Any recommendations for a lightweight shelter with extra large vestibule?

[Derek Cox]

So I am having to restock some of my gear as I am now hiking with a girlfriend and two large dogs. The dogs tend to end up wet, smelly, and filthy by the end of the day and so I am hoping to not have to bring them inside the tent with us, but at the same time they are needy and do not like being left outside and separated/can't be fully trusted not to wander off or remain silent if they are tied up. I've looked around some, but am not seeing very many options for what I was hoping for so maybe you all can help. What I basically want is a two person tent with an extended vestibule similar to the big agnes super scout ul2(see below). This way the dogs would be sheltered from rain and somewhat constrained, within reach/sight, but still separated from our precious down sleeping bags.

Requirements for the tent:
3 season
2 person fully enclosed
vestibule coming all the way to the ground with enough space for 2 large dogs to sleep
less than 5 pounds

Would be nice to have:
Lighter is better, obviously
2 doors, one that exits to the vestibule and one outside

I really like the tarptent stratospire 2, but the vestibule is not big enough for the dogs, so if there was some way to add on a tarp to create a larger enclosed vestibule that would also work (for that or any tent).

The super scout ul2 is the closest i've found to what I want, but I haven't heard many reviews yet since it is relatively new and not what most people are looking for I imagine. I just worry that the pitch doesn't get very taught (based on pictures) and that it would be hard to get in or out of. Any thoughts/suggestions you guys may have would be appreciated. Thanks.

Edit: I see there is also a tent by Big Agnes called the Slater UL3+ which is larger than we would need, but has the double doors, but at a weight penalty

– Derek

[Ian]

Derek,

Take a look at the Black Diamond Megalight or MLD Supermid paired with a two person inner tent. Both shelters can squeeze in four people so you two could occupy half of the shelter in your inner tent and the dogs can have the other.

[Derek Cox]

Thanks, Ian. I had forgotten that pyramid style tents could just use an inner net for half. I'll check them out and consider it. Thanks again.

– Derek

[Franco Darioli]

"I really like the tarptent stratospire 2, but the vestibule is not big enough for the dogs"
One dog each side ?
I don't know if you already have it or have seen an SS2 but the vestibules are rather large

that mat is 20"x66" , if you put a line between the bottom of the fly door panel and the corner you will see that a small corner of that mat would be outside the fly but the rest is fully in.
Sloutchin a bit and on top of that mat the top of my head is at about 3'
(you can see that the pole at the back is tilted inwards but in that area you would have your pack anyway ..
BTW, the BA SS SL2 does have a much larger vestibule however it is 14' long.

[Derek Cox]

I have definitely seen those pictures you posted and a lot of your other posts on tarptents and appreciate them. That is one of the best as far as showing the actual size of the vestibule – which I think is awesome. Unfortunately, I'm just not sure it is big enough. One dog is 80+ pounds and the other will likely be around 50-60 full grown. It's possible they could fit one on each side, but it would be tight for sure. If I could get them to just curl in a ball and not move we could have a winner, but they tend to move around a lot in their sleep. I may consider getting one though anyways for going without the dogs and just try it out with them at home sometime to see if it's do able. Thanks.

[Kenda Willey]

Look at Seek Outside's website. They make tipi tents that are modular, so you can add very large vestibules when needed, and have the option to leave them off to save weight. I have no experience with these tents, and there's not much info online, but there was a BPL review of their tents a couple of months ago.

[Josiah]

The SS2 vestibules are pretty huge and I'm a huge fan of the tent.

MSR sells "gear sheds" for some of their tents. Not UL, but seem to fit the rest of your reqs

The newest Hubba Hubba and gear shed will be around your 5lb limit

or you could save a few bucks and go with something like this:

http://www.rei.com/product/868771/msr-hubba-hubba-2-tent-gear-shed-2013-closeout#specsTab

[Franco Darioli]

I am not all that familiar with dogs but I do have two visiting regularly.
I think they are of a smaller breed but would need separate vestibules because they don't really like each orther :

That MSR HH/gear shed combo looks interesting
I like that you still have two doors so you could just use the non dog side at night :

[Paul Hatfield]

How about the Hilleberg Anjan 3 GT?

[Jennifer Mitol]

I have the SS1 and my 80# dog fits in that vestibule…and it's smaller. I can't leave him there, tho…he dives out all the time. He, unfortunately, HAS to be in the shelter with me and my precious down quilt…..

If you went with a super mid or Ultra mid or something like that….those vestibules are simply ginormous!!!! One of my favorite things about my duomid/solo inner set up is just how huge and usable that vestibule is. MORE than enough room in my set up for me and the 80# shedding pup. He doesn't even take up half of the vestibule that's left. So i imagine if you got a true 2 person one (super mid, or HMG's ultra) then you'd have plenty of room for both dogs with you two in the safety of the net.

[Michael Gartman]

Honestly, we just used ours for the first time, and the vestibules are enormous.

I have to exit the tent a little ways just to reach the zipper to zip it up to get out of the tent.

We have another tent that is heavier, but has large vestibules and lots of room inside…it's an MSR Hoop. It's I believe 96" long inside.

[Nathan Wernette]

huge. massive. gigantic.

[Derek Cox]

Thanks for all the responses guys. I like the suggestions and am either leaning toward something like the mld supermid with a duo innernet or the ss2 if it will work. Still considering the super scout ul2, only because it would be the cheapest option (on sale I saw it for $320) and has a good size vestibule, but it would probably be the lowest quality and most uncomfortable to actually use/get in and out of.

MLD supermid + duo innernet –
$480
42.5 oz

TT SS2 –
$339
40 oz

BA SS UL2 –
$320
43 oz

Does anyone know of any photos of the supermid with the duo innernet? A google search mostly turned up either one or the other, but not both together. I'm curious how the duo innernet, which looks like it has a pyramid shape, would fit into one half of the supermid. I would think it would need to be a slightly different shape to take up just half the supermid pyramid space. If that makes sense… Thanks again for all your help.

[Stuart .]

Derek, I switched from the SS2 to the SuperMid last year for family use – two adults, a 6 year old active rotisserie sleeping son, and a 70lb dog. The SS2 was a cracking 2P shelter and can be extended to fit three, but neither my wife nor I relished the thought of our son crashing around into us in somewhat tight confines. The other aspect was our dog didn't want to stay in the vestibule.

The SuperMid has been a lot more flexible for us. I bought it with the perimeter mesh option and separately picked up both a bathtub floor and a used duo inner net. I'm still figuring out whether to stay with the perimeter mesh or the duo inner, but a few more trips will shake that out.

The duo inner fits well behind the centre pole, as for two people I tend to offset it 12-18". The inner net fits in well behind the offset pole, and the mesh is pretty taut on all sides. That leaves a massive vestibule in front for my son, dog, and our gear. I have a photo somewhere, but it may take a day or two to dig it out.

Given the size of your dogs, my guess is they would take most of the space in the two vestibules of the SS2. But together they'd still leave about 1/4 of the available space in the SuperMid for gear.

Do your dogs prefer to be close together, or are they better apart? The SuperMid offers both options but the SS2 would only let you go with the latter.

For the humans, there is quite a difference. The SS2 offers great headroom regardless of which side you are on, and each of you has a door (and a dog to climb over). The 'Mid has a disparity – a lot more headroom closer to the centre than on the outside. And the inner net has only one door, so one person will have to climb over the other before climbing over the dogs for the nighttime potty break.

[David Anderson]

Take a look at the Seek Outside Lil' bug out shelter. You configure it in a multitude of ways that would fit well with what you what to do.

[Derek Cox]

Thanks a bunch, Stuart. This helps a lot. If you could dig up that photo of the duo inner net in the supermid at some point to show how it fits and the space that would be awesome. Any chance of one with the dog in the SS2 vestibule would be great as well. Thanks again. The dogs do usually like to sleep together and it would be nice to have some space for wet/dirty gear as well. Looks like I will probably be going the supermid/inner net route. Thanks everyone for your help.

– Derek

[Jake S]

I feel like I should point out that while the SS2 vestibules are huge (and I'm laying in my SS2 right now), Franco has completely rolled up not just the door, but one entire side of the tent in that one above pic–the vestibules aren't THAT big, lol.

A bit misleading, IMO.

[Franco Darioli]

Misleading…
must be an epidemic.
What picture are you referring to ?

[Nathan Wernette]

I'd have to disagree. The vestibules are huge. It could fit a person laying down in them….. They are big.

[Jake S]

The picture with the two cats. The "pitch-loc" corner that is facing us has material pilled up on each side. The left side of that corner is how you keep the door stowed out of the way but the right side has the door stowed away along with another entire panel of the tent.

To clarify, I'm not saying the picture was taken or posted to be intentionally misleading, but it does misrepresent the size of the vestibules (i.e. this specific conversation) a bit.

Like I said, they are huge, though–just not that huge. :)

[Stuart .]

Derek, I'm on my way home from a work trip so I'll check my photo library tonight. All I have on my phone is the duo inner pitched alone, and I think you already have a sense of its size.

From memory, the footprint of the SuperMid and SS2 are comparable. Both are luxurious for two people. If that were your only consideration, I'd say the SS2 would be the more liveable option. But the dogs add a unique element, and depending on how accustomed they are to sleeping outdoors, they may well be more active. The SS2 vestibules are large – but probably not quite large enough for two full grown dogs at 80lb and 60lb to fit in one. Having had the privilege of providing a home for three lab mixes weighing between 60-95lb, I know how much room two or more can take up.

The perimeter mesh on the SuperMid made a big difference with my current dog, a border collie mix. He's a nervous Nellie, and would find a way under the edge of a silnylon tent or tarp at the first strange sound. But the mesh keeps him in place, and without an inner net he can snuggle up close if he gets scared.

Both are terrific shelters. I just ordered a Notch for solo use, as I appreciate Henry's designs. What will make or break your trips is how easily the dogs settle down at night.

[Derek Cox]

With a slight update, I am planning on going the supermid/duo innernet route as I think this will provide the most space and comfort at the lowest weight, while still meeting all my needs. My only real concern will probably end up being footprint size since many places I seem to end up (mostly in the southeast) are pretty densely forested.

In order to save some money and customize it some, I am going to try to make my own by following jerry adams' write up (http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/myog_silnylon_floorless_2-person_tent.html#.U73Xo_ldV8E)and several posts from others who have done something similar. I will update when I start the actual construction process, but am waiting on a sewing machine first (and then need to learn how to sew…)

In the meantime, I had a trip not too long ago and the tents I currently own wouldn't work with both dogs so I "rented" a BA Super Scout UL2 to try out. There wasn't a lot of real info or reviews on the shelter that I could find at the time of getting it (although GearJunkie has now put up a short review that I saw) so maybe this will be useful for some on the fence about it. Here are some photos and thoughts based on just this one trip:

Here is a photo of the BA SS UL2 at one campsite

Unfortunately, I made the mistake for the first time ever and just let me hiking poles behind. So we had to improvise here and used some broken poles from a friend's cheap walmart tent that almost immediately broke and some mother nature. This probably affected the pitch some (compared to previous set ups in the yard prior to the trip), but didn't seem like too much fortunately.

So some notes, setup for this tent wasn't hard per se, but did require a lot of stakes, and therefore a lot of ground that is stake permeable. It was only an issue at the site the previous night where I unfortunately forgot to take photos, but was very rocky and we had to improvise some rock stakes and then fix them every time the dog ran into the tent. So if you are in an area that doesn't have the ample length this tent requires (a little over 14 feet) and ground not suitable for staking (ie a lot of roots and rocks) this may not be the best choice. While you could leave the 4 stakes for the inner portion at home, they are required in the setup instructions provided and I found that it was much more difficult to set up the tent trying to estimate distances without them. This would obviously become less of an issue over time though as one became more familiar with the dimensions.

Pitch was actually more taught than I was imagining it would be when I purchased this tent (at least at home with actual poles it was). There was room for two to sit inside the vestibule if needed and about standard floor space for a two person tent. The height in the sleeping area was a little low but not uncomfortably so. With the pole angled by the entrance, getting in and out was only as much trouble as it typically is with a head entrance tent.

When I did set it up with my trekking poles, I had to put them at quite an angle since they are fixed length poles (125 cm I believe). Turns out, this is too high for the tent and I did not see anywhere previously that poles had to be adjustable to a smaller height. It worked out fine, just need quite the angle on the pole to allow for the proper pitch.

It was awesome having all the space for the dogs and gear and not worrying about them trampling all over us. This was especially nice the second evening since it began to rain before getting into the tent and thus the dogs and some gear got soaked.

Being that the material this tent is made from is silnylon, it is going to stretch. I understand this, however, many tents you can tighten a guyline or maybe just re-stake a couple spots. With this tent, you literally have to get out and re-stake a minimum of 5 stakes and tighten the guyline on another 5. I should have done this prior to going to bed, but was a little drunk and tired at that point so I neglected to. I know that what happened next was partially my fault, but we woke up in the middle of the night and the low ceiling height had become verrry low and we couldn't help but brush into it repeatedly. Even after tightening everything up as well as I could it still was confining and we had to be careful not to roll too far to the side or sit up at all. This may have been less of an issue had I remembered to bring the trekking poles…

Overall, I was relatively happy with the tent. The number of stakes and having to adjust all of them would end up being a pain I imagine, but one that I could live with probably if needed. I'm not a fan of tents that you enter from the head to foot end in general, but that is an issue I knew I would have with the tent from the beginning. For the weight though, this tent ended up being not too bad. Maybe 3.5 stars out of 5 if I had to rate it. I did end up returning the tent since it wasn't quite what I wanted long term, but if anyone has any further questions I'd be happy to try to answer them.

And here's a picture of the dogs just because. One still has a fair bit of growing to do.

[Matthew H]

Definitely the Stratospire 2 fits the bill perfectly. Plenty of space for two, a door on each side, a large vestibule on both sides. I think it's PERFECT for your needs.

[Jake S]

"When I did set it up with my trekking poles, I had to put them at quite an angle since they are fixed length poles (125 cm I believe). Turns out, this is too high for the tent and I did not see anywhere previously that poles had to be adjustable to a smaller height. It worked out fine, just need quite the angle on the pole to allow for the proper pitch."

Or use longer guylines. ;)

[Kevin @ Seek Outside]

The LIl Bug Out Shelter works very well with dogs. I've used it with 3 in the vestibule and a nest, with the nest primarily used to keep the dogs off my sleep gear. With dogs I often leave one door unzipped so they can come and go during the night, which is important for my dogs at least.

Full disclosure : I had a lot of design input on the LBO
Kevin

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