Optimal Net Tent for Flat Solo Tarps 70″ – 84″ Wide
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All of the net tents on the market are at least 38″ high and that means you’ve got to have a tarp no less than 7′ wide. Even that is stretching it. So I decided to make a net tent that’s 33″ high and 34″ wide. Weighs 7.8 oz. Made with .67 noseeum, 20D silpoly floor and .93 membrane silpoly end triangles. Has a one inch cat cut on ridgeline and 4″ high bathtub floor.
Top 4″ of solid end triangles are .9 noseeum to allow a look outside if so desired yet still have the lower 7/8 rainproof.
Features a 2 zipper entry that meets in lower left corner and the left corner doesn’t have a 90 degree cut on the floor like the other 3 (45 degree instead) so as to accommodate the lower horizontal zipper which sets 1 inch below top of floor to allow easy entry/exit. Also left corner is staked directly to ground instead of shock corded 4″ high like other 3 corners. Zipper just works better that way but looks a bit unorthodox.
Front unzipped. Lots of room to get in and out.
Here net is deployed with a 78″ wide flat tarp (front)
And rear end of tarp/net tent. The solid end triangles go a long way to block blowing rain.
I’ve used the .50 on some of my other net tents and bug bivys but I find the lighter stuff very hard to deal with because the edges tend to roll and curl so easily. The good thing about the .50 noseeum however is the fact that it comes 62″ wide as opposed to 54″ wide for the .67, so on a bug bivy for example a 7′ long piece of the .50 allows for a larger, roomier bivy. .Also the .50 packs down a lot smaller than .67, Here’s a bug bivy I posted a couple of weeks ago using the .50 noseeum. I’m nerded out on net tents, bug bivys and pyramid net inserts and BPL readers are kind of numb all of the creations I’ve posted on here by now…lol.
Thanks Todd, you understand what level of geek I’m on when it comes to ultralight bug shelters.
I went back and modified the net tent by adding corner struts and flat elastic to the floor. It’s infinitely better now but I avoided doing that at first because it adds about 10 g weight. I sewed 4″ bamboo sticks vertically to each corner and sewed on 3/8″ flat elastic with a mitten hook tied in the middle. I simply copied an MLD innernet. Then I attached double 3/16 shockcord to the mitten hooks and easily wrapped them around corner tarp stakes. Works better than I thought it would in providing a super taut pitch on the sides of the net with no sagging. Has more of a professional look. Turns out the novel idea I had with the left corner tieout in my initial post just wasn’t quite right. The 10 g weight penalty of the corner struts is well worth it.
And here is net tent after the corner strut mods (without tarp). The netting windows at top of end triangles were a bit of a pain to add but well worth it because I want to be able to look outside if need be. Also the net windows increase air flow.
With the net tent pitched under a 6′ X 9′ camo tarp I have the ultimate double-wall stealth camping shelter, one that’s pretty good in rain. The low profile and excellent woodland camo color make it perfect for someone who’d rather not be seen or simply wants to blend in to the background with earth tone colors that aren’t loud. Any wider tarp and your shelter becomes too tall and visible. A bigger tarp also requires a larger footprint, which in turn limits the places you can camp. Any narrower than 6′ and the shelter becomes too confining, so 6′ wide is the sweet spot for stealth IMO. Too small for probably most backpackers nowadays but its smaller size is less of a wind catcher as well. And I still have the versatility of a flat tarp like for example when a rain pops hiking while along the trail and I want to quickly set up a fly to stay dry and make tea until the rain passes.
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