SUL Freestanding 1 person tent to use with a DCF tarp

It seems to me that if your DCF tarp is large enough to provide full coverage, then perhaps all you might be looking for is a freestanding inner.

If you are using a tarp and want to pair it with sul bug protection that does not sacrifice air flow, a tried and true method is the bug bivy and groundsheet.

I have a couple of bivies.

What I am looking for is a sul freestanding tent.

For hot rainy weather, to allow more room to lounge around in the rain, but also to have a fully enclosed tent that I can sit up in and actually move around in rather than a bivy.  I have 2 bivies that are fine for their use, and I have several tents, but none of the tents are light enough. The big sky DCF soul is close, but I am looking for a side entry, and preferably 2 side entries.

I would also be using the tent alone.

I just cant find any freestanding SUL DCF 1 person tents with dual side entries. One entry would be fine if I could open up the fly on both sides. Also want a double wall tent.

Maybe if you explain what kind of a setup you want and how you’ll use it, because it sounds like you want a shelter that has a fly and also use a tarp, but the fly and the tarp do pretty much the same thing.

EDIT: Oops sorry, my browser had not refreshed to see your explanation.

Yeah, freestanding SUL DCF 1p tent with dual side doors is a tall order. There are a few that have just one side door.

Because doors add weight, I’ll be surprised if you can find any 1P tents with more than one door.  You may have to wait until the middle of 2022, but the Durston X-Mid Pro 2 may be your answer.  It’s probably a little bigger than you need for one person, but at 1.5 lbs it will give you dual doors and room to sit up.  Alas, it’s a single wall design so it may not meet your needs, but something to consider.

As above, in hot rainy weather to allow an outdoor area to set up a helinox chair to lounge around. Something like that. The tarp over a tent is just something I have always wanted to try out.

Maybe the Zpacks Free Duo, or Tarptent double rainbow LI with end poles, or Nemo Hornet 2. Looks like I will need a 2 person tent for the double zippered fly so I can open it up.

Slightly heavier at about 2lb 2oz and currently out of stock, but the BSI Mirage 1P has 2 side doors.

Gotcha – I have an old 5×8 MLD Monk tarp (I’m pretty sure those were the dimensions then) that I used to create a “porch” for my Gatewood Cape once so I could sit in the rain and cook dinner.  I couldn’t find a photo, but it worked pretty well and allowed me to keep the door of the Cape open while I slept.

Might something like that be an option for you with one of your existing 1P tents?

Yes, I have looked at the Big Sky Mirage tent before. And I think that might be the one, although not a double wall. However, using it under a tarp, I can leave both doors open so condensation shouldn’t be a problem.

The supersil version is 34-35oz so not too bad and the cost is reasonable.

On the site they list a 1.5 person, so I might wait on the inventory and see what that looks like.

SUL Freestanding tent? Not to be a stickler, but SUL is technically a total base pack weight of less than 5 lbs. The only semi freestanding tent I know of that fits into the SUL genre is the front entry Big Agnes Fly Creek Carbon at 17 oz and the price is exorbitant. I know some people will argue “oh, the 5 lb maximum for SUL is just some arbitrary number that a group of elitist ultralight backpackers came up with, and SUL can mean anything I want it” lol, yea whatever. It’s a number that has been collectively acknowledged by the majority of the ultralight community for quite some time now even though SUL has mostly fallen out of favor here on BPL.

Why not just use a freestanding (or semi freestanding) innernet portion of an ultralight tent (without the fly) such as the Nemo Hornet Elite for example and pair it up with the tarp? It’s full net single entry and the opposite side without the entry flows air just as much as if it had a zippered door. And why 2 flies instead of 1 with all the added weight and decreased ventilation? Certainly NOT SUL.