Six Moon Designs Trekkers Arrive

Hi Dan,

What is the width of the inner (or floor) at the foot and at the widest point? The SMD website shows 48 inches, but it is not clear to me what that dimension is referring to.

Casey: 48 inches at the widest point checks out. It looks like 30 inches (draping) to 32 inches (stretched taut) wide at the foot end. I'm very happy with the interior space, with the possible exception of the head-end slope. It's great when I'm lying down, but it's, of course, a bit tighter when I'm propped up on one elbow (and that's one of the basic backpacking positions, isn't it?). But remember, I'm a tall guy with mad-scientist hair.

Given the Skyscape Trekker's roomy interior and ample ventilation, I'm not sure I'll use the porch much, but here it is.
Yes, I know there are crested black macaques in Indonesia who take better self portraits than I do. (Try a Google search if you don't know what I mean.)
Another thought about packing the porch: It could do triple duty as a ground cloth and a cape/shoulder wrap sort of thing. I might actually try that.

Dan,

Thanks for posting the photos with the porch extended. I couldn't get a good view from their web site images so it's nice to see a better shot of it. Much appreciated.

Bryan:

It was my pleasure — and an excuse to take a break from some tiring and messy home-repair duty.

I should say that the porch came without instructions, but after staring at it for a minute, all became clear. And it has some ingenious details, for what it's worth.

Nice, thanks for the pics! mine was supposed to arrive today but the mail service misrouted it…so I am hoping it will be here tomorrow…

Looks like a great tent. Similar to Light heart

Looks like it has plenty of ventilation and star gazing capabilities, One question about the designs. Because of the sloped walls, does rain get in the tent when exiting in the rain?

tent looks good, google image searching crested black macaques was even better. cheers!

Clint:

My guess is some rain would get in, but not much. You don't have to expose the whole side of the tent to get in and out. It's been raining where I am almost every day, so I may be able to test this theory Friday or Saturday.

If you had the porch up, you'd be all set, but only in a light rain. The porch is not designed for pounding rain or high winds.

Hmmmm. Your question has me thinking… If you were concerned about rain getting in during your ingress and egress (tricky words, huh?!), you might be able to use the porch as kind of an extra flap/vestibule over the zipper area. Or maybe that won't work at all. I'll try it in the morning.

The web site says 2 vestibules. Is there inside access to the rear one? Are there 2 doors? Can't tell from web site photos or text.

There are 2 vestibules, however, there is only one door in and out of the actual inner tent. To open or close the back vestibule, one must exit out of the tent and walk around to make adjustments.

However, if you are handy with a sewing machine it should be easy enough to gain access to the other vestibule from inside the inner tent…

Chad is correct about the vestibules. I doubt if I'll be tempted to modify the tent to allow access to the vestibule from inside (1. I'm happy with it the way it is. 2. I'm looking at the warranty, which does not cover "Alteration of the gear from its original form), but it does look like it would be a simple enough job (for someone with more skill and equipment than I).

The Skyscape has room for all your stuff, depending on your pack — mine is frameless. Important note: This is the fat-boy/large NeoAir, 77 inches long by 25 inches wide, and the shoes are size 12 1/2. This is plenty of space for my stuff, and normal people will have even more room.
Head end.

"Back" side (opposite door).

I would love to get one of these built with mosquito netting, instead of noseeum. That noseeum mesh just kills a slight breeze.

Any chance we can get a picture of you sitting inside the tent to get an idea of what it might be like if it was raining out?

I second what Joe says about the no see um mesh It really does not breath that well Are no see ums an issue in the mountains are they every where I dont know cause you cant see um

Chris:

I apologize for the goofy-looking model. He is 6-feet, 3-inches tall, with big hair, sitting up straight on top of a NeoAir.
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By the by, a storm dumped three inches of rain in about one hour last night. My back yard flooded, and there is now a fair amount of water inside the Skyscape (WHICH I HAVE NOT YET SEAMSEALED). I don't know if the water came through the seams or just flowed in over the top of the floor. Maybe it was a combination. If it was the former, no problem. Sealing the seams should solve everything. If it was the latter, I'm still not worried. First, I'm unlikely to pitch my tent in a place as swampy and slow-draining as my back yard. The tent was in standing water last night. Seven hours later, there is still standing water in a semi-circle eight to 10 feet away from the tent. Second, it would be simple enough to prop up the sides of the "bathtub" floor with sticks and stones while pitching the tent (or — my favored technique, when possible — raise the floor itself on a slight mound of leaves or pine needles).

One more thing: The pitch remained taut through the storm. I'm surprised the stakes didn't come loose. I really like how you can tighten things up by adjusting the poles from inside the tent. That's just like with a tarp, but the poles are within even easier reach.

Thanks Dan – I'm also 6'3" so thats why I wanted to see. I'm looking for a lightweight solo shelter that will fit my neo air large, and still allow me to sit up in it if I need to.

Yea! Mine finally came in Friday.

I have set it up in the yard a few times, as well as inside the house… I like it. I think it will suit me well. I am only 5'10" so there is more than enough room for me alone in this thing. Heck, even both my wife and I were sitting inside it just a little while ago.

I did not get mine seam sealed either, but rather than plan to do it myself. I plan to use some SilNet to do it with rather than mix my own concoction… but I have noticed at the seams on the top corners where the trekking poles go needs close attention when sealing…

Anyway, I did a little video on the tent and posted it to my blog if anyone is interested. It can be seen here:

http://sticksblog.com/2011/07/09/first-look-six-moon-designs-skyscape-trekker/

Funny!

Well, after a long week of work I finally got to set up my new Trekker tent. First
off I think it will be a great tent, as shipped it weighed in at 24.2 oz, with the
"porch" attachment coming in at 2.3 oz.. All in all about as light as you can get
in a tent for the money. I found the tent set up very easily in about 5 minutes.
I had mine set up for about 2 hours and did not have to re-tension the guy outs,
the tent fabric stayed taut the whole time. It's a very roomy tent with enough
room for two if you are VERY good friends. I did see a few drawbacks with the
design though.

First was the spreader bar that came with the tent, with the tent
guyed out and the tent taut, the peak of the tent was very wobbley. A friend of
mine owns a Lightheart Solo, and we used the spreader bar from that to try, and it
worked wonders. Took a tent with so so stability and turned it into a rock, no
wobble at all.

Second was the back vestibule, it would have been nice to have
access to it from inside the tent, even a small window of some sort would work,
but I'm not about to try and modify it.

The third thing was the "porch" attachment,
I dont know if mine was oversized or what, but I could never get the thing tight
enough to make it usable for anything but shade in a no wind situation.
When we had it set up in a very light breeze (less than 5mph) it flopped around like a fish
out of water. I have a few ideas to remedy the problem, I just dont know what effect
sticky back velcro would have on the silnylon. I fixed the spreader bar issue by
making one similar to the Lightheart one out of 1/2 inch pex tubing. I got the pex
in a 5 foot length at Home Depot for 2 bucks. Just used the original as a guide
for length, heated the tubing and made a couple of 45 degree bends on the end and
cut to length. I did also get the bungie corded pole for it also, but will
probably not be using them because I think they would punch through the bottom of
the tent without some sort of pocket sewn in. But all in all a great tent.

So, for those that have seen both the six moons and the lightheart, which do you like better?

They both have their good points, the Lightheart is a bit bigger, wider at the middle, and just a tad longer than the SMD. Amd the bathtub floor is deeper on the Solo. That said, the SMD vestibule pretty much hugs the ground so no wind blown rain can get in. I think the SMD might be just a bit more stable in the wind. And for those of us trying to cut weight, the SMD is almost a quarter pound lighter. I guess I would have to go with the SMD.

Doug,

I totally agree with you about the spreader bar. I was planning on trying to find something to do what you have done. I think I may head to Lowes right now and look for some of that "pex" tubing… Not sure what that is though. Is it similar to PVC? Also, will just using a lighter be enough heat to bend it effectively?

Thanks for the tips!