Six Moon Designs Lunar Solo for JMT to Whitney?

@Bruce: will do. The Lunar Solo (at least the 2019) version is made with SilPoly and not SilNylon….I think the Nylon is stronger.

But will try a second pitch with slightly taller pole.

The 2019 Lunar Solo is SilPoly….not SilNylon. I hear that it’s not as strong or durable as SilNylon?

@Kevin: thanks for that tip. Will try that.

I will also add guy lines to all the tent stake out points. I hate threading the stake through the loop in the current stake-out…that is another part that I see easily failing.

Silpoly vs silnylon strength and durability are mostly non-issues for tents, according to Mike Cecot-Scherer who’s designed more than 250 commercial tents since 1976.

A lot of information here:

http://thetentlab.com/MoonLightTents/Tear.html

http://thetentlab.com/MoonLightTents/PolyNyl.html

The Lunar Solo currently uses a 40D silpoly floor and 20D silpoly canopy.

— Rex

“They used to make sails out of silnylon so it should not rip from any tension.

“The Lunar Solo (at least the 2019) version is made with SilPoly and not SilNylon….I think the Nylon is stronger.”

The first version of the Gossamer Gear “One” was made from nylon sailcloth. While I don’t know if the coating contained silicone, it made the fabric very stiff, with almost no stretch. Having little or no elasticity, the strength of the fabric was much diminished.

Both polyester and nylon tent fabrics stretch; that is, they are elastic, and will return to their original shape after a wind gust or the like. However, nylon also sags due to rain, temp and humidity changes, and does not return to its original shape until dried out and warmed up. Sag can be reduced by sil/PU coatings, but all nylon tent fabrics I’ve seen will sag to some extent. As a general rule, the less moisture that can penetrate the coating and soak into the nylon fibers, the less sag will occur.

Polyester fibers are less water absorbent, and with a good coating, the tent fabric will not sag due to moisture, temp and humidity changes, while maintaining elasticity, or stretch. NB: Like nylon, polyester fabrics vary in quality.

For a single wall, trekking pole supported tent like the Lunar Solo, the polyester should be preferable, as its A-frame shaped single walls will not sag onto the occupant. Like nylon, however, they will collect condensation, and the lack of sag makes makes the condensation much more bearable. It might be a different story with a double wall nylon tent with a more spacious dome-like shape, that keeps the sag and condensation out of sight and out of mind. But the double wall adds weight.

While better nylons, such as Dupont 6,6, are generally stronger for fabric weight than polyester, the polyesters may need to be woven with a slightly heavier denier, or thread, to improve puncture and abrasion resistance (tearing, except along seams, is quite unusual for a ripstop fabric above 15D, and have not seen that reported for poly fabrics on BPL. Have seen tearing of RBTR 15D non-ripstop “membrane” poly fabric along the grain when started by a pinhole.)

Since the Luna Solo is spec’d on their website at 20D for the canopy (40D for the floor), I would think that would be adequate to address tearing. As for punctures and abrasion resistance, I’ve no experience as my tents have been nylon, 15 D or more.

Lighter weight materials generally require more care, and am sure that is true of the Lunar Solo, and is the price of backpacking light. Hope this is helpful.

They used to make sails out of silnylon so it should not rip from any tension.
I think that is not quite correct, in several details.

If I understand the OP correctly, it was called ‘spinnaker fabric’, and the coating was not silicone. It was a polycarbonate polymer of some sort, and it made the fabric quite stiff, crinkly and noisy. Fine for a spinnaker which has to hold a defined shape in high wind, but not so quiet in a tent in a storm. I had one once.

Added to which, like Cuban Fiber fabrics, once you had rolled the tent up and jammed it into a stuff sack a few times, it developed crease lines which eventually leaked.

Cheers

I had a spinnaker tarp (probably still have it somewhere). No complaints about it. I replaced it with a Cuben mid, which I used for 6 years as my primary shelter. The Cuben mid weighed less than half the weight of the Spinnaker. I gave the mid to my son, when I bought a slightly larger Cuben mid, and it was still in good shape. Cuben shelters require a little extra care; that’s important.

Awesome information regarding SilPoly vs SilNylon. Thanks a lot for sharing.

I have reached out to SMD regarding the bug net sag…..waiting to hear back.

In the meantime, I will attempt another practice pitch today with the longer pole to see if that helps with the sag.

I will also add guy lines to the tent corners to further extend it out, but I don’t think that is the problem.

FYI: Reply from SMD

”
<p style=”font-weight: 400;”>The Lunar Solo that encourages airflow in a chimney-like effect, that is, where air is travels under the canopy up through the perimeter netting and out the top vent (your body heat will help create this flow). Staking the Lunar Solo in the order shown on the instructions is often the most effective way to pitch the tent. I will note that on a perfect pitch, the front two corners (1,2) will be slightly wider than the rear corners (5,6). Always loosen the guy lines to their longest length before staking in the ground. The most common mistake is that the shelters is pulled too far to the rear, not creating enough separation of the rear canopy from the ground and creating too much slack in the front vestibule. To correct this bring closer the rear three stakes (5,3,6) and move further the front, main stake (4). Be sure to reduce tension on the vent corners by unclipping the door or concurrently sliding the prussik loop. The supporting pole should be at a slight angle with the tip inserted into the pole pocket at the apex.</p>
<p style=”font-weight: 400;”>I hope this helps and doesn’t sound overly complicated and adds some information BPL group might have missed.”</p>

I’ve been using mids since the ‘80s (a Chouinard pyramid was my first).

With practice they become easy to pitch correctly, and every new one I have bought since that Chouinard was easy to get a great pitch the first try.

We have to keep in mind most mids only have a single pole, so the staking points need to have a LOT of tension to keep the shelter secure in poor weather. First, you need good stakes, which usually isn’t titanium wire stakes. I don’t like staking them to the ground with just the webbing, because the shelter is too close to the ground and often causes too much condensation. I like LineLoc 3s with 3mm cord. The 3mm heavier cord won’t slip. Note: it seems a lot of people use 2mm cord with LineLoc 3s, which I have found to slip. For me, I get the most tension with LineLocs than any other method. Lastly, on most mids the guys at the main tie-out points are usually at the seams of two panels. You want your guys to run in the same plane are the seam (e.g., it should line up with the seam). After I set up a mid with good tension at the main guys, then I stake out any midpoint guys, if I am going to use them. Again, the goal is to get a lot of tension on the shelter. With non-Cuben shelters, it usually requires a little re-tensioning after the shelter has been up for a while because most fabrics stretch a little.

Here’s an initial review I did on my SMD Deschutes CF I wrote a few years ago and I do a comparison to some of the other mids I have owned, including a SMD Wild Oasis. Also are thoughts on stakes and guylines.

I have no experience with inners or bathtubs, except a couple times I used my zPacks Poncho/Groundsheet with my Hexamid as an experiment (a Cuben poncho used as a groundsheet is a poor idea). I would only worry about a good taunt pitch and once completed — how the bathtub/inner sits is what you get. I wouldn’t worry about it or want to change the pitch to accommodate the inner, unless the positioning of the inner causes a significant problem. But again, I have zero experience with inners.

Hi Kevin,

Can you comment on the length of the guylines you used to get the pitch in your picture?

I just got extra lines and am planning on permanently adding it to the 5 guy points (plus the one that already comes with it’s guy line) on my Lunar Solo, but wasn’t sure about the length.

Maybe I should pitch and experiment as well.

Thanks.

Avi

I think I started with cord that I cut to 16 inches long and then put loops on both ends, so each one was probably around 12 inches from loop end to loop end.  My methodology was to use the extensions in most weather – giving me a lift of around 4-6″ on the entire shelter.  In really nasty weather (blowing rain) I skipped the extensions and staked it low to the ground, but I always tried to keep 1-2″ around the perimeter.

Thanks Kevin.

I will go with the same idea with either the Skurka guy line system or using my figure 9 carabiners (adds some extra weight, but should be ok for a 5 day trip).