Shangri La 5

Your set up looks pretty good to me so I guess your question has to do with set up time.
This is a way of doing it :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d98heYvoXBg&p=90221A4500685469&playnext=1&index=16
Someone here posted something along those lines sometime ago.

That is probably fast but looks a bit too complex to me,
but I would need to get hold of a six sided shelter to show an easier way of doing it. Mine has 4 sides only.
Franco

I have the Shangri-la 3, 4 and 6+ shelters.

It all depends on the weather. If possible, I find it's best to allow the outer shelter to sit higher up and leave the door open a bit so the tents breath. This usually rules out condensation for the most part.

But, at times, I know its not possible, so I just deal with the condensation.

As far as pitch, I set up the inner nets first — make sure they are tight or taught, and then pitch the shelter itself making sure I leave a at least a 1-2 inch gap between the syl and the mesh.

Franco & Jason,
Thanks for your input. I re-read my post, and I now see where I confused the point. I have no problem setting up the nest, then throwing the tarp over and securing it. I have been using my hex 2 for years so no worries there.
My lack of ability lies with just setting up the tarp properly without using the nest. Anything short of someone standing under the tarp holding the pole, just ends in frustration for me.
Thanks & Regards,
John

I noticed your mention of kids and a baby on the way in your FS posting for the GoLite Trig 2… Do you plan to use this tent or similar tent with your kids? If you've done it already, how old were the kids and how has it worked out for you?

I was outside with my 2 year old out in the lawn today, playing with the idea of using my Eureka Timberline 4's fly as a tarp beneath a GoLite Shang-ri La 2 nest. His first reaction is to shout "WALKING STICK!" and go for the poles. :D I can warn him off of poking at the poles, but the tendency of kids to kick or move around more while they sleep had me wondering how well a tent like the Shang-ri La 5 would work with kids or if freestanding is really the only way…

Thanks in advance for any insight!

Put all the stakes down first, then insert the pole — thats what I do.

No worries brother, thanks for your assistance! I will have to try again to see where my mistake is. I have laid the shelter out flat on the ground, staked it, only to find that the center will only raise about 3 feet. LOL…what am I missing!?

Regards,
John

Hi Aaron,

I do plan on using this tent for my kids. I have 2 teenagers, 1 toddler, and a new born now. I have slept in the SL-5 with my 2 oldest, and there is plently or room for 4 adults to have a lot elbow room. 5 adults could fit easily enough too. I will primarly use the SL-5 with my wife & 2 youngest. My older 2 are only here in the summer and now girlfriends, part-time jobs, and other things will probably keep them from camping with me. I wanted a shelter to use on our family road trips so a larger tent was in the plan from the start.

My plan on this tent was too have a shelter that: 1. had wiggle room for a rainy day. 2. sturdy set up so that a bumped pole wouldn't drop it. 3. enter & exit w/o rain or snow getting in. 4. reduced ammout of guyline to reduce tripping hazard for kids. 5. bug proof! hey it's our family tent. 6. well venting, kids can really heat up a tent with their yelling, fits, and playing. 7. have a big enough vestibule for wet gear 8. enough room for a cooler (when not in bear country) and game playing…just for those time when waiting out weather. 9. light enough to use on short overnights.

So I had a big list of what I wanted. I have used mostly Golite shelters in the past, so I knew I liked the heavier silnylon used in their shelters. I have never exerienced rain misting in any of my Golite shelters. The robust floor of the nest was another factor with kids. The seems are taped, and the upper vents are nice and big. The SL-5 is tall enough for my wife to stand up in it, and the square footage is large enough that my toddler can run around in it!

I hear ya on the free-standing mind set, I was thinking about one myself. What I didn't like was thinking about expensive carbon fiber poles getting stept on my kids. The Golite pole is very stout, and could withstand the weigh of a child easily…IMO. That timberline is one great tent! I used them in the Boundry Waters on a couple of trips in the earlier 1980s. There is a lot of floor space in the SL-5, so you can put you kids far away from the support pole to prevent any kid pole interaction during sleeping. One downside is that it takes real estate to set up a tent like the SL-5, or the tarptent Hogbag, MSR Mother hubba, ect.
Wow…did anyone really read all of this crazy long post? If so…I bet you are tired of reading it because I am tired of typing it! lol! I hope this help you out Aaron, and good look finding a shelter that work for your family.

I bought a shangri la 5 too for hiking with my wife and son.
I dont plan to buy the nest, he is too heavy for my liking.
I am hesitating between doing an 1.1 silnylon floor / nanoseeum inner like i did for my para tipi or buying some MLD or bearpaw product.
But i want an inner that can be installed after the shangri la 5 and that just fits 2 regular neoair + a 120 one, so i am working on combinations on the floor tent to see how minimizing the size of the inner.
In the meantime we use the shangri la without an inner , and we use a sheet of 1.1 silnylon as flooring, thats even lighter but it wont cut it with midges or if we go back to Greenland :)

@John Devitt,

I makr sure the stake "tie-outs" are adjusted all the way out (maximum distance from the shelter) and then simply raise the center pole. I'm generally 2-3 positions short of using the maximum height of the center pole adjustment itself. I can't imagine my Shalgr-la 4 is a heck of a whole lot different than your 5?

Now, if I do want to achieve maximum height, I have to go around in the shelter from the outside 1 stake at a time and re-adjust or losen the pitch. Once all the stakes have been placed in the gound so the shelter is no longer tight, then raise the center poll from the inside to maximum height.

EDIT: As a matter of fact, I use the same proceedure with my Shangri-la 3 and 6+. However, I do have a bittle of "pole" juggling to do with the Shangri-La 6+ because it uses two poles.

Jason,

I checked out the SL-4, and from what I gather it is 4 sided like a BD Megalight. If this is correct, then I can see how you method of pitching the tarp portion is a simple as staking the corners and installing the support pole.
My Hex 2, like the SL-3, is 6 sided. The SL-5 is a monster unlike the regulR 6 SIDED SHELTERS WITH THE ADDITIONAL PANEL TO FROM THE VESTIBULE. Sorry, caps was hit…no yelling.

Thanks & Regards,
John

@John Thank you for the reply! And yes, I read the whole thing, and I appreciate that you took the time to share your thoughts. Feel free to PM me if you're worried it's too long. Though, I'm probably not alone around these parts in preferring more information than less… :)

One of the few setups I was eyeing that looked like it would give us more room and allow us to shed some weight was the GoLite SL 5.

It sounds like a great option for me for the same reasons- short backpacking trips, car camping, and rooad trips. It doesn't seem to me that there are many 4-6 person backpacking tents that provide a decent weight savings over the Timberline 4 that also don't sacrifice durability to the point that I'd be afraid to use it with my son. I understand the reasons, but it's made the search for a new family tent difficult. When I started looking I was surprised to found out that a lot of 4 person "lightweight backpacking tents" actually weighed *more* than my 20 year old Timberline, in addition to being far more expensive and less durable.

Our Timberline is at least 20 years old, and it's been used on countless camping and hiking trips by our family now and my family when I was a kid. I have no real complaints about it other than it's heavy. I've never looked into getting replacement DAC poles, but I imagine they'd shed a fair bit of weight compared to the stock poles. Probably not getting a new family tent until next season, when I hope to get my son out on the trail with me.

Now it's my turn to apologize for the long post! :P

Aaron, Be sure to consider the Tarptent Hogback. I decided on it over the SL 5. It wasn't an easy choice, but the 4 lb weight convinced me. It will fit 4 people, which I think is about what the SL 5 capacity is if you use the nest.

I considered it too, the more because i have been a happy double rainbow user ( thats the shelter that convinced my wife we didnt need to bring our 2kg tent )
But once you tested a floorless shelter its hard to use anything else ( even in Scotland)
When the bug level is low enough i just just a ground sheet ( a light one not the reinforced concrete one sold by golite )
But when bug activity is a concern you need an inner that can be set up after the shelter itself ( thats what i did for my paratipi but its now too small for 2+child hence the shangri la 5)
as an exemple :

http://www.forums.outdoorsdirectory.com/showthread.php/82842-100-mile-tour-of-the-Talkeetna-Mountain-via-backpack-and-packraft-(pic-heavy)

Those guys use the MLD duo inner wich is ok for 2 but wont fit 2,5
The MLD supermid inner being a bit too large for 2,5 and much heavier.
Maybe Bearpaw + a custom one if i am lazy is the solution.