1p tent design - any suggestions?

gamemaster84

Ultralighter
Hi All,

I'm thinking about a new tent design. I want a 1p shelter with good wind resistance and prefably without zippers.
The sketchup below is a concept of 2 options. So left side is 1 option are right side the second.

1 left side is just a beak. Simple but I can't close it up. Not really big deal only when the wind turns ;) but I could make a "door" by creating a triangle that fits just behind the beak that could be clipped in.
2 right side can be closed. And I was thinking of making it zipperless like here
https://seekoutside.com/silex/
Do you have any suggestions on how to calculate the right angle for this? An do you have any experience with this design?

I should be able to curt all the panels out of the width off the fabric. I was thinking silpoly from adxpert.

Any suggestions are welcome
Images are here:
https://imgur.com/a/hODwfeK
 

gamemaster84

Ultralighter
NUg3Pvo.jpg

294Hlst.jpg

AcFtMjv.jpg
 

Rog Tallbloke

Thru Hiker
I get your pole height to be around 127cm with 3" of ground clearance. It's commendably low, and good for wind resistance, but is it high enough for the amount of 'living space' you'll want for the area of cloth you're using?
 

gamemaster84

Ultralighter
Yes that is gamble... My trailstar copy pitches around 130cm. 135 if I pitch it high. That height is fine. But the sq meters if a trailstar is bigger of course.
Maybe a tyvek prototype is required
 

Rog Tallbloke

Thru Hiker
It's a function of how tall you are, how much time you like to spend sitting up under cover, and how exposed your favourite pitches are. The missus says I'm the height of nonsense, and I love camping on mountaintops. But once I'm in my tent, I tend to be laid down or propped up on an elbow enjoying the view out of the door. The lower you can go, the lighter and more wind resistant your tent can be for the strength it needs for mountaintop camping.
 

gamemaster84

Ultralighter
I'm 196cm so pretty tall. I've used a bivvy before and have mixed experience. I'm a bad sleeper. Even at home. So I'm still thinking on how I can be comfortable while wild camping. A bivvy is a bit confining and with sloping ground it's a struggle to lay still so maybe on this design I do a attached floor that connects with netting to the sides of the tent. But I'm not sure about that.

I've camped in Scotland at about 1000m but I had a storm once in 450m with winds up to 100kmh and all 3 tents failed in some way. With my trailstar a lineloc broke in half a mates tentpole snapped and another tentpole was bend.

Normally I stay outside until sun down and I get into my tent for some sleep. And get dressed outside if possible.
 

Rog Tallbloke

Thru Hiker
I'm about the same, and the lightest shelter I've found strong enough for mountaintop use is the Golite Hut1. It's good for length but a little tight for space in low pitched mode. It tends to get a lot of condensation when it's nailed to the floor too. I'm not a bivy bag fan either, but I've just bought two old army goretex bivy bags to make a goretex tent from. It won't be light, but it will be strong. And stealthy.
 
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gamemaster84

Ultralighter
Haha I just googled you're shelter and one of the first results you're post on backpackinglight.com :)

I've been thinking on such a design, the doubt I have is getting in and out. A side entry tent is easier I think to get in to, but in never used an a frame type of tarp.
 

Rog Tallbloke

Thru Hiker
The hut1 always makes people smile when they see me emerge from it. But getting in is easy if you use trekking poles to make an A frame at the front. I just sit down on my gardeners kneeling mat in the entrance, swivel round 90 degrees, and shoot my legs straight under my quilt and shuffle onto the mattress. I do like the look of the tent you've designed, but they never seem to have enough height above head and foot for tall folk like us when laid down. Which is where I am mostly once pitched for the night.
 

gamemaster84

Ultralighter
Interesting, when you said there wasn't a lot of room at the head and feet, I was thinking that by adding a panel and create a triangle you could raise the height of both. That looks nice and adds some room.
 

Enzo

Thru Hiker
Not heard of s hexamid long before?!?

Don't want to hijack @gamemaster84 '' thread, but I'm trying to find a niche to fill where I don't really have one.

Storm worthy upland -tramplite

Ultralight lowland -tramplite

4p knot medium

2p UL - duplex copy

2p knot medium 2p inner.

Only gaps I can see is even more UL lowland, - 4m will make a beaked hexamid, and they look not a lot of work, but I think a lighter, more spacious 1p shelter that would be more reassuring if the weather turned.

Sounds like gamemaster is after a similar type of shelter.
 

Rog Tallbloke

Thru Hiker
Interesting, when you said there wasn't a lot of room at the head and feet, I was thinking that by adding a panel and create a triangle you could raise the height of both. That looks nice and adds some room.

It does, although the triangles on the minimalist mid are only about 10" tall so it's all a bit breezy under the hem by the time you have it at a good height. The proportions of the hexamid long are about ideal for 1p, with 'triangular ends' about 20" high and 36" wide. That makes the hypotenuse 27" long which is exactly half the DCF roll width. That said you can see from the pic that Joe went with seaming down the centreline, and angling the cut from the poletop to the mid-length tieout to get a longer edge across the roll width. I haven't worked out if that would be efficient for a one-off design. Looking at the few pics available, he may have had more than one go at optimising materials use. It wasn't around long before he discontinued it.

Spec is here
https://web.archive.org/web/20130309141241/http://www.zpacks.com/shelter/hexamid_long.shtml

More pics of the hexamid long here
https://www.randonner-leger.org/forum/viewtopic.php?id=21301

1386863101_94516.jpg


3433_hex_long_front_l.jpg
 
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Enzo

Thru Hiker
Zpacks are it seems masters of making shelters with hardly any seams and very economical with fabric.
That design is definitely of interest, but wanting UL and fast pitching, for me makes the need for struts, and more than 6 stakes a turn off.
You could reduce top and tail down to points like TT and use one stake even without struts, but then you are long and narrow. You could even use two poles for lots of headroom, perhaps call it a notch?
 
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Rog Tallbloke

Thru Hiker
@Enzo Endless fun morphing the topology in your head as you consider the alternatives. Hexamid style designs are nice for sitting up and chatting with neighbours all camped in a circle on a tree sheltered PCT campsite.

There's a reason traditional pup tent designs like the Hut1 and predecessors like the Ultimate Tramp are the shape they are though. Tail pole to the wind with A frame to support the higher end is hard to beat for stability on windy UK upland.

@WilliamC On the internets. :D
Someone put up a pic at the same site with Joe in shot on the new shelters discussion last week too.
 

gamemaster84

Ultralighter
Hijack away
Not heard of s hexamid long before?!?

Don't want to hijack @gamemaster84 '' thread, but I'm trying to find a niche to fill where I don't really have one.

Storm worthy upland -tramplite

Ultralight lowland -tramplite

4p knot medium

2p UL - duplex copy

2p knot medium 2p inner.

Only gaps I can see is even more UL lowland, - 4m will make a beaked hexamid, and they look not a lot of work, but I think a lighter, more spacious 1p shelter that would be more reassuring if the weather turned.

Sounds like gamemaster is after a similar type of shelter.
I think I'm after the same design.
I like the looks of tramplite but in sil I think the living space is a bit small. Ivo made one in silnylon and you can see the sharp triangle from the back. I can't imagine a lot space to sit and cook if necessary.
10-DSC05852.JPG


Enzo if you have any ideas or want to brainstorm together let me know

I want a bombproof shelter small pack space and enough room to sit and cook and enjoy the scenery. The last storm thought me that you're kit is as strong as you're weakest link. If 1 fails.....
 

Rog Tallbloke

Thru Hiker
One of the things I like about the Knot minimalist mid and Hut1 is that you can park it on the verge of a green lane between the two drystone walls without having to lay any tripwires across the right of way. Handy if the wind is getting serious. But these are regional considerations. Few lanes like that in Scotland or the lakes. It's mainly a Yorkshire and Derbyshire dales thing.
 

Enzo

Thru Hiker
That's very impressive @gamemaster84 ! I'd be chuffed to bits if I'd made that.

I know Colin tried out a shelter in silpoly recently, I guess he wanted to see if the design worked with a slightly lower stretch fabric.

I suspect any stretch isn't ideal with the tramplite, the cuben looks like it has cat cuts but I've heard that it doesn't, which obviously helps the interior room, throw in wind deflection....
I find it fine for what I do, Inc cooking in it. But I've traditionally camped at dusk and up walking b4 dawn so livability hasn't been top of my list.

That niche is filled so like you I'm looking for something that I'd be happy to lounge around in a little more.
I've got some 0.5oz cuben on its way so I'd like it to be aerodynamic as I suspect a 0.5 slippery shelter will tolerate the same weather as a 0.8 brick.
For me that also means the ability to pin it to the deck whilst still having head and foot room.
This would be a 3 season shelter so no worries about snow loading on shallow panels.

I'm average hight so no conserns like you and Rog, it's side entry for me.
 
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