[pct-l] Gossamer Q-twin Tarp

[Scott Williams]

I used the Double Hexamid on the CDT as a very roomy tent for one, as it is
so light I could afford to carry it just for me.   It was like having a
palace all to yourself and your gear.  Several times in bad weather I was
joined by Why Not as we didn't want to pitch two tents in the fierce winds
that blow up on the CDT and there is room for two.  There's plenty of room
for both to lay down, but when packing up inside, it was a bit tight.  But
I stayed bone dry in some horrific winds and storms all summer long and
never even had a peg pull out.  Also, it has such good head room that I
never had my bag touch the walls.  As a single wall it of course gets some
condensation, but with the air flow all around, it was minimal.  I
particularly like the bathtub floor with can be hoisted up on any side or
into the mouth of the tent when you have driving rain and it becomes a
total barrier.

Cuben is more fragile than ripstop, but It was in such good shape after the
thru hike that I used it again this summer re-hiking the Winds and Glacier
NP and it again did well in spite of a catastrophic failure on our 3rd day
out.  After pitching the tent, nice and tight at one spot in the Winds, a
very large rock was used to heave a line for a bear bag and the trajectory
brought it right down onto the corner of my tent.  Now this was a big rock,
but it hit the tent and the corner of the tent just exploded and I thought
it was done for.  It ended up with two 5 to 6 inch holes.  How come two
with only one rock, I have no idea, but I got out the ZPacks cuben patch
material I carry for patching everything from my down jacket to my bag and
tent, and a role of Tenacious Tape, and within 15 minutes the holes were
patched so nicely and so tightly that the tent worked fine for the rest of
the nearly 3 weeks we had left.   It pitched taught and without any weird
ripples and held up in a ferocious hail storm in Glacier without leaking a
drop.  It probably would have worked just fine for another thru hike, but
it kind of looked like a Frankenstein patch with all the different
material.  It simply needed a bolt or two sticking out to make the picture
right.

I just sent it back to ZPacks a few days ago as I'm going to be showing it
off at the GGG at Henry Coe State Park in January and wanted a more
professional looking patch.  I just got a note from Matt that it is ready
and he'll be shipping it back in the morning.  Less than a week turnaround
and no mention of cost.  I've offered to pay, as it was not a failure on
the part of workmanship, but was purely an act the Gods of goofy hikers.  I
hope they charge me as Joe is running a business and deserves to get paid
when we destroy his tents.  He's got great products and the Double Hexamid
is one of my favorites.  I'll be using it this year on the AT in March.

So would I recommend it.  Wholeheartedly.  It doesn't have the room for two
that the Lunar Duo has, but it is less than half the weight.  It's a great
tent.  But then, so is the Lunar Duo.

Shroomer


On Mon, Dec 16, 2013 at 6:25 PM, P Isabella <isabella at bendnet.com> wrote:

> What about the zpacks hexamid duo for a 2 person super light tent?
> Anyone have experience with that one?
> Mademoiselle
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> > On Dec 16, 2013, at 6:14 PM, nosirreeb <nosirreeb at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> > I have NO inside info at GG, but I'd be shocked if they didn't have
> > more shelters in the pipeline, including a 2-person one, to at least
> > match their old spinnaker product line. There are several really good
> > 1-person tents out there to choose from, but I've yet to see a
> > definitive lightweight 2-person one to die for. I'll keep looking and
> hoping.
> >
> > As
> > far as DIYing the Q-twin tarp, I'm with you on just throwing the money
> > in the street. I could manage bonding a straight center seam and I could
> > sew a catenary center seam, but no way would I attempt a bonded
> > catenary seam on such expensive fabric. Life is too short and I've
> headaches enough already.
> >
> >> It's nice they are getting into cuben fiber. I really wish they'd
> >> come out with a 2-person tent rather than more tarps. Maybe they've
> >> got cuben tents coming someday.
> >
> >> $315 is a lot of money for a tarp, but worse would be for me to buy
> >> the fabric and try to make one myself. I'd be better off throwing a
> >> couple hundred bucks in the street.
> > _______________________________________________
> > Pct-L mailing list
> > Pct-L at backcountry.net
> > To unsubscribe, or change options visit:
> > http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
> >
> > List Archives:
> > http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/pct-l/
> > All content is copyrighted by the respective authors.
> > Reproduction is prohibited without express permission.
> _______________________________________________
> Pct-L mailing list
> Pct-L at backcountry.net
> To unsubscribe, or change options visit:
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
>
> List Archives:
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/pct-l/
> All content is copyrighted by the respective authors.
> Reproduction is prohibited without express permission.
>