BootsnAll Travel Community

(OK, first off: I know, this COULD go into the travel gear section - however, I am not looking for a backpacking tent, it's specifically for an adventure trip - and this board just has a specific following. So, move me or not, mods.)

K. As you probably by now all know, I'll be heading for a 1-2 years cycling trip next year - and have started to gather all the gear we'll need. Currently, I'm looking into tents. Here's what it needs to do:

- Leightweight. We'll have to carry the thing on our bikes for...I don't know, 20'000 kilometers? So yeah. Light is a must.
- 2 person tent
- Vestibuls for some of the gear
- Weatherwise: we'll start in Indonesia, hope to cross the Hymalayas and end in India. So, 3 seasons is essential. (Wondering, if even 4 season would be advisable. Just thinking about Tibet.)

So far, my favorites are the MSR Hubba Hubba HP and the Macpac Stellar.
Obviously, the MSR is very light, has a good 'sit-in hight', double entry (important to me) and good vestibuls.
The Macpac is quite a bit heavier (by 570 grams), but seems to have all of the above mentioned advantages PLUS multi-pitch (you can hang the fly before the inner tent - which in theory keeps the inner tent dry, even if pitching or collapsing the tent in rain).

Does any of you adventure people have experience with these or other good lightweight tents?

quote:

(Wondering, if even 4 season would be advisable. Just thinking about Tibet.)

It probably depends on the winds you'll encounter. 50 kph or more and in an exposed location, I can see poles snapping on either of those two tents, especially the Hubba Hubba. Neither tent is going to handle snow loading to well. But, that is probably a minor and infrequent nuisance. You could probably push either tent to handle the snow loading, just might collapse on you every few hours. Especially, if you live by the 80/20 rule (if it works 80% of the time, you can make it work the other 20%).

quote:

PLUS multi-pitch (you can hang the fly before the inner tent - which in theory keeps the inner tent dry, even if pitching or collapsing the tent in rain

I like this feature quite a bit for solo travel. With two people, not as much of a big deal to me. But, you can do this with any tent that has full length poles and attachment clips (no sleeves). Anyway, I only saw one, double entry, vestibule on the Stellar. With wet, muddy cycling gear, I'd probably want one on each side. Plus, it's easier to cook then.

What are the walls like on each tent? Is there any mesh that is low down? They'd be miserable if you get any windblown snow in Tibet. Of course, mesh walls will be ideal in SE Asia.

I don't know. It's tough. You kind of need everything in one tent. And I think we both know, there is really no such thing as a 4 season tent. Any tent that can handle winter normally blows in the Summer. Especially in warm, tropical climates. Sierra Designs used to have convertible tents where you had two poles and mesh siding for the summer and then you could add a 3rd pole and zip in some fabric over the mesh side walls for winter. The design never really caught on, though.

I'd probably be looking for something like the Hubba Hubba but with full length poles and maybe 300 grams or so heavier. The Hubba Hubba also looks like it might be a little short for you if you are taller than 1.8 meters.

I took the Hubba Hubba with me on my South America trip. I thought it was a great tent... until the shit hit the fan. In driving tropical rain, water will get into the tent through the mesh sidewalls because the fly doesn't go all the way to the ground. The floor of the tent is made to be lightweight more than waterproof so definitely get the groundsheet with the Hubba Hubba. And in heavy wind the whole tent flies all over the place and you could end up with a broken pole if you don't set it up just right (facing the wind and using all guy wires).

That being said, it's really light, does fine in light wind and rain, and is great in the tropics because it's so airy. It can basically function like a mosquito net if you don't use the fly. I also took it into the mountains in Peru and Bolivia several times. It was really cold, but a cheap extra sleeping bag was all I needed to keep warm.

I usually liked the tent until I got dengue fever and in my clouded judgment left a banana inside. Within minutes of sunset, cockroaches ate several huge holes in the walls to get access to the tasty treat.

Thanks for the info guys.

Yeah, I know, I want EVERYTHING in this tent while being ultralight. (In Swiss German we call this - literally translated - 'The egg-laying Wool-Milk-Pig') And I am aware that this tent doesn't exist. The question is, where do I compromise.

Halfnine - no, the MacPac Stellar actually is twin entry. And I agree, it's absolutely essential for bad weather comfort.

Snow - hopefully not too much of it. We'd head through Tibet and Nepal in Sumer, so hopefully that would eliminate the big loads. However, the tent would have to be able to take some bad weather up there - and probably also a good tropical downpour.

I'm leaning more and more to wards the Stellar. I've read a few reviews by tourers about the Celeste and they were very happy with it.

But I am still open for suggestions.

I have a couple of more ideas. If it was me, my first thoughts would be to

- stick to light 3 season tents with full length poles

- modify the fly to support additional guy-outs and guy-lines, especially high up on the pole lines

- sew in extensions to the perimeter of the fly so that so that they can either be used as snow skirts or so that the fly can be guyed out further away from the tent to prevent hard rain from either being driven into the tent or bouncing in.

- I'd probably also play around with some ways to internally guy the tent with some thin cord which might require sewing in some loops inside of the tent.

quote:

Originally posted by djperry:
I took the Hubba Hubba with me on my South America trip. I thought it was a great tent... until the shit hit the fan. In driving tropical rain, water will get into the tent through the mesh sidewalls because the fly doesn't go all the way to the ground. The floor of the tent is made to be lightweight more than waterproof so definitely get the groundsheet with the Hubba Hubba. And in heavy wind the whole tent flies all over the place and you could end up with a broken pole if you don't set it up just right (facing the wind and using all guy wires).

The Hubba Hubba "HP" (Hella pricey) is different than your standard hubba hubba. With less mesh and more fabric, it is more of a 3.5 season tent.

That being said, it still suxor in wind. I love my Hubba Hubba, but I wont take it into heavy wind.

I would suggest a tarp-style tent like The SMD Lunar Duo , if you were hiking with trekking poles. But for bike touring, you're probably better off with something that is free-standing.


If you really want an indestructible, ultralight, 4-season tent, you should get a Hilleberg Nallo 2 or maybe even a Nallo 3


But considering that weight will be important every day, and weather will only suck very rarely, I would personally pick the free-standing GoLite Utopia 2+.