To ZPacks Duplex Owners

I love me some cuben fiber, however, one area I have always been a bit leary with cuben is using it as a groundsheet. In the past, I used the Lite version (0.74) cuben floor in my Hexamid tent for a while, and never experienced any issues, however, to be fair, the cuben ground sheet was on top of the mesh floor of the tent, so there was a little extra protection there. I ended up selling the tent version and I ordered the tarp & Hexanet, which has the stock 1 oz/sqyd cuben floor. The third night I used it, I ended up getting a small hole in the floor. This was actually on a grassy shelf, overlooking Thousand Acre Meadows in the Olympics. I did as normal, felt around before setting it up, then put it up and slapped around some more. All seemed well. The next morning I woke up and noticed a hole in my cuben floor under my ProLite pad…

It just so happened, buried in all that grass was a small hump of rounded rock (attached to a obviously much larger rock) that slightly protruded from the ground. Obviously, just from my movement on the sleeping pad was enough to make the rock rub against the floor, and rub a hole in it.

So, I pulled some of my cuben fiber tape from my repair kit, cut 2 small strips, cleaned each side of the floor and applied a strip to both sides. It is still holding up fine.

I am not saying that cuben shouldn't be used as a floor, however, it is a fact that cuben is not very abrasion resistant. My suggestion is (and was before… I just didn't listen to my own advice on this hike) to also carry at least a small piece of polycro (or something similar) to put under the floor where most of your body weight will be. I have a piece of polycro cut out about the size of my sleeping pad, just a little wider, that I will be using under the cuben floor along where my sleeping pad will be. Had I done this before, my floor would not have a hole in it.

When I bought my Yama tent (which I have also sold, simply because I needed the money), one of the things I was most impressed with it was that it used cuben as the canopy (although, I think they could have used a lighter version), but stuck with trusty 30D sil as the floor. Sil is much more abrasion resistant than cuben, so it may be more ideal to some…

As for the canopy, IMO, 0.51 cuben is awesome. It is totally waterproof, does not stretch, and is tough enough to last a long, long time. I know that some opt for the heavier 0.74, and that is fine since it is still lighter than most other materials, but I just don't see the need.

How high are the tops of the zipper doors from the ground?

d k, the "standard" groundsheet bathtub is 8" (can vary according to how you pitch the tent) and the netting door extends between 24 and 25" above groundsheet (depending on tautness) so the top of the door is about 32 or 33" above the ground.

I am very pleased with the duplex, It fits with how we use a tent, together, it is the "VOLUME"

we can both sit up and prepare for sleep and get up at the same time, saves so much time and bother. the right size, weight, and form

It was very very windy and blustery today, with all doors closed(not normally used this way) the un zippered doors on the leeward side open with the pressure and there is no flapping, the bathtub sides rise up when the tent is pitched higher, it does have a lot more air movement/breeze inside so we might sleep colder.

but I did note a swing fault in the ridge line stitching the bonding tape must have caught with the sewing machine foot and puckered it with the thread lose, only minor will use cuben tape to cover, still very pleased

So a new Duplex with .74 canopy arrived a few weeks ago, and I'm happy to report that I couldn't be more pleased.

Construction is very good (although not up to MLD quality, which in my experience is still the hand's-down champion of cuben construction), and I expect it to provide a long life. Love the doors and the vestibule design which, as it turns out, is actually quite easy to open/close from inside the tent. I did replace the stock biners with some that I think go through the small tie-out loops more easily.

It is a palace for 1, which is how I intend to use it. Complete with (lawson glow wire) guy lines, mini lineloks, 6 TI hook stakes, 2 9" Ruta Locura carbon stakes and the supplied stuff sack it comes in right at 24 oz. FWIW this replaces a Notch that in similar configuration weighed 29 oz. Double the room and 5 oz lighter…what's not to like?

Only negative I can see is the footprint may be too large for those folks who primarily camp in very tight terrain. Luckly that isn't me.