Tent improvement? (?)

[Pavel]

I can't find the perfect tent.  Well over the last few years, perfect has been a hammock, but now that I'm in the early stages of planning a six to eight month tour of the USA I'm thinking about tents again.

Some people like ultra-light. Not me.  I'd rather huff and puff all day, hauling loads that the designers of the Nomad had in mind for it and be comfy while camping, and safe in emergencies.  So the Cost vs weight vs strength vs convenience ratio in my value system has the weight in last place. It's kind of "color" first, "setup ease" second, "space to spread out" third .... and I'll compromise on all the rest.

With all that said - here is my problem. I have the "perfect" tent already. Perfect except for one thing, the thing I value most.  It is a Henry Shires Tarptent Cloudburst. ( https://www.tarptent.com/cloudburst3.html )
which is super easy to set up, is wonderfully large, well ventilated (a strong plus here in the muggy south) and also pretty lightweights at 1.5 kilo.  Why oh why can't it have been made in stealth Green??   I enjoy stealth camping. It's partly to save money for those extra mealtime beers, but mostly because I like the lack of structure when I meander.  I don't like having to "be somewhere".

So here is my crazy improvement idea - has anyone else ventured thus?  I'm going to spray paint that nice glow in the moonlight silver color away.  I think, anyways, and hope to get a nice dark green and brown camo sort of end result.  Would this have any chance of working, or just a fast way to destroy the tent? The Tarptents are made of ripstop nylon, and impregnated with silicone, so I wonder what sort of spray paint might adhere to it, and have the trait that it won't stick together like some paints can, after it dries.

Any advice? Or should I just splurge and buy an Hilleberg Anjan 3?  That is a lot of beer money! I'm still going to pack my hammock and tarp btw, so this will be for when I'm forced to devolve to sleeping on the ground - and with that perspective a Hilleberg would Really squander tragic amounts of the food and beverage budget. 

[Danneaux]

So here is my crazy improvement idea - has anyone else ventured thus?

I once dyed my summer-brown front lawn a nice spring green in the dead of night to surprise my neighbors the next morning  so I'm probably uniquely qualified to take a stab at answering this... 

Would this have any chance of working, or just a fast way to destroy the tent?

Mmmmmaybe but unlikely to the first, a hearty "probably" to the second. While I have spray-painted fabric in camo patterns, I can tell you the liquid paint has solvents that are unkind to certain fabrics and the dried paint is more likely than not to plug and/or alter the pores of the fabric, altering everything from waterproofness to breatheability.

If you do decide to go ahead, the silicone impregnation will be the stopper. It is almost impossible to get paint to adhere to it. Worse (having tried something similar but unrelated myself in the past), the silicone can affect the paint's cure rate so it will indeed tend to stick to itself after folding and especially after it has been in compression against itself for some time...i.e. in a stuff sack under transport.

It is possible to buy a camo mesh drape that can be placed over whatever you want to um, camouflage. I once tried it with an entire car when stealth camping in desert sagebrush. It was a red car, and the camo mesh drape did wonders at "disappearing" it while stopped camping. Something to consider, I suppose. These mesh drapes are pretty light and compress/stuff pretty small. Might be worth a try. See: https://www.walmart.com/ip/HS-Camo-Mesh-Netting-MossyOak-Country-54-x-12/49783264

I'll close by saying I admire your thinking, Pavel, for it is by such bold strokes true innovation grows and thrives. Well done.

All the best,

Dan. (CBI and lawn dyer)

[John Saxby]

Interesting idea, Pavel.  I wouldn't take a chance with your present-perfect tent, though.

Here's an idea: Why not consider getting a silicone-nylon tarp ("siltarp") in green, and rig that when you need some camo?  Disadvantage?--weight is about 400 gms.  Advantage: versatility--protection against wind if you need it; pitch it instead of your tent if there's no bug problem; pitch it if you expect rain, to give yourself a nice dry spot for cooking and packing, etc; if you don't pitch it at night, just use it as part of your pillow.

[jags]

just put a green tarp over it.

[Pavel]

I swear I was not drinking anything but water all day when I posted this, but now after both sensible replies, I wonder how I could have missed such an obvious approach - the tarp I mean.  I've got several in dark brown and dark Olive, and one is coming with me in any case already!  Talk about not seeing the big pink (or dark olive) elephant in the room!

I really like the tent. I've gone through so many and everything about this one is fabulous, especially the venting and setup ease.  I've long thought to try painting it, but never really seriously as I hammock now where ever I can, so the tent took a back seat.  I badly want to see the South West of this marvelously beautiful country and thus the new fever.  It was actually a random chance where I saw John Saxby's journal of crazyguyonabike that pushed me out of my malaise.  Seriously.  When I'm struggling up a hill in insane heat - it will be HIS name on my lips!

I remember on a ride from North Carolina to Florida, pushing hard against the wind on the outer banks late, in the dark and stopping by a campground closed for the season.  I snuck in, twenty minutes after seeing another one of those  $5000 fine for illegal camping signs,  and set up tent for the night. The full moon, so romantic sometimes turned my Kelty into a beacon of reflected light everywhere that the fabric was white.  I was nervous all night.  ... tarp it shall be.

Thanks! Tent likely saved an unfair death.

[jags]

pavel a gray tent in ireland would be perfect for wild camping sure every feckin day is a gray day  so a fells might never be found, enjoy the new tent and   have a super tour.

jags.

[Pavel]

John ... those photos you posted on your recent trip brought back so many memories for me.  I used to live in British Columbia in the early 80's, in Osoyoos and Kamloops. I rode (my honda 750K) all over that state and Washington state.  Seeing your photos ... well it's not tolerable all of a sudden to be content without my usual wanderlust.  I have to see the rockies again, nice and slow, somehow, sometime soon. You, Dan, Jags and others - can't hog all the fun!

[jags]

pavel don't take this up wrong but i don't like  that tent, i just watched the video on how to erect it man that's a lot of hassle to fit an extra pole and anti condensation sheets , the tarp tent scarp 2 is a better design imho pitch all in one extra pole for free standing.
or am i missing something ,mind u i'm no tent expert .each to there own,

jags.

[John Saxby]

I have to see the rockies again, nice and slow

Thanks, Pavel, for your kind words. Fabulous countryside, for sure, and the best way to see it is at a deliberate pace.

I did meet a couple of guys on the ascent of Washington Pass, who were travelling ultra-light on road bikes. They each had only a couple of water bottles and a small day pack. (The latter was barely enough to hold the food I was eating each day!) They were going from Spokane to the San Juan Islands, no camping, staying in hard accomm each night. Problem is, on that road there are long gaps between motels & the like. They told me that on one day, they'd ridden 162 miles through the hills.

[Pavel]

No Jags ... I looked at all the tents carefully and the scarp would be a terrible tent for me.  Firstly I can get the cloudburst up in about three leisurely minutes, secondly, I have the extra pole and the optional condensation sheet for cold weather, but have never used them. I carry the middle pole for a case that I do something stupid and step on or otherwise break one of the two needed poles.  After seven horrible Big Agnes tents (and a few European style tents) , I really appreciate having identical and simple poles.  Lastly, I really dislike the scarps lack of headroom. There is only one narrow and quickly dropping spot where I can sit erect and not have my head in the material. 

But all of that is a moot point compared to the biggie.  I live in the south where the humidity at night often is 100 percent and the night-time temperatures can be in the nineties ( ~ 32 - 36 Celsius) for nights at a stretch.  I stealth camp and have found that low to the ground ventilation is completely useless in the grass and the Cloudburst is the coolest feeling tent I've ever had.  I can pass out in it, in the broiling heat, much earlier!  Priceless! That is what makes this horse .. perfect fer my course! Except that color. The ventilation qualities of the Hilleberg's are what stops me from buying one, more than the cost.  They just don't relate to weather like we have here, in the south.

I had that daughter as a shield when I last toured in 2012.  Now I look like a homeless bum ... and America in my part of the country seems to treat strange people with suspicion, if they look to be vagrants (like me now ) All that open land out west and some of the traditions of Europe - makes me want to move where there is more freedom to be experienced. Recreational vehicles and fancy hotels are not for me. I don't call that "getting away from it all", at all.

[Pavel]

No Jags ... I looked at all the tents carefully and the scarp would be a terrible tent for me.  Firstly I can get the cloudburst up in about three leisurely minutes, secondly, I have the extra pole and the optional condensation sheet for cold weather, but have never used them. I carry the middle pole for a case that I do something stupid and step on or otherwise break one of the two needed poles.  After seven horrible Big Agnes tents (and a few European style tents) , I really appreciate having identical and simple poles.  Lastly, I really dislike the scarps lack of headroom. There is only one narrow and quickly dropping spot where I can sit erect and not have my head in the material. 

But all of that is a moot point compared to the biggie.  I live in the south where the humidity at night often is 100 percent and the night-time temperatures can be in the nineties ( ~ 32 - 36 Celsius) for nights at a stretch.  I stealth camp and have found that low to the ground ventilation is completely useless in the grass and the Cloudburst is the coolest feeling tent I've ever had.  I can pass out in it, in the broiling heat, much earlier!  Priceless! That is what makes this horse .. perfect fer my course! Except that color. The ventilation qualities of the Hilleberg's are what stops me from buying one, more than the cost.  They just don't relate to weather like we have here, in the south.

I had that daughter as a shield when I last toured in 2012.  Now I look like a homeless bum ... and America in my part of the country seems to treat strange people with suspicion, if they look to be vagrants (like me now ) All that open land out west and some of the traditions of Europe - makes me want to move where there is more freedom to be experienced. Recreational vehicles and fancy hotels are not for me. I don't call that "getting away from it all", at all.

I saw one gent speeding by in the other direction on our North Carolina to Texas trip, with just the setup you describe.  A moment later his van drove by two minutes or so behind him.  It really struck me how I'm at the far end of some spectrum with my prefferences.  While he looked very happy and was surely enjoying himself (which seems to be the trick in life ) I would not enjoy that at all.  I wonder sometimes what the deep seated reason are, that motivates us cyclists.  I don't think its simple.  For me, the best guess I have is that it is the feeling of no schedules.  That is why I don't like to use warm showers, ride too long with others or even to have a very firm map plan.  I want to get up when I feel like (late often) and do exactly what I feel like.  If that is to wander far from my plan ... perfect.  If it's to sit under a tree for a few hours just looking at the clouds - yes!  The bicycle trips daily mileage is something that I try not to think about.  I hate the idea of trying to say "do 100 miles" because that changes the trip into me focusing on that line on the road while I race too fast, with too much focus. There is something marvelous about not looking at a clock, and sometimes not even knowing what day of the week it is, while one marvels at how beautiful the world is.  That is my kind of escape. 

[jags]

100% agree i stayed in a hostal once hated it to many young dudes talking crap ,i have a friend who toured across America few years back   him and his buddy used warm showers all the way  and motels and they had all the best camping gear you could have, couldn't see the point in hauling all the gear if they weren't going to use it .

yeah i suppose your spot on about the Tent get it up fast loads room i like that,i had the hilleberg akto one time hated it why people rave on about the akto is beyond me .
anyway i got a new phone off santa so im a happy camper again no idea how to use it but sure that doesn't matter .

jags.

[leftpoole]

,i had the hilleberg akto one time hated it why people rave on about the akto is beyond me .
anyway i got a new phone off santa so im a happy camper again no idea how to use it but sure that doesn't matter .

jags.

Hello,
The Hilleberg Akto is a tent perfect for what it is designed for, which is, one person with little luggage. Thousands have used Akto tents including myself with great result. To say you cannot understand peoples enthusiasm is to look at your experience only. You require more room because that is how you operate with no idea of compactness (?). I no longer use an Akto which is sad, my reason being that I have mobility problems because of a spine injury. Compact, small, minute or even spacious are all terms associated with the Akto.
Please for pitys sake stop slagging off what is a fabulous pioneering tent, it does you no good at all in peoples eyes. In my opinion.
Regards,
John

[jags]

had a good Christmas had we 

[Danneaux]

Always useful to remember that everyone has their own preferences and way of going about things, one no more or less valid than another, so long as it works.

I'm happy as can be in one-man tents, but that's because I value low weight over space, only "need" that much room, and only use my tent for sleeping. I almost never layover to wait out bad weather, preferring to be out in it making forward progress. Not right for everyone. Economics plays a role for me as well. I've owned tents costing USD$300-$400, but sold them off in favor of my current favorites. On sale at half price, I paid USD$60 and bought three as a backstop in case they didn't last (the first one shows no signs of dying after 5+ months of nights, so I should be good for awhile). Leaves more money for Adventuring, air fare, and food.

I do like my green or a sort of mushroomy grey-green for stealth/wild camping, though, so that's a priority for me.

Good thing there's so many choices available. 

All the best,

Dan.