Ultralight Tent/shelter???

[gobbler1662]

Yes IView attachment 20387View attachment 20388've considered Cuben fiber and have made a demo tarp out of Cuben. Honestly not a fan. The material sews easily, but is noisy in winds and dosen't comapct worth a darn. Sil-nylon will compact at least twice as much as Cuben. And for the price difference vs weight difference for me I don't think its worth the bang for the bucks.

 

[William Hanson (live2hunt)]

Never used one but those jimmy tarp do seem pretty slick and that weight is unreal. There are quite a few other pretty decent options on ebay too.

 

[trk3263]

Loving my Jimmy Tarps and the new tabs to turn my rectangle jimmy into a vestibule extension will be great for bad weather.

 

[Where's Bruce?]

I'm a little nervous about floorless. I have the fear of getting caught in heavy rain storm and water flowing under a floorless shelter and geting everything soaked. I don't have any experience with floorless though. I do like the light weight of most floorless models. I was thinking of the Akto as is not too heavy.
Thanks for your input! Experience is the great equalizer.

Kinda like why I prefer hammocks. There were tents here before the rain came...mysteriously they were all missing in the morning.

 

[gobbler1662]

Those hammocks look pretty nice, but don't work to well out west where temps can easily dip into the teens at night during archery elk season. Couple guys bivyed a ways below us this year and used hammocks. Lasted one night and froze their azzess off. Ha HA

 

[Where's Bruce?]

Those hammocks look pretty nice, but don't work to well out west where temps can easily dip into the teens at night during archery elk season. Couple guys bivyed a ways below us this year and used hammocks. Lasted one night and froze their azzess off. Ha HA

Clearly you don't hang or understand the options and those guys you mention are clueless noobs. Trust me, a hammock in a ripping snowstorm can be quite comfy.







All you need is proper insulation, just as you would in a stoveless tent. If you don't have adequate top and bottom insulation then you suffer CBS (cold butt syndrome) which is why we use Z-liners and/or underquilts to create a cocoon of toastiness.

 

[gobbler1662]

Yeah I am sure they can be quite comfy with an underquilt and topquilt, But then again what is the weight of that setup that you have pictured. Definately gotta be the bomb in a warmer climate. I can remember years ago spending a summer sleeping in a hemp hammock on a farm. Never slept so comfotable. Thats why i am curious of the weight. Would be a good summer option for us even out west. Are you using the clark hammocks?

 

[Where's Bruce?]

Yeah I am sure they can be quite comfy with an underquilt and topquilt, But then again what is the weight of that setup that you have pictured. Definately gotta be the bomb in a warmer climate. I can remember years ago spending a summer sleeping in a hemp hammock on a farm. Never slept so comfotable. Thats why i am curious of the weight. Would be a good summer option for us even out west. Are you using the clark hammocks?

My Clark NX-250 with tarp, stakes, lines, lights and sleep system varies between 5.5lbs and 9.5lbs. The difference being mostly insulation. I took six motorcycle spills in my youth and sleeping in a tent (even in a thick, wide pad with a high R rating) takes its toll after a while. I feel much better in the morning when I sleep in the hammock. Bear in mind, you may not need as large a hammock as I do and the choices for insulation are many. I was in a big rectangular Wiggys bag with a center zipper in the snow. That was 3.5lbs alone. If I were in wet, subzero weather the system would weigh even more, perhaps as much as 12lbs and include a special custom-made synthetic UQ I designed.




This UQ can serve multi duty (sleeping bag, doobie, blind) using snaps, grommets and hide-away suspension straps:

 

[Liv2Hunt]

Pardon my ignorance. But where is all of your gear? Do you hang your pack in a tree? What hammock and tarp combo are you using?

 

[Liv2Hunt]

Kinda like why I prefer hammocks. There were tents here before the rain came...mysteriously they were all missing in the morning.

Pardon my ignorance but where is the rest of your gear? Do you hang it in a nearby tree? What hammock and tarp combo are you using?

 

[MattB]

Those hammocks look pretty nice, but don't work to well out west where temps can easily dip into the teens at night during archery elk season. Couple guys bivyed a ways below us this year and used hammocks. Lasted one night and froze their azzess off. Ha HA

Nor do they belong on an ultralight shelter thread when the system weight starts at 5.5# and goes up from there.

When using a floorless shelter, a person just needs to take a bit of time to assess shelter sites to avoid areas where water is likely to run or pool.

 

[gobbler1662]

Well said MAtt B. I 've been using floorless shelters for years and love them. Just a little site prep and your good to go. My tarp- bivy weight together is 13 ounces. My shelter and bivy weight is 15 ounces. Lots more room and can't hardly beat the weight combo. Would even be lighter if i wasn't a puss and afraid of a few bugs. Ha ha. Can't seem to get the guts to ditch the Bivy and just go ground tarp and floorless. HA ha

 

[Lawnboi]

Staying in an ultra light tarp setup for extended trips definitely takes some balls. I usually end up taking my bivy, that way if the wet is unavoidable, and some places it's tough to find a good spot, or it's pitch black and you say screw it and setup, I'll at least be able to sleep.

I plan on being wet if I'm going really light. If I didn't enjoy being a little miserable, I wouldn't backpack.

Either way ultralight backpacking requires a certain style of thinking. I love my paratarp, but there's times when it can be downright miserable staying under it.

But for 1lb with stakes and a pack size of a pair of socks it makes the pack nice and light.

That said my para tarp, with or without a bugaboo ii bivy remains my ul setup. Iv spent quite a few nights in it, pretty light, very versatile, can be bombproof when setup right, and roomy when in milder weather. Awesome shelter I can say I won't be getting rid of for a long time, well if kifaru comes out with a new ul smaller tarp I can't say I wouldn't want to try.

 

[gobbler1662]

You know, I've never got wet or been miserable in my tarp bivy setup. Had one time this spring in Hells canyon that I was using a 6x9 tarp and had some high winds and wind blown rain starting around midnight. Thought about changing my setup but just said oh well and let the bivy do its job. Ended up just getting some light spray never got wet at all. We just use the Ti-goat or Borah bivy's but they work well in conjuction with a tarp. Nice thing is on a lot of our setups if the weather is nice we just lay the bivy's out, kinda nice to see the stars at night. Been using this setup for years.

 

[mfolch]

For a 9-day back-country hunt I used a bearpaw wilderness designs Luna 4 with titanium stove. All told it weighs around 5 lbs. including stove. I wouldn't go any smaller for an extended trip--in fact, I ended up wishing I had had more space. Next year I might bring an extra tarp just to have more covered room outside the tent. Hiking, I prefer a tarp and bivy combo, which weight about a pound, but I wouldn't use that for an extended hunt.

 

[gobbler1662]

Everyone has their favorite setup, for me the tarp-bivy is pretty bomb proof. I spent nearly 50 nights this years in 3 different wilderness areas in eastern Oregon in this setup. I feel totally comfortable with a bivy and tarp. If the weather looks bad I just change to a one pole setup, if the weather is nice I switch to a two pole awning setup so I can look around and see out. But then again I've used this setup in all kinds of conditions and am totally comfortable with it. In fact when the weather gets nasty I'd actually rather be under a trap then in a tent. I can cook, make coffee look around and have plenty of room for my bivy and all my gear. In a tent you cant see but the sides and top of your tent and usually the vestibules are so small you can barely fit your pack let alone make a cup of coffee. Now the Luna and other Tipi style floorless shelters do offer quite a bit more room but at always a weight consideration. As I'm getting older weight is really starting to be more of a consideration at least for me.

 

[Where's Bruce?]

Pardon my ignorance. But where is all of your gear? Do you hang your pack in a tree? What hammock and tarp combo are you using?

See photos in post #46...gear is in pack hung from tree and in 6 pockets on the hammock. Generally when I pitch my hammock I am well off any trail and far from people. I have pitched well after dark on steep hillsides. That's one of the benefits of hammocks, you don't need a flat, dry, tree root/rock free area to make camp. You can sleep in places other can't. And while 5.5lbs for a shelter and sleep system may sound heavy to some...it's pretty much the norm for most. With my back injuries I don't have much choice...unless I wanna wake up looking like like the Tin Man before Dorothy oiled him.

 

[luke moffat]

Bummer to hear about your back injuries Bruce! So what is you plan if you plan to hunt in the Alpine or Alaska tundra where hammocks aren't an option?

 

[Liv2Hunt]

See photos in post #46...gear is in pack hung from tree and in 6 pockets on the hammock. Generally when I pitch my hammock I am well off any trail and far from people. I have pitched well after dark on steep hillsides. That's one of the benefits of hammocks, you don't need a flat, dry, tree root/rock free area to make camp. You can sleep in places other can't. And while 5.5lbs for a shelter and sleep system may sound heavy to some...it's pretty much the norm for most. With my back injuries I don't have much choice...unless I wanna wake up looking like like the Tin Man before Dorothy oiled him.

Ok I see now. Thanks.

 

[p&y]

I can recommend the tarptent also. I have the moment and it is an awesome light weight one man tent. I'm probably going to sell it though to go with a 2 man tent. I have to travel a long way to elk hunt and it's always with someone.