A new twist on a mid?

[R]

Although it doesn’t actually look much like a mid – it’s shaped more like a typical 2-person free standing:

Basically put a tall strut in each corner of a mid, drop a vertical wall around the perimeter and then pull out a vestibule on each side.

Foot print is a 4.5′ x 7.5′ rectangle with a 1.5′ vestibule on each side (7.5′ across).  Center pole is 4′, corner poles are 3′.  Doors are V zippers on the vestibule seams, or maybe some sort of arc in the center panel of the vestibule (maybe open a vestibule side wall?).  Just a first stab at potential dimensions.  12.5 square yards of material (the DuoMid is ~9.5 yds, Supermid ~14.5).  Minimum 6 stakes, which is what most 2-person mids end up with.  You could save some weight shrinking the foot end, making it asymmetric.  You could also slope the ends walls in a bit, either tilting the poles, or suspending the corners from guy points, keeping the poles vertical, external.

Compared to a traditional mid, it obviously raises the ceiling over much more area, protects more floor space from rain when the door is open, and will suffer less sagging under snow load.

You can mix and match trekking poles with tent poles in any position.  If you’ve got 2 pairs of trekking poles, you can use them in 3 corners and the center, and carry a 3′ tent pole for the last corner.  An extra storm guy-out could be placed in the middle of each end panel.

 

[Mole J]

Trying to work out an easy and straightforward pitching procedure for such a structure. Even with 2 people…

 

 

 

 

[David Gardner]

With a center pole and 4 struts plus all those flat panels, I’m wondering if it has any weight advantage over a “traditional” dome-style free standing tent with two long poles crossing from corner to corner. Also thinking it is likely to have more problems in the wind. Much easier to sew/bond yourself though!

[R]

Updated guy lines:

The ground lines on the corners simplify pitch. Spread out the roof on the ground to locate the stake placements.

This has around half the pole length of a dome/pop-up, and since they’re a lot shorter, they can be lighter material.  Since they’re not bent in an arc like a dome, they won’t flex in the wind – it’ll behave more like a pyramid, but with smaller panels and more anchor points.

[R]

Realizing this is conceptually similar to a lot of TarpTent designs – straight poles with lots of flat panels.

[Franco Darioli]

I don’t think so….

The Saddle 2 did use 4 poles but it did not look like that . Well , not to me anyway….

 

[Franco Darioli]

[Franco Darioli]

Compared to the SS 2

[R]

No, not the same pattern.  Just similar concept – straight poles, faceted sides.

Here’s a variation with out the center pole, and alternating height in the corners (3′, 4′).  If you skew this further, pulling the tall poles in and shrinking the short poles, you do end up looking like the StratoSpire.

[Franco Darioli]

True story.

The other day I was taking some photos from a footbridge when a cople went by. The guy asked me the name of the birds I was taking (no I did not say George and Martha) ..

So I told him : those are Great Egrets (these two)

the guy commented that his girlfriend asked if they were chickens.

[R]

Oh, snap!

[Paul McLaughlin]

Your last version starts to look almost feasible in a wind. The others, too much vertical wall area in my opinion. The difference in force with wind blowing against a flat surface is considerable compared to an angled one. Better bring some hefty stakes for those corner guylines! Also my gut tells me you would have a tough time getting a taut pitch on  something like that.

[Sam Farrington]

Agree with Paul on all points. Erecting walls is fine for bricklayers. To survive a windstorm in open terrain, aerodynamics are a must for a tent. Looking down on the SS tents from above, there is some similarity; but looking at them from ground level, there are two sides that are very gradually sloped from the peaks all the way to the ground, either of which sides is suitable to face the wind. Not sure how an SS would fare if the wind direction shifted 90 degrees; but am told this is a rare occurrence. From kayaking long lakes that seems true; but on open mountainous terrain, not so sure.

From mountain passes in the Rockies have watched ominous thunder clouds circle around nearby peaks, and suspect they were travelling in the same directions as the wind. We once raced down from Hope pass in Colorado hoping to reach timberline before the clouds caught up with us and we got drenched, or worse, struck by lightning. It was a problem because one of the Shetland Sheep Dogs become paralyzed with fear by the thunder, and wouldn’t move. A trail runner came jogging by us and looked at me strangely while I was pleading frantically with the dog to get moving. But she did, and we beat both the rain and the lightning.

[R]

Paul, how big an angle are you thinking to make a difference?  The end walls on the last model are actually a bit larger than the first.

Here’s a cross section of Caffin’s winter tent:

The peak is at 41″ and the shoulder 33.5″, sloping in 8″.  Eyeballing a Hilleberg, things look pretty similar.  I was thinking that slope wouldn’t make much difference compared to vertical, but the design could accommodate it.

[R]

Foot print is now a regular hexagon, 8′ head to toe.  The 4′ pole is 20″ from the corner (towards the far 3′ pole); 3′ pole is 30″ from the corner, putting that seam at 50d, so no need for a guy line.  The longest seams are 6’6″.   Too bad I can’t attach the .skp file.

I’ve been trying to increase the angle between the two faces on the end panels to keep it from flapping.

Needs more work.

Facing the end:

Look down at the vestibule:

Top:

[Bill in Roswell]

Now from above you have a standard dome like the TNF VE 25. 

[Paul McLaughlin]

Looking better aerodynamically – I think relatively small angles can make a difference ; but now you get all four poles located inboard of the walls and what is left for usable floorspace? Another point I would make, although it may not be all that pertinent here, is that you reference Roger Caffin’s tent design. Keep in mind that his poles are slightly curved, and pretty stiff, and that means essentially a convex surface. A convex surface will shed wind much better than a flat surface – partly because a “flat” surface in fabric always becomes a concave surface under load.

Personally I think you are going down a dead end road, unless you want a shelter for only protected situations (forest use only). By the time you get enough angles to make it handle wind, you’ve got the poles in the middle of the floor – plus this thing would probably be a bear to pitch in any conditions, and a nightmare to pitch in windy conditions. Just my 2 cents.

[R]

Fair point on curves and fluid dynamics, but things in this pic are looking pretty ripe to go concave in a cross wind:

What’s your take on the StratoSpire, in regards to your other comments?  I’ve been holding TarpTent’s success with faceted designs as a validation of the general paradigm.

I’ve been thinking this work any where a mid works.  This exercise has definitely given me a new appreciation for the geometry of the SS, but I’ve never tried pitching one.

While the first sketches I posted had a center pole, everything since has maintained an uninterrupted 54″x90″ floor space.  This began by asking what could be done by adding shorter carbon struts to the familiar trekking pole equation.  A secondary puzzle I’ve had in the back of my mind is ease of assembly, keeping an eye out for fewer unique panel shapes, or use of a single, long wide strip of material.

[Franco Darioli]

ease of assemly…
some have problems pitching this…

so , yes, I would expect a few more would find it difficult to pitch yours.

[R]

Heh-heh – I just noticed the StratoSpire is an over sized BD BetaLight.

 

[Franco Darioli]

OK, I see the problem now…

 

 

you are not very good at noticing.

BTW, I look exactly like Tom Cruise but a bit taller. (from behind a wall at a distance )

[Franco Darioli]

To be fair , I own the SS2 and I am very familiar with several BD and Bibler shelters. The local importers had a retail shop about 100m from my desk at work.

So no to me they don’t look anything at all like each other and I would feel the same will be for people that are at least somewhat familiar with the two.But they both use two sticks…

The other day I came across the name Henry gave to the SS2 when it became that shape after several changes (that is over 9 years ago now)

It was TiTO. I can’t remember what it stood for.

[R]

Add 12″ in length, 30″ in width, 24″ between the poles and have your egrets get back to me.

 

[Franco Darioli]

You can have this one , donated by my wife.

[Franco Darioli]

here is an undersized egret I shot about an hour ago (that’s OK, I missed)

 

[Author]

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