Hey all!

Hopefully I will be going to philmont this summer, so i have been looking for gear ideas. I have pretty much everything figured out, except for shelter. I am wondering if the MLD duomid in sil would be philmont "legal". It is not a tarp, but im not sure if they would count "floorless tent" as a tent. If you have experience on the issue please help! :)

-CS

Technically the Philmont rules do not preclude you using a floorless tent on your trek and there are quite a number of folks (including myself last summer) who used floorless tents at Philmont.

That said, let me suggest you use at least a ground cloth if not a bathtub floor inside your Duomid, for a couple reasons.

- Philmont really wants you to have a floor in your tent (doesn't have to be attached to the tent) but they worry about someone getting Hantavirus from rodent droppings from sleeping right on the ground.

- We found during those hard afternoon rains that streams of water can run under your tent. You don't want your sleeping bag or quilt getting wet.

I always staked my floorless tent right to the ground to discourage the ever-present chipmunks (mini bears) from running through my tent.

Edited by geist on 10/08/2009 20:23:18 MDT.

Look up Doug Prosser's articles on going light at Philmont (here on BPL). IIRC his crew(s) were allowed to use shelters without integrated floors. But I also think they used some sort of shelter sized groundcloth inside them

Many (most?, I don't know, have only been to 9 of their campsites) of Philmont's campsites have fine powderlike dust surfaces ... most folks would like more than a person sized groundcloth in those conditions, I would.

I shared a TarpTent RainShadow 2 there in 2007 (will again next year). Several of the rangers and staffers we encountered were quite interested in it (most in an approving sort of way)

edit: Al beat me to it! ... how'd I let that happen? (smile)

Edited by jcolten on 10/08/2009 20:26:48 MDT.

Would a painters drop cloth work for the week, or would I need something more substantial?

-CS

We normally use 4 mm plastic for our troops ground cloths. For philmont, I did lighten up and space save up and used the painters or 2mm plastic. New for the trip, cut for the tent size, worked fine, just had to be little more careful in tent pre set up selection. But it also was a very dry trip, so we were fine. I would say do it.

> Would a painters drop cloth work for the week,
> or would I need something more substantial?

I used a 0.8 mil paint drop cloth on our Philmont trek this past July and it held up fine for the two weeks.

I second the point about the fine black dust at Philmont.
Anything that touches the bare ground gets dirty there,
so you want to cover the ground under your tent to keep
your stuff clean.

Get some window insulation at your local store. It's about the same thing as Gossamer Gear Polycro, and I've thought it to be stronger than the painters drop plastic.

Get some window insulation at your local store. It's about the same thing as Gossamer Gear Polycro, and I've thought it to be stronger than the painters drop plastic.

+1 on the window insulation! ... Much tougher than 2 mil poly

Not nearly as low cost as painter's drop cloth but at approx $10 for a 84"x120" patio door sized kit should be widely available this time of the year at any norther climate big box home store it's only a blip in your Philmont budget. (southern reader's can order it from Amazon and other online sellers)

Oh, and it weighs just 0.6oz/yd^2

Upon recieving funds (I really need a job, anyone have a position in Northern San Diego for me?) I am planning on getting the sil duo mid. Hopefully I can find someone else on my trek willing to be my lightweight buddy, so I can actually use it!

-CS

Resurrecting an old thread... is this the correct Window Insulation to use for a ground cloth?:

http://www.amazon.com/Duck-1297119--120-Inch-Shrink-Patio/dp/B000NHW2Z6/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1298582726&sr=8-10

Gossamer Gear is selling the size medium & large Polycryo sheets again.

Either one will work very well. The window insulation seems to be the same stuff. If not it works just as well. dave

Edited by drichi on 03/24/2011 11:39:11 MDT.