Tarptent protrail Li questions

Can you post a photo of your pitch? I think people can be more helpful if we see the pitch.

Besides low weight, ease of basic setup attracted me to the Protrail Li.  I use the apex line for a little more stability if having to enter and exit the shelter a few times.

It’s a great shelter, but being single wall, it’s imperative a large enough, flat camp is found early.  More deviation = less usable room.    So getting to camp earlier or get good at spotting flat spots in fading light (I have a level app to help me in either as I’ve never been good at finding flat space).

With a tarp/bivy system I could finagle different shaped campsites as the sun went down if wanting to set up camp. Especially with extra elastic lines to hold up the bivy headspace , I can get a tarp “straight” and getting the bivy where it’s easy to fall asleep.   A separate tarp/fly does allow sort of “cowboy camping” though.  A similarly size tarp/bivy (inner) will weigh a bit more too.

Tangential but I liked pitching my Contrail with the apex guyline because I thought it was easier to pitch and tension. I’d do the foot end, then the the apex, then the two other front corners. I’m not good at following directions. I make my own rules…

Thanks guys. Yeah, I figure site selection will be key, and making sure I try to get the head and foot ends facing the wind. Would this be correct? I think I will just carry an extra stake, and use the apex tie out most of the time. I figure it will only help things. Now I’m just trying to figure out how to best use the perimeter hem tieouts. So far, I really like the tent. It is supereasy to set up, packs down small, very low weight, and provides plenty of sleeping space.

Does anyone use a footprint with the tent?

I don’t own this tent but I always use a slightly trimmed sheet of polycryo with any tent. I helps with abrading and also keeps mud and dirt off the floor. weighs about 2 ounces.

Same as Jeff. I additionally put grommets in each corner of mine (horrors! That’s not UL!). Polycryo is so light and wispy that it flies away easily. I know, use rocks. I do that sometimes as well. But what rocks don’t help with much is drying it in the morning. Lay it on the ground in the sun with the wet side up and very quickly it’s wet underneath where it was dry. Turn it over and the same thing happens again. So the grommets (which are pretty light) and small bit of gorilla tape (to provide enough backing to hold the grommets) allow me to tie it to a bush or branch so that it will dry without floating away.

<li style=”text-align: left;”>Looks like I will be getting some polycryo then. For something that light, why not bring it along. Thanks for the tip.