Minor mod to the Notch

I'll have to re-read this later on (can't work out exactly what you have done right now…) but I thought that I'll love to see photos of members crouching inside their (LW)tent vestibules out of the rain…

+1, would love to see photos!

I figured it would be hard to understand from what I wrote. I have a pic on my phone of the tent with the trial mod and the door unzipped, though it is hard to see the black shock cord of course. I also have pics of the final mod details. I unfortunately don't have a pic of me crouching under the door and bulging out the fly in a ridiculous manner, which would be the most entertaining. I'll work on getting the pics I do have up here shortly.

The trial setup. In this arrangement, there is a length of shock cord between the stake at the end of the apex guyline and the little orange carabiner attached to the corner of the fly door.

Zoom-in of the shock cord:

This shows the 2.5" long velcro "tag" that I added to the door buckle.

This is the velcro end of the shock cord. The other end is just a loop to go over the stake. The length of the shock cord plus the velcro tag is about 15".

Thanks for the tip!

Now I get it.
This is what I have done in the past to get changed into or out of my rain gear.
No modification required.
This is the standard set up :

if you unhook the mitten hook above and undo the Velcro around the pole (and shove the inner to the other side) you get this:

The black pole is the drip line of the fully zipped up door. With that door panel sealed I have a bout 1' of free space all around and above me.
Yes, I also moved the pole a bit but mostly for the photo

Franco, thanks for the idea. I have dropped the inner before to get enough room to cook, but your idea looks like it could yield enough space without the trouble of removing and later reinstalling the inner.

The concern I was trying to address is a little different. When I'm loading gear into the inner, I'd like the inner to be fully expanded. Really, the most cumbersome part is getting my Exped inflated while it is under the fly, and I hope the shock cord will give me enough extra space to maneuver. I don't know when I'll have the chance to field test it, but maybe I can set it up in a yard again this weekend and give it a go (with someone to take pics this time).

Now the next thing I would like is to be able to hang my empty pack from the apex to keep it off the ground and to prevent it from leaning in on the inner. I tried this out recently by hanging the pack handle on the snow basket of the pole and liked it, though it isn't very secure and I rarely use the poles with baskets. I think I can safely attach something to the strip of webbing that the pole tip grommet is attached to, just have to find the right "something".

Ah, OK…
I have the DM7 with the built in pump and it is a bit of a pain to inflate.
(I can do that inside the Scarp , I need to sort of fold it in half in the Notch.
A mate was using the DM7 UL (?)this w/e and that appears to have the same valve as the old version so he inflates his with the Shnozzle.
If inflation via a bag is possible with yours , just tilt the bag on its side , otherwise undo both apex mitten hooks so that you have the inner connected only at the ends and therefore plenty of space to lay down your mat flat and move around inside*.
As for the pack, to have it off ground you will need to connect it directly to your poles .
When not using snow baskets I have the smaller version , those will do too.
However if you are really good at pitching the Notch taut, you can use the poles handles up so use the pole strap for that or attach a cord around the handle indentations.
* or maybe not..
I need to try that because I have used the Neo Air inside the Notch more than the DM7 .
It is possible that I pumped up the DM 7 outside the shelter only…

Yeah, using the Schnozzel inside the Notch is hard to do with everything inside the shelter, even with a groundsheet in place of the inner.
Did it like that the first time I used my Downmat UL 7, as it was snowing pretty hard, but it required some serious contortions. Guess new toy syndrome had me thinking I'd go to Hell if anything got on it.
Now I just get in and inflate it with the foot end sticking out the door, and wipe it down with a Packtowl when I'm done. Saves a lot of time and frustration.

I modeled this today, will print it out tomorrow.

I get that…
There are somewhat similar shaped tent pole hooks for larger poles (car camping tents…) that might work if modded a bit so looking forward to how you get on with that.

going back to inflating mats, this is what I had in mind :


looking at the second shot you see the std vestibule size between the pole and the door panel tips .
You have exactly the same size available for your pack on the other side, so your pack could be there out of the way.
Only the near side of the inner is un clipped (at the apex )in these two shots.

Part two…
If you are using a basket on you poles , you connect the pack load lifter (hoop at top rear of pack) to it either directly or with an extension of some sort.
If not, your pole tip probably has a groove at the end that has enough of a step to hold a loop from a guyline.
I happen to take with me a few 2' guylines with a fixed loop at one end and a sliding knot at the other .
Those are mostly used to give me a better staking range so effectively they are tie out extensions. (can be used to hold two stakes or wrap around a log)
This is what I used to hang my pack having removed the snow baskets from my pole.


The loop with the sliding knot visible in the detail is the one that holds the pack , the other is there because I could not be bothered shortening that extension so I double that up.

Here it is – snaps onto the pole perfectly and is plenty strong. Maybe I'll get a chance this weekend to pitch the Notch and get a pic of it in action.

Upsides:
– keeps my pack of the ground and from leaning on the inner
-easily installed even after the tent is pitched
– cool because its MYOG and I won't see another one like it

Downsides:
-its another thing to take, carry and keep track of (need to get some hi-vis plastic and reprint)
-1.5g

edit: ok, just pretend those pictures are right side up – don't know why they show up sideways here.

I just spent a weekend in the Wilson Creek Wilderness area in Western NC, in a Notch, in a thunderstorm….my pack was in the in the vestibule, supposedly propped up against the trekking pole, but actually laying on the ground when I woke up in the am. This is the perfect fix to the problem.

Russell,

If the diameter of your tip is 1/2", I have an extra one I can send you. I don't know if you have the ability to measure that accurately. I think most tips are standard but my Fizan poles may be unusual.

Thank you so much for your help. I will set up my user profile and send you a PM. Much appreciated!

I took advantage of the wonderfully cool weather this weekend to set the Notch up again and try out my tweaks.

The backpack hook works, but as I feared it held the backpack up too high and kind of crammed the pack up into the fly walls. Not terrible, and no worse than hanging on the pole basket, but a bit of cord to allow a drop of about 4" or so would be better like Franco has shown. Here you can see the pack (GG Gorilla) pushing out on the fly:

On the other hand, I'm really liking the addition of the bit of shock cord to the corner of the door, and I think this will be quite helpful in rainy weather. Below is another picture that better shows door being held open. There really isn't much loss of protected area when the door is unzipped, and I found it to be very easy to get into and out of the tent with the shock cord in place. It doesn't look like the the door is being held very far open, and it isn't, but the stretch in the cord makes it easy to hold the door further out to enter, and to just squeeze through to exit. I think it will also prevent the unpleasant effect of the wet cold droopy fly door falling in on me when I unzip it in the morning, since the shock cord pulls the door out and keeps it taut as it is unzipped.

And by request, here is me crouched in the vestibule under the shock corded door. Plenty of room for me to stay dry, and enough room in the other side of the vestibule for my pack. You can see that the door can move out quite a bit. This is with the inner in its normal position.

If anyone else is game to give this a try, I'd be interested to know what you think of it.

Hi Stephen, how tall are you? I'm 6'2" and can't imagine trying to hang out in the vestibule. I have a notch as well and I typically just get in and sit up in the middle to change. I can't imagine sitting under the vestibule of my copper spur either. Maybe I'm just not flexible . . .

BTW, as I think of it, to un-clip the mitten hooks , hold the ring with one hand and twist the hook out of it with the other.
Much easier and faster than trying to push the hook tongue out of the way.

Hello Patrick,

The idea isn't to hang out in the vestibule. My goal was only to allow me to briefly get between the fly and the inner to "unpack" my gear from the backpack into the inner and to gain a little extra space to do things like inflate my mattress inside the tent while it is raining, which isn't easy to do while being inside the inner at the same time. I do my normal clothes changing and other "dry activities" inside the inner, but I guess I'm over-cautious about getting anything wet inside the inner. My last photo is intended to show me protected from rain by the fly door while facing the inner door, as if I were doing some activity like I described earlier.

Franco showed some useful methods for getting a pad inflated and changing wet clothes outside the inner by partially disconnecting the inner and moving it over a little, and that frees up a good amount of space. I still wouldn't want to stay there for a long time, but it seemed fine for a few minutes.

So, Franco's good suggestions reduced the usefulness of my shock cord mod in terms of getting my matress inflated in the rain, which was my original concern. However, I found that it makes entry and exit so easy while still maintaining most of the full fly coverage that I think it will still be a handy addition to the tent. I won't really know until I get to try it out in the rain sometime. It may also provide a useful venting option, at least in light rain. In heavy rain I would expect that there might be a lot of mud splatter inside the vestibule if the tent were pitched on a dirt site.

For the record, I'm 5'11", very skinny and flexible, so I may take up a lot less space than you do.

BTW, the pitch in those pictures was on the low side. The poles were set at 110cm.

Franco,

Those mitten hooks can be a challenge with cold, stiff fingers. I'll give your suggestion a try. Thanks. Are you planning to publish a book with all your helpful TT tips?

Wow, we're pretty close in height after all. I detest camp chores so even cooking is a pain for me. I usually bring a stove with a hot meal or two just in case and they rarely get used. I love the notch thought, great light weight tent . . . cool mods that you're creating.

Stephen ,
There is a TTTTTT (Tarptent Top Ten Thousand Terrific Tips ) book in the making.
So far I have the title but no content.
Reminds me of my previous effort ( Wonderful Wise Words )

Anyway , this is how to do it :