Coming Soon: Tarptent StratoSpire

[Henry Shires / Tarptent]

Daniel, that is incorrect.

[Diana Vann]

The 3D images really help understand the concept. I'm most intrigued by the two person model and look forward to reading some reviews about it.

[Franco Darioli]

As mentioned already , it is a difficult shelter to figure out if you do not have a careful look at the 3d animation and the pics from different angles.
(recently I was referring to it as the "Enigma")
The main problem is that we have preconceived ideas of the way this kind of shelter look like but this isn't one of them…
As for the entry point, the door panel opens up to almost the top of the pole and that is at 50" so it is a bit more than some…
(IE no "crawling")
When the video will come out it will make the layout a bit easier to understand.
Franco

I think it will be helpful for a lot of folks once we get a chance to see a video of somebody actually walking around this tent, and sitting and laying inside of it.

And, as always…

+1 for Cuben Fiber – please Sir Henry! Especially in a Solo version!! The design of this tent would make it an amazing first (?) tent for TarpTent to make in Cuben Fiber! Really easy lines, not a lot of complicated cuts… it just screams and shouts to be made in CF!! Come on Henry!!

[David Ure]

Henry or Franco, is the inner attached to the outer at the top? It appears that they are using the same pegs so optionally attached at the bottom. I am thinking similar to the Scarp.

On a similar note – a fabric inner option would be ideal for the shoulder season months.

[Ken Bennett]

@Daniel: "It seems that in order for 2 to sleep adjacent, one would have to enter with their feet pointed to the smaller end, and then do a turn around crawl to be pointed the same direction as the other person? "

My Lunar Duo acts like this. The doors are on opposite sides – that is, when my wife and I are lying down, my door is by my head, and her door is by her feet.

It has never, ever, been a problem for us.

@Henry: Looks like an awesome design.

[David Vo]

Can someone explain what a double-wall tent means and how it's beneficial?

[Franco Darioli]

David :
Double wall is the US term for double skin.
In other words a tent made up of two components : an inner and a rain fly.

Some only consider one with a "solid" (all fabric) inner (called the tent in the US) a proper double wall.
The problem with that is that many "inners" have some mesh parts, so hard to tell when it is and when it isn't a double wall by that definition.

The advantage of the two components with the StratoSpire are that you can pitch it either independently or together as one.
So you can set it up as a shaped tarp, a bug net or as "tent".
Many think that a double wall minimises condensation , some think that it applies to mesh inners also, particularly if they own one.
My view is that it makes little difference apart from the fact that with a single wall you can come into contact with a wet wall (but you can wipe it down) and occasionally you get mist or even drips in some .
With a double solid layer you do not see that but I challenge folk to weigh their double wall after a night in a damp environment and see just how much moisture management is going on…
Anyway, you can always (quickly) unclip the StratoSpire inner, wipe the wall down, leave it standing a bit longer to air dry and pack it up.
Franco

[Steven McAllister]

These shelter are very similar to the SM Haven and Vamp tents. There are differences of course.

Regarding fabric inner as opposed to mesh inner, the mesh inner is far more comfortable. The mesh does add a lot to the warmth in the colder months be reducing drafts. A fabric inner would block more, but not something that I would like. I have been in double wall shelters with fabric inners and didn't like the lack of airflow, even in winter.

I'm assuming it pitches the same way as the SMD tents. You pitch the fly first and hang the mesh inner from the inside. This means that you have a dry inner when you have to pitch in the rain.

Additional long lines from the peak out can give extra holding power. Lines can also be attached to the door ties to reduce flapping and reduce stress on other ties.

[Mark Ries]

I see a tent with too vertical of sidewalls to handle winds and stay staked it does have lots of headroom side room space but I think the cost of that will be having to camp at very sheltered locations. Maybe if some guys could be added from the top of the poles to several feet beyond the vestibules BTW I like most tarp tents

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

Nice design. A lot of stuff to like here.

[Lawson Kline]

: )

[Franco Darioli]

"These shelter are very similar to the SM Haven and Vamp tents"

No, nothing at all like them.
What they have in common is trekking pole support and the type fabric .
Everything else is different.
As a matter of fact the idea started with a design that I called the Circus over 4 years ago with something that looked remarkably like the new MH Hoopla.
Then it temporarily shifted to one that was similar to a then unreleased Bergans shelter, to end up with a two pole version avoiding the pole in the center bit.
Eventually the Pitch Lock corner was integrated. So what you see as the final product has gone through several changes over a few years.
But if you know tents, it isn't anything like the other two shelters you mentioned….
Franco

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

How wide are the pads shown in this photo?

[Franco Darioli]

20".
That is the SS 1 .
The SS2 takes 3x 20" mats side by side.
So the SS1 is a 1.5 , the 2 a 2.5 .
We do that just to annoy people that like to complain about having to buy a double to get a decent sized single…
Franco

[David Ure]

My next tent. Just thought I would tell everyone that.

[BlackHatGuy]

"My next tent. Just thought I would tell everyone that."

Very cool. Can't wait to hear your impressions of it when you get it, and the pics of course!

[Roman Vazhnov]

Very beautiful design.
+1 on fabric inner option. It would be great for colder places (like Russia most of the year :))
Width is 5 cm shorter for SS2 than Lunar Duo, weight is the same, although LD is hybrid, not true doublewall. Nevertheless for me StratoSpire would be clearly preferrable only with fabric inner.

//Edit: is the width on the TT website (52 inches) correct? As we see Franco says that the SS2 takes 3x 20" mats side by side.

[Franco Darioli]

You can fit two mats in using the sides of the bathtub walls. Note the difference between the first pic on this thread and the one with the two mats.
Franco

[Paul McLaughlin]

Henry – Since you are participating in this discussion I wonder if you can give us a weight for just the fly on this baby?

[Franco Darioli]

The weight split will be posted in a day or two.
Franco

[Henry Shires / Tarptent]

Here's what I measure on the prototypes. Please keep in mind that these aren't production yet so weights may vary an ounce or so on the final shipping models. All geometries are final.

StratoSpire1: Fly with all struts, cording, and 6 stakes = 22 ounces; interior = 10 ounces; fly shelters 47.6 sq ft

StratoSpire2: Fly with all struts, cording, and 6 stakes = 26 ounces; interior = 14 ounces; fly shelters 58.75 sq ft

-H

[Pilate de Guerre]

Henry,

Quite the inspired design! I'm impressed with the weight/headroom/footprint convergence.

Any plans to add Cuben to your line? I ask because a friend of mine has Joe/ZPack's Hexamid and is quite smitten with it. Both shelters remind me of each other in some ways. Other differences aside, the most notable difference is the material/weight.

[Joe Clement]

This kind of ruins my plans to update my Double Rainbow with the newer model. I could use the inner about 99% of the time by itself, where I am.

[Franco Darioli]

Pilate de Guerre
I happen to know what the Hexamid looks like, in fact in my backyard it looks like this:

because of that I really struggle to find any similarity whatsoever with the StratoSpire design.
Maybe you can give me a hint…
Franco

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