The combination seems to do the job, allowing me to turn over frequently without my pad's going one way and me another. Do note, however, that there's only so much that you can do to combat gravity!

I found the Lunar Solo's floor extra easy to clean thanks to its configuration, which allows you to dump the tracked in dirt, pine needles, dog hair, etc., out the door opening as you take the tent down.

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