Hexamid Twin Tent in Wind Question

I do not have the twin, but I do have a Hexamid Long, which does use additional poles, only at each end rather than on the back. I have had luck in a pitching the shelter with the front corners very low, rear corners and center rear hammered all the way to the ground. I still used the lifted pull outs with the additional poles and I was very comfy with no major wind inside the shelter.

It was just a matter of adjusting the height of both the main pole in the ft, and the additional poles on the ends.

I hope this is helpful

Jeff

I recently bought a Hexamid Twin and I have posted at least twice seeking feedback from Hexamid Twin owners about wind performance without a reply. Weird. You can post about some esoteric piece of kit and get 100 replies, but ask a pretty straight forward question about a fairly popular item and get nothing. I have also looked at the flat portion along backside and also wondered if the addition of the second trekking pole improves wind-worthiness over the Hexamid Solo. Guess we will just have to find out in the field. With my Hexamid Solo I have been very careful about finding sheltered sites, but that is not always possible.

Maybe not many people own the twin? Same question was asked about the solo and there were plenty of replies.

I suspect there are a lot less Twins out. I think Ball and Sunshine have used one on their thru hikes, so you may find something from their trail journals. I do remember them saying somewhere they had a bad night in the wind once and then pitched it slightly differently from then on and it did much better. Joe just used one on his hike the length of New Zealand. They had some really great weather during the latter half of the hike, but knowing NZ as I do I am sure they got a decent chance to test it out in the wind.

I just recently purchased the Twin and have yet to test it in the wind. I found very little information out there on this shelter from an end user's perspective when I was researching it.

Edward, I was thinking the exact same thing. Maybe we need more sex, drugs and rock & roll in this thread.

Anyway, mostly I'm wondering how well the back can be flattened out if you lower the back pole, or else tie it further back on the guy line, or even not at all. My take (or worry) is if anything, the back shape (not the pole per se) might make it *less* wind worthy. Seems like it may be a bit tricky to both flatten it and get a good taunt pitch because of the shape. zpacks sells some nice guy out loops so maybe once I see it some extra guy point could be added specifically for the high wind contingency.

I'm sure it will shed wind fine most of the time – my main concern is for the "oh shit!" type situations. I realize it is a little unfair to expect a shelter like this to be all things for all conditions.

Ian, in the absence of an actual high-wind test, can you pitch the back at a much flatter angle without having the tarp sag, or be loose. In those situations I would also expect the bottom guy outs to be staked directly to the ground as well. Of course you will pay by losing some interior room, but on the nights where it matters that will probably be the least of the worries.

I know it would make more sense to have started this thread BEFORE I ordered one. I don't think it would have stopped me either way. I wouldn't have had to ask the question if I had the actual thing to set up. For me it isn't a question of practical experience in wind, just a wind-worthy way to tweak it.

This is what Balls wrote. Don't know if it helps.

I was cursing our ZPacks Hexamid Twin tent all night during our first bad wind storm of 50+ MPH winds. We finally left the tent down so as to not damage it. Later the next day, I learned that the only tents spared from being blown over were the heaviest free-standing ones, so I could have saved my curses. We learned to shorten our guy lines, make our trekking pole more vertical, and Sunshine now puts big rocks on the stakes while I'm setting up. The tent has proved itself now in two rainy wind storms. For an 11-ounce two-person tent, you just can't beat it! I do recommend this tent.

Yeah, I read that too. I wasn't too sure what "left the tent down" meant. I thought it might have meant cowering under a total collapsed tent like a blanket. Well, that would be one emergency "pitch". LOL

Over all the right tactic is to flatten the tent as much a possible toward the ground decreasing the air-foil effect, probably sealing up the wind-side venting completely to keep it out of the inside, and lastly having a taunt pitch since rippling tarp material will put more stress on your tent, not to mention be loud and annoying, though the later boat might already have sailed. You kind of get all but the last, I suppose, by turning your tent into a blanket/bivy sack. Something to think about.

I can't say I've ever had it in any really windy conditions, despite my best efforts, pitching it at high ridgelines, mountain tops, etc. My limited experience is that performance is roughly proportional to the number of rocks around the stakes. In fact the best wind pitch may involve tying the lines around sticks about 1-2" diameter, and anchoring those with large rocks, excluding the stakes altogether. It's easier to get a large pile of rocks that way, more places to put them. Otherwise the above seems like good advice (but if you shorten your lines you may not be able to tie around a large stick!) Obviously, it will be breezy inside…

I have the Twin and have had it in strong (but not extreme) winds a few times. Probably the strongest was this:
(Photograph taken the next morning after the wind had died down.)
The wind was coming from directly behind, over a low rise.
The back wall didn't seem to be struggling, but there was quite a bit of force backwards on the top of the front pole. This is probably why it is recommended to set the pole more vertically in wind.
You can set the back pole lower if you want to get rid of the gap at the bottom of the fly. We sometimes set it to 75cm. I don't think you could flatten the back wall without slackening the pitch and I think a tight pitch is more important.
The pole at the back fits into a cup at the bottom to hold the fly to the ground and this cup can also be pegged. This sets the back wall up very firmly.

Thanks for your thoughts William. This is about what I was thinking as far as the "conventional" pitch.

I'm thinking one possibility would be to remove the back pole, lower the back end of the peak to the ground at the point where the triangle with the two back corners is taunt, and tuck the part making up the vertical back part underneath (inside the tent). This would only be for extreme cases, and would also be done together with lowering the front pole. People would have to hunker down inside, but that is the idea – to lower the profile and the aerodynamic lift.

Of course I will have to see when I get mine. I emphasize that this is only for really crazy cases. The normal pitch feels fine to me for merely "windy" conditions. But if for some reason you get 50-60+ mph winds then this might require more desperate measures.

I had mine out this past weekend in gusting winds. I'm not a great judge of wind speed, but guess that it was gusting up to around 35 mph, but was more steady at around 15-20. I set up my twin with the side into the wind and didn't try to stake it close to the ground. I did kept the beak rolled up and the tent would puff up during the gusts, but I never had issues with the tent being secure. I did have the rear pole staked down go prevent it from moving and had the front pole at an angle.

One thing I love about this tent is how tight I can get it staked down.

I've had my twin in howling winds for a few nights. Probably 20MPH average.
I didn't have any problems.