rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Jul 15, 2020 13:53:24 GMT -8
Say hello to Henry and co from me. Alas, thanks to COVID they said they were mailing it to me, no extra charge. I was kind of looking for an excuse to get over that way for a hike, but so it goes.
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Jul 20, 2020 19:58:50 GMT -8
Got the tent today, just in time for tomorrow’s departure for the Sierra. Test pitch on the lawn went well on the second try . Love the lightness, seems spacious (for me, anyway). I think I’ll be happy. It *just* works with my folding poles, using an extension for the front pole and the back one at the shortest setting with the strap let out as long as possible.
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franco
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Post by franco on Jul 20, 2020 23:19:11 GMT -8
great! just for some fine tuning, the two stakes at the back work better in that shelter if they are a bit closer (not much...) to each other. On most shelters like that ,they would work better if further apart but not with this one. Take a loot at where they are in this diagram : that will give you better tension on the bottom of those long panels.
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zeke
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Post by zeke on Jul 21, 2020 3:53:02 GMT -8
Just from a visual, that's what it looked like from my point of view. Closer in together, but further back from the tent.
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franco
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Post by franco on Jul 21, 2020 15:38:48 GMT -8
I just had a look at the photos on the TT page, some, like those with the longer pole at the back, look close to the Rebecca set up . Kind of demonstrates that DCF is less forgiving than silnylon. I noticed that setting up the SS Li compared to my sil version.
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Post by paula53 on Jul 22, 2020 9:26:18 GMT -8
Rebaccad, please let us know your thoughts on the tent , when you get back from your trip. How does it hold up in rain? how bad was the condensation?
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Aug 3, 2020 9:53:06 GMT -8
franco, thanks for the diagrams. I wish that those were included with the tent, or even on the TT web page. I watched the video several times but honestly do better with a diagram. I’m gradually getting the hang of placement. paula53, I can’t report on rain, because we couldn’t even raise a cloud during the backpack. I didn’t use the new tent for car-camping, on the grounds that a) I want it to last as many trips as possible so avoided unnecessary use, and b) it’s pretty transparent, so using it in a campground was less appealing 😂 Anyway, we didn’t get any rain in camp anywhere. Nor was there enough wind to test it. I think it would be hard to set up in a strong wind, though maybe less so as I get better at it. I had no issues with condensation; there was a little, but very little, in one camp that was in exactly the sort of place where you’d expect it. Other than that, we camped (as TT recommends and indeed as LNT requires) in the trees and well away from water, on higher ground. My only issues were minor. In one place, I had to search a bit to find enough dirt to drive in my spikes. It was pretty breezy, so I didn’t feel like trying to manage pitching it with rocks instead of spikes. I will probably also add either a couple of stakes or a couple of good loops of line for the extra tie-outs on the sides. I felt like I wanted those when the wind blew, if only to reduce flapping. The long sides are a little vulnerable. Pitch is kind of fussy, but I can see that practice will make for improvement. The second problem is that when using the trekking poles to hold up the tent, they cease to be available for dayhikes from a base camp. For that kind of trip, I would probably carry the weight of the free-standing tent, or I may buy the poles. My trekking poles (the folding kind) aren’t a great match for the tent, either. I used an extension to get the front pole long enough, and the back one at its shortest is *just* short enough. My only other issue, as noted, was the transparency of the fabric. I’m not freaked out about privacy, but I had to sleep with my Buff over my eyes to block out the very bright moonlight. On one morning when I tried to sleep in a little, the sun hit with both excessive brightness and immediate greenhouse heating. Final note: I bought the little adapters to allow me to use my poles handles up instead of points up. I think that they are a PITA and I may shift to just putting the handles in plastic bags and turning them over, though having the points of the poles jammed into the ground a bit seemed to add to the stability. Plus, I don’t think my pole extender would work the other way up (I didn’t buy the ones TT sells; I just grabbed the pole splint from one of the other tents as that was just the right size).
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franco
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Post by franco on Aug 3, 2020 17:29:35 GMT -8
The diagrams I posted are from the ProTrail li product page. The last small photo below the main one. Every shelter has them. Another link that many miss is the Usable Volume. That has a 3D diagram with a 6' person (or two) inside the shelter to give a better idea of the usable space.
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Aug 4, 2020 7:19:16 GMT -8
The diagrams I posted are from the ProTrail li product page. The last small photo below the main one. Every shelter has them. Another link that many miss is the Usable Volume. That has a 3D diagram with a 6' person (or two) inside the shelter to give a better idea of the usable space. I realized that too late—it’s dimensions, not a pitching diagram. But since it shows the right angles to use, it’s helpful for the pitch. I never thought of looking at that while learning to pitch it.
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biffnix
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Post by biffnix on Sept 9, 2020 8:53:11 GMT -8
I used the Protrail Li on an 8-day, 7-night trip from North Lake, to South Lake, via Evolution Valley, in through the John Muir Wilderness in Inyo Nat'l Forest, and Sequoia/Kings Canyon. Impressions - worked great. I used Hiker Hunger carbon fiber trekking poles, and they worked perfectly. The super light weight was the biggest "pro" of the setup. Since I'm carrying trekking poles anyway, that was a plus. Pitching and packing was really easy, as there are no poles to worry about. It's basically folding lengthwise into thirds, and rolling it up. I used the Tyvek groundsheet from Tarptent (lots of Sierra granite where I was) and also folded that into thirds and rolled it up with the tent. It all fit easily into the DCF tent bag provided. I did end up using different stakes. I prefer the holding power of MSR groundhog stakes, so I used those instead, and used the provided stakes from Tarptent for the side guy-outs (four of them). On some sites, I just looped the side guy-outs around rocks. You don't need to provide much tension on them to have full extension of the ventilation panels along the bathtub floor, so using rocks to anchor is just fine, I found. I did find that using the guy-outs made for the roomiest pitch. It helps extend the noseeum netting along the bathtub floor sides to perfect extension. I also used the ventilation panels along the sides as small shelves, to dry out my socks overnight, and it works great in that regard. Condensation? Well, yes, it's a single wall tent, so condensation was more noticeable than with my Big Agnes Fly Creek UL2. It was most noticeable when I camped near water (DUH!). It never rained in the 8 days I was on the trip, but normal condensation did accumulate inside the tent. When sleeping the first night, it did sag a little, as I was exhausted and didn't pitch it taut enough to retain full shape overnight. All other nights were really taut pitches, and I didn't experience that again. When it did sag, my quilt (EE Enigma 20-deg, 950-fill) did brush against the tent a bit, and got moist. It never soaked through, and I remained toasty every night. I did have to unpack at lunch twice to let my quilt, tent, and groundsheet dry out in the sun after condensation accumulated overnight, and I packed up before sunrise, so they could not dry out before packing. I did end up hiking with an older gentleman (age 70, just happened to be on the same schedule, so we hiked together the final 4 days) who had an "original" Protrail, which curiously had both Gossamer Gear *and* Tarptent labels on it, one on each side. (See images below): Here's both our tents, pitched next to each other (Li on the left, old school Protrail on the right) in Dusy Basin: It set up mostly the same as mine, but used one trekking pole on the tall end, and had a rainbow tent pole (traditional) for the foot end, with three lines going to a single stake to secure the foot end. It worked quite similarly to my new Protrail Li, but had one REALLY annoying flaw - it was super noisy in the wind! He had the vestibule pitched properly, but dang, that thing flapped like CRAZY in even the slightest breeze, and was way more noisy than my crinkly Therm-A-Rest XLite pad. My Protrail Li was tight as a drum, and had minimal wind noise. But, his original? Darn thing woke me up *several* times in the night. I guess that's about it. I think it's a real winner for me. It stood up to a week in the High Sierra with no issues, was simple to pitch and pack, worked great in the wind, and condensation wasn't anything I didn't expect from any other single-wall tent. Worth the $500? It was for me, since it weighs so little. Last photo, taken before we dropped down into LeConte Canyon, showing the older Protrail, with the rainbow pole on the foot end, and my newer Li in the foreground:
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gabby
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Post by gabby on Sept 10, 2020 10:40:46 GMT -8
What do you think, franco ? That looks like an old Virga to me, not a Protrail. ETA:1) I think the "noise problem" has more to do with pitch than anything else, meaning bad setup or "nighttime stretch". Because silnylon stretches with rain or the pretty much inevitable increase in humidity overnight, my Virga and Squall guylines (and most other silnylon tents I own) are tensioned with self-tensioning doodads like this one pictured below, which I fashioned myself (though this is a photo of someone else's work). For this, you buy surgical tubing and run the guyline cord through, leaving enough slack guyline inside when the tubing is tied off to the guyline cord to allow the tubing to take up any increasing slack in the tent fabric. When the tubing is stretched out all the way (initial pitch), slack in the tent fabric will be re-tensioned by the tubing. You could also use just about anything else that stretches and could be tied into a guyline, like a relatively heavy-duty rubber band, bungee cord or shock cord (available in various weights - lighter ones are usually sufficient for this) which I also have and have used on various silnylon tents and tarps that need a guyout of a side or something like that. (from a thread on "Guy line enhancements" @ 1tg.onetigris.com/index.php?threads/guy-line-enhancements.81/) Simply tie a couple of overhand loops in the bight of your guyline, then attach the stretchy material between the two overhand loops so that the original guyline cord is longer than the distance between the two overhand loops. Easy peasy! Original pitch is with the bungee or rubber band part fully stretched out, so that it pulls the increasing slack in overnight. The Protrail Li doesn't have this problem, of course, because it's Dyneema. My Gossamer Gear "The One" sets up tight and stays that way also - it's made of spinnaker fabric which, similarly, doesn't stretch like silnylon. 2) As to the "double labeling" of this guy's tent, he'd be the best source of "why?" answers, but I suspect strongly, based merely on your photo of the GG label area, that what we have here is a repair. That seam seems (!!) a bit messy, and it may have failed sometime, meaning someone repaired it (GG? owner?) and that's when the label was attached along with the repair. But, hey, what do I know? "Seam failure" is the reason Henry once advised me (on the telephone) to add seams to my list of sealing targets - the seam sealer helps to prolong the life of those seams, which are exposed - at least on the Squall and Virga - to more wear down at the bottom of the fly. The seams in your picture don't look like they've ever been sealed, though that could also be wrong. DIY diagram from, of all places, Gossamer Gear:
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franco
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Post by franco on Sept 10, 2020 14:42:42 GMT -8
Should be the Squall Classic, from 2006 . Designed by Henry Shires , sold by GossamerGear. Spinnaker fabric. Glen Van Peski (GG) and Hery Shires are mates.
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texasbb
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Post by texasbb on Sept 10, 2020 14:48:57 GMT -8
I don't get the stretchy guyline thing. Looks to me like they'd keep the tent looking taut and beautiful...until the wind starts blowing. Then the guys would stretch, which would loosen the tent, which would result in flapping. How can a tent be tight if the guys are not?
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franco
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Post by franco on Sept 10, 2020 15:15:20 GMT -8
Same here. I did experiment with that (self tensioning) but came to the same conclusion.
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biffnix
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Post by biffnix on Sept 10, 2020 15:20:44 GMT -8
Should be the Squall Classic, from 2006 . Designed by Henry Shires , sold by GossamerGear. Spinnaker fabric. Glen Van Peski (GG) and Hery Shires are mates. John (my hiking friend) said he bought the tent as a "prototype" tent from a friend of his named Glen (I assume Van Peski). Makes sense, if they were co-marketing at the time. He did also have a groundsheet made of the same Spinnaker fabric. Thanks for the info on the older tent. Cheers.
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