Mountain Laurel Designs DCF Duomid Long-term Review

[Ben Kilbourne]

http://theirsecretnames.com/blog/2020/5/11/mountain-laurel-designs-dcf-duomid-long-term-reviewnbsp

[Rex Sanders]

Thanks for your long-term review.

Interesting observations about DCF stretching and permanently deforming after a wickedly windy night.

Given the long thread elsewhere on the importance of maintaining a taught pitch in order to avoid flapping and survive extreme winds, do you have any recent experience with your now-distorted Duomid in high winds?

— Rex

[Matthew / BPL]

Thanks for sharing your review.

Guying out from the peak is a great idea. I’ve never heard of anyone doing that before but it seems obvious now that you’ve mentioned it.

[jscott]

the thing I always liked abut the MLD design–as opposed to the Zpacks solomid with a ‘beak’–is that you can bring the door panel down near the ground in windy conditions. And rain and wind conditions!

that said, both your tent and the Zpacks near you eventually failed in extreme wind conditions.

Interesting that the BA Fly Creek held up. This matches my experience with that tent–solid in winds.

[Eric Blanche]

Thanks for the review. Do you have any more comments or pictures of the distortion of the fabric? Is it even visible in pictures at this point?

How long is your peak guyline, typically?

Regarding the zipper, perhaps this is one situation where a larger zipper is actually worth the increase in weight and durability? #8 versus the #5 that I think mld uses…and Locus Gear uses a #3! (Which Roger also advocates for in his tunnel tents as I understand).

[Ben Kilbourne]

Rex – It just flaps a bit more but it’s not a huge deal. The distortion is not extreme enough to affect the stability or anything.

Matthew – I use that Zpacks 1.2mm zline on the peak to save weight. Works great.

jscott – Yeah it was mostly because of the sand. I’ve learned how to stake in sand after this event and should add those details to the review or make a post specifically about that.

Eric – I’ll add some photos of the mildly floppy edges. I’ll measure the guyline and add that info too. It’s pretty long. Light though, cause I use that Zpacks 1.2mm line. Yeah Ron emailed to remind me that the new ones have #8 zippers which I think is absolutely worth it. He says it increases the weight by only about 10g on the Duomid. Another reason I’ll probably be happy to get another  DCF duomid in the future. Again, I’ll add this info to the post.

Happy to answer any other questions.

[Eric Blumensaadt]

Sorry to hear of the wind-induced distortion of the tent shape.

BUT… quality construction of Dyneema fabric tents requires a lot of reinforcements at all stress points and these reinforcements must be multi-layered to spread out stresses over a larger area. Tent makers are still learning how to best utilize Dyneema in a quality build.

When I look at all the reinforcements in my 2020 Tarptent Notch Li I can appreciate the amount skull sweat that went into its design – and I’m reassured it will hold up in heavy winds. (That said I’m still adding 4 fly hem stake loops to reduce flapping in high winds. “Belt & Suspenders”.)

[dirtbag]

Great post and write up/review.

My thoughts on DCF.. i have posted a video of camping on Hunter Mt (3500 ft.), in the Catskills, NY during a blizzard.. i was using my hammock with DCF tarp.. and the tarp shredded completely off the ridgeline.  It was not an old tarp either.. brand new one at that, and it was not not my first time camping in a storm, using my hammock or using a DCF tarp.

So yeah. It was windy but has made me skeptical exactly how reliable and strong it can hold up in gusty winds.

Thanks for posting, i enjoy reading long term reviews from people who have put their gear to the limits over an extended period of time. I think that’s really important for everyone to learn because nowadays im sure a lot of people see all this flashy, fancy gear and think spending a big buck on it will make it the “BEST”  piece of gear ever and most invincible flawless item that will work anywhere anytime.

[obx hiker]

1. Wow dirtbag. I’ll keep that in mind. I’ve been looking at one of those hammock tarps. Was the problem the dcf rubbing on the ridgeline? Or more the wind invariable getting up under it and so really whipping it around; or both and more?

2. Ben here’s a couple of things you might consider.

• Dual Pole Setup
• Custom made heavier shock loops at the guy out points. I’ll digress on this point a minute. Your model might not have come with the shock cord loops on the guy out points. They are now standard and the MLD website has instructions for proper setup with those taken into consideration. I don’t know if a shockcord heavier than the cord currently supplied might be too hmmmm well lacking in give? It seems to me that the point is to give a bit to release as it were the initial shock of the gust but I’m not any sort of engineer. Maybe we might get some more educated opinions on this subject? Rex? Ron? etc.?
•  DCF tape. Don’t leave home without it. You might be able to lay 3 or 4 parallel stripes over the stretched corners like chevrons and sort of add back some structure or at least reinforce. Lay a stripe, skip a stripe width, lay another, shorter length as you go up the ridge. Something like that. Also gives you some dcf running the other direction to the current fabric dcf strands. I have a 1st gen z-packs hexamid with tape all over it. The added weight is barely measurable but the added strength is considerable.

[Ben Kilbourne]

I want to emphasize that I don’t think the stretching of the DCF is really that big of a deal. The tent is still structurally sound and has many years left in it. It’s just a bit floppy along the edges. Really only an aesthetic (and maybe auditory) issue. The zipper was really my only complaint, and it has been upgraded from #5 to #8, so it should be more durable now. I still highly recommend the DCF Duomid.

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

Good review. The ability of DCF to deform is one of it’s downsides that doesn’t get much attention because most people don’t pay close enough attention to notice it, but it is a widespread phenomena. It’s not hard to stretch DCF by 1-2″ over a large panel.

DCF stretch occurs on the diagonal, where it can stretch a lot and won’t rebound. Good designs will try to put high loads at 0 or 90 degrees so they are parallel to the strands, but often it’s not possible with so many different directions of stress on a shelter.

Aside from aesthetics, the issue with DCF stretch is that it makes the outer mylar layers much more prone to micro-cracks/pinholes. It might not happen immediately but the stretched DCF has been strained (much like metal fatigue), where subsequent torsion/rolling/creasing etc is more likely to create the common pinhole/microcrack problem.

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