Sidecar for Sidesleepers?

[Katherine .]

I have a TarpTent StratoSpire. I use it for trips with my two kids—one at a time.  They’d like to go together with me this summer.

I’m 67″ tall. I sleep on my side, always the right. I’m not a child but specs say for children up to 68″ tall.

Have any sidesleeping grown-ups tried this?

The next question would be to figure out some sort of pad configuration. I usually use a wide self-inflatable. Perhaps some weird combination of diagonal shorties?

 

 

[Erik G]

I’m pretty sure I’ve seen Franco post a pic of himself snuggled up in one…

I think it’d be pretty tight.

[Katherine .]

Oh, and I ruled it out in the past because I didn’t think either of my kids would be happy in it for various reasons. Never thought about myself.

The alternative would be for my son to take the hammock—which he does love. But that would be significantly more weight in our collective load. He carries some of his own stuff, but I still carry the lions share. So the sidecar would be more $spent, but less additional weight.

[BlackHatGuy]

The Tarptent site has a pic of a 68″ person laying down on her back in the Sidecar. That might help.

[Katherine .]

Yeah, and she looks really awkward an uncomfortable. What I want to see is a 48 yearold sidesleeper looking snug and cozy.

[Franco Darioli]

This is the 68″ tall Bella 

a 20″ wide short mat :

[Katherine .]

but @franco is it true that there’s one of you?

what would also be helpful: the little diagram with the dimensions. Can’t find that on the TT site. (and when I search BPL the results tease with you offering this to someone, but when I pull up the thread its just all crazy dictator memes)

[Franco Darioli]

Some unkind people think that this is me :

i’m taller than that.

(I’ll get a floorplan…)

This is probably the photo some are thinking of :

That mat is the 168cm type. The outside corners would push against the Sidecar but should fit.

 

 

 

[BlackHatGuy]

From that pic on the Tarptent site, I’d say that it would be doable, but not necessarily all that comfortable. From the looks of it, you’d need to stay in somewhat of a minor banana shape on your side, with very little room to bring your knees up at all, and most likely, if on a 2.5″ pad, either your head or foot region of your bag/quilt pushing against the netting. Unless, perhaps (and if it’s possible), you left a doorway open between the Sidecar and the main shelter inner.

For something like the Sidecar, it would be nice if the Sidecar zipped onto the main inner to create a larger inner, instead of being simply a separate thing, IMO.

[Katherine .]

@idester it’s a long shot. If franco gets me the dimensions I could make a footprint to figure out if the angles I sleep in align close enough.

If that step works, then I’d want to mess around with pads. 3/4, narrow aligned with other inner wouldn’t work for me. I’d need to do some short pads along the diagonal edges. Maybe some combo of klymts? Maybe buy some leaking 2nd-hand neoairs and butcher/reseal them into triangular shapes?

Whether or not I can keep the skeeters off my face and the condensation off my quilt is another issue. But if I get that far, that would be great.

[Henry Shires / Tarptent]

Just added this to the SideCar product page –>

[Katherine .]

Much thanks Henry!

[Franco Darioli]

My mock up (I’m 172cm /68″)  :

for those not familiar with the shelter, the  SS2 (silnylon) is sold as a two person tent, however it can take 3 x 20″ mats PLUS the Sidecar (the same vestibule space is available on the other side) 

[Katherine .]

Thanks Franco. I have a fence, I could try the same in warmer weather to get a better 3D sense of things. That looks like more of a maybe—upgrading from a longshot.

And the 29″ at the widest point is wider than my normal 25″ allotment of pad space.

[Katherine .]

Length-wise a short neoair might wedge in there almost along the hypotenuse, depending on how much the taper fits into an end corner. And I’d need to put at least one of the three packs somewhere, may as well be under my knee/lower legs.

[Franco Darioli]

A 47″x 20″ mat will look like this :

 

[Katherine .]

This may be the occasion my old, never-used TorsoLite pad is waiting for. That + GG 1/4 ThinLite hammock pad cut diagonally will fill the dimensions.

[David R.]

Can’t some pads be cut and resealed? You could use a regular length pad and trim it to the perfect size and reseal it. Heck, you could probably sell them!

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