[pct-l] Hexamid

Tue Dec 17 05:18:41 CST 2013

Yeah, the Hexamids look OK. I sort of have problems with the general design, though. 

First, Cuben is supposed to be LIGHTER. With the Hexamids, I don't see that. For example, my shaped tarp weighs 14oz. It rolls up small enough to fit in my grease pot. (It includes the stakes and guy lines, but the stakes are packed elsewhere.) So I am short the mesh @ ~3oz. This is the only piece of gear I miss in the spring bug season, and, usually bring a piece of mesh(44"x55") that works. So my total is 17.2oz including mesh, guy lines and stakes. The Hexamid solo is 14.3oz but I wouldn't carry the bag @ .3oz. With the Hexamid, I gain the integrated mesh floor/walls. If I could save 8oz, I *would* likely get one. I am assuming the packed volume is about the same. But the total weight I could save is 3.2oz, using Joe's figures. 
Second, the doors are on the LONG side of the tarp. While it doesn't matter for most uses, in a driving rain, this could mean I would see some misting through the mesh. In storms, I often get variable winds. I see one larger door as a possible area for getting wet or grabbing wind. A smaller door, on the end, means less wetting/misting, though harder to get in to/out of. And a smaller doorway grabs little wind. Both have plenty of ventilation, but the Hexamid lacks any "through" ventilation. With the extended beak on the Hexamid, it has roughly the same weather resistance as my tarp. Indeed, Joe has added the extended beaks as the default configuration. The footprint and staking out are a little more difficult with the Hexamid, but not enough to count.       

The Hexamid Solo ranges in price between 195(striped of screen and beaks) to 430. (I was comparing the 430 version.) Not enough savings to make it worth the $430 price tag vs the $70 I put my tarp together for. This works out to about 110/oz to save the weight. Before I retired, I might have done it anyway. 

Compared to the Q-Twinn, I would get the Hexamid first, I think. I expect several thunder storms over the course of the year, and would require a little more weather proof shelter. Both the Hexamid and shaped tarp provide this. The lack of beaks on the Q-Twinn is a problem. 
	My thoughts only . . .
		jdm
-----Original Message-----
From: pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net [mailto:pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net] On Behalf Of Scott Williams
Sent: Monday, December 16, 2013 10:00 PM
To: P Isabella
Cc: Backcountry.net; nosirreeb
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Gossamer Q-twin Tarp

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.
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