Single or Double?

As I mentioned I've been trying my Phreeranger as a single skinned tarp tent, in fact I slept in it again last night and to be honest I'm wondering if I really need a double skinned tent. There was some condensation on the inside of the fly this morning but again no drips. I was using a bivvy bag anyway so a few drips or moisture knocked off due to heavy rain/wind wouldn't have been a problem. There are advantages to using a double skin tent though, the oft quoted one is that they reduce condensation but I'm not convinced that this is the case as I've often found the inside of the fly to be wet when using a tent, what the double skin provides though is a barrier between yourself and the fly but with the Phreeranger and most Tarp Tents there's so much space that there's little chance of touching the fly anway. The other 2 advantages of an inner are heat/draft reduction and bug proofing, the fist may not be too important if you're using a bivvy bag as it protects from drafts and should upgrade the performance of the sleeping bag, I would however prefer to have some protection from insects and I don't believe a bivvy bag even if it has a bug net offers quite the same protection/ease of use.

I've been looking at some of Henry Shires 'Tarptents' and they solve the bug issue by having sewn in netting and groundsheet. The only issue remaining is loss of heat but I wonder if the bivvy bag overcomes this. My bivvy bag is an old heavy Goretex one weighing in at 596g which is heavier than my inner tent but I don't think I need the level of protection that my bag provides so something smaller and lighter would be fine assuming it was breathable enough, perhaps even something like the PHD Drishell cover which only weighs 163g. If using a bivvy bag allowed me to use a sleeping bag with a lower rating then some of the weight of the bivvy bag is offset against the weight saved by using a lighter sleeping bag.

I like the idea of the 'Tarptent' Rainbow/Double Rainbow, the Rainbow including poles/groundsheet/bug net and 6 pegs weighs 965g, add the PHD sleeping bag cover for a total weight of 1128g, the larger Double Rainbow weighs 1135g, or 1298g including the bag cover but offers a massive amount of space, 2250mm L x 1220mm w x 1100mm H with 600mm wide (at the apex) porches on both sides.

I can't see any other disadvantages but if anyone can think of something that I've overlooked please add your comments.

http://www.tarptent.com/photogallery.html

http://www.tarptent.com/rainbow.html

http://www.tarptent.com/rainbowRev.html

http://www.tarptent.com/doublerainbow.html

Tarp Tent Update

Just a brief update on the Phreeranger tarp tent. Everything was fine, I didn’t notice any drafts although it was pretty calm with clear skies initially. It did rain quite heavily after sunrise but while the inside of the fly was wet from condensation there were no signs of any drips as the footprint and bivybag were dry. The silnylon footprint worked perfectly well as a groundsheet which has convinced me that it’s more than suitable as a fabric to replace the damaged groundsheet on my inner tent, especially as I use an additional footprint/protector anyway (I always have done) That would give me a double layer of silnylon or I could make the footprint/protector from double glazing film which is about half the weight of silnylon, the combined weight of the groundsheet protector and the new inner tent groundsheet would be less than the standard groundsheet.

One other idea that I had a while back was to make a mesh inner tent/bug nest using a Trekmates Adventurer Mosquito net, they had some in TK Max recently together with the Trekmates Bivvy Bag so I might take a trip into town and see if they’ve any left.

I’ve also e-mailed Henry Shires with some questions about the Contrail and Rainbow series so there are plenty of options open which should keep me busy while my knee heals.

Tarp Tent

I'm still thinking about a tarp tent as a lightweight alternative to a normal double skin tent but I'm unsure whether it would suit me. I like the look of the Tarptent Contrail and the Tarptent Rainbow or Double Rainbow. The Contrail I would use as designed but the fact that the Rainbow/Double Rainbow layout is very similar to my favourite tent, the Phoenix Phreeranger had me wondering if I could fit my Phreeranger inner tent under the Rainbow/Double Rainbow fly, perhaps even removing the inner netting on the standard tents. Another possibility would be to make a lighter and slightly narrower inner based on the Phreeranger one. I think I could get the weight under 1400g for the Double Rainbow and under 1200g for the Rainbow. That would be a useful weight saving of between 300 and 500g over the Phreeranger as it is.

I've already made a silnylon footprint for the Phreeranger which attaches to the fly so it seemed like a good idea to try it out as a single skin tarp tent to see how it feels. I'm intending to use it tonight with a CCF mat and my ME Xero 250. The tent has been up all day and there's been a few really heavy showers which haven't caused any drips but I'm going to use a goretex bivybag. The bivy is pretty heavy at 596g, heavier in fact than the Phreeranger inner and wouldn't be offer any advantage in a normal backpacking situation but it will allow me to try the concept. As it is it weighs approx 1250g, the inner tent weighing 525g.

I'll report back tomorrow on how it or more accurately how I fare.