Adding guy-out points

[Silver]

Hey everyone - hoping I can get a bit of help from those of you who have built/modified tipi-style tents in the past. I picked up a Black Diamond MegaLight shelter to run as a floorless option in the mountains, and when it arrived at my door I realized it doesn’t have guy-out points. My wife and I can sew them on fairly easily, but I’m wondering what the optimal placement for them would be? Also, would I want to go with 2 points per side, or just a single guy point in the middle of each side?

Pics of the shelter are included - basically a simple 4-sided pyramid tipi with a single door.

Many thanks

 

[AK Troutbum]

One every middle-2/3 up the panel, and about 2/3 up on all 4 corners (if it doesn’t already have those), should be sufficient, and probably one on each door, so in windy conditions you can guy one side of the door down as well.


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[530Chukar]

8 guy out points, one one each corner and one in the center of each panel. I would put them 18-24” up from the ground. Mark your points with the shelter up. The guyouts on the center of the panels will be a different distance from the bottom hem than the corner guy outs are.


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[VernAK]

Check out "Robens Green Cone Tent" for ideas.

 

[AK Troutbum]

Hey everyone - hoping I can get a bit of help from those of you who have built/modified tipi-style tents in the past. I picked up a Black Diamond MegaLight shelter to run as a floorless option in the mountains, and when it arrived at my door I realized it doesn’t have guy-out points. My wife and I can sew them on fairly easily, but I’m wondering what the optimal placement for them would be? Also, would I want to go with 2 points per side, or just a single guy point in the middle of each side?

Pics of the shelter are included - basically a simple 4-sided pyramid tipi with a single door.

Many thanks

Wow, I didn't realize that they didn't have ANY guy out points. That's a pretty major design flaw IMO. Obviously placing guy outs on the seams and middle panels would increase the cost a little, and with the added guy lines, it would also increase the overall wt. of the shelter, but the way it is (as shown in the photo), would only work under the best of conditions. Hell, even a good frost, during the night, would have that thing sagging big time come morning.

 

[AK Troutbum]

Here are a couple good examples of guy out placement.

 

[Silver]

Wow, I didn't realize that they didn't have ANY guy out points. That's a pretty major design flaw IMO. Obviously placing guy outs on the seams and middle panels would increase the cost a little, and with the added guy lines, it would also increase the overall wt. of the shelter, but the way it is (as shown in the photo), would only work under the best of conditions. Hell, even a good frost, during the night, would have that thing sagging big time come morning.

Yeah I was a bit surprised by that when I initially setit up - the photos online make it look like they are there, but it is just the tie-back strap for the doors. We got it out for a ski mountaineering trip this weekend (winds gusting up to 60km/hr) and it held up fairly well without guying things out, but we had it buried quite deep in a snow pit. We couldn’t’ get a super tight pitch out of it due to space constraints (i.e. digging that big a snow pit after a day of climbing is a PITA) and we definitely had condensation by morning with three guys in it, but overall it held up better than I would have expected. I still want to add the guy out points and probably add about 10” of bug mesh to the lower edge to allow a higher pitch for ventilation in the summer, but at 2# and $300cdn I’m OK making the changes to get what I want.

 

[AK Troutbum]

Here’s a video of one, in some windy conditions, from one of our Rokslide members. This video definitely shows the need for guying them out.

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[ChrisF]

I've owned one of those for maybe 12 years - they used to be the easiest pyramid tent to get in Canada. After the first season of using it in the windy prairies I added tie out points on every seam, about a third of the way up. I'd recommend a loop of elastic shock cord between the tie out and whatever line you use to tie it down with. Since you're sewing anyways, a 6" strip of fabric around the perimeter on the bottom goes a long way to keeping the drafts off you as well. It's been a great shelter and that "circus tent" feel just can't be beat.