I have seen Franco's addition of a center rear strut used on the Contrail and tried playing with different height's of center strut and found that one as tall as 18 inches or so tightly guyed out allowed for a firmer and taller ridge line allowing for more interior heigth and better ridgeline retention (especially when pulled against a front ridgeline guyout) and wondered if anybody sees a structural problem using this taller strut.
Also can Mr. Shires make a taller strut or is there an easy way to fabricate one hopefully with a hole in it to run the guyout cord through to attatch it to the guyout loop on the tent so it doesn't end up coming loose and putting a hole in the tent?

Hi Mike
What I use is a pole section with a pole tip reversed . The one I have is similar to this one :


http://www.questoutfitters.com/tent_poles.htm#TENT%20POLES
so the guyline is threaded trough it and remains attached to it. When setting the strut up I simply insert the tip into the pole.
Franco

Here's a photo taken this afternoon of a Contrail with an 18" carbon fiber strut in a sleeve and a 30" guyline. Weight of the assembly is 0.6 ounces and it does add quite a bit of stability along with increased height over your foot area. We're going to offer this as a Contrail option starting in 2011.

-H

Edited by 07100 on 09/17/2010 18:34:22 MDT.

I've fiddle with my Contrail many times. A good option indeed. Geez, if I could get my contrail as spiffed taut as his.......... Well, here's to tryin'!

Thanks for the prompt replies you guys are always around when we need something.
I had a hard time with the skin-tight pitch till using the front AND rear guyouts to pull against each other and now the pitch is much easier to get tight front-to-back along the ridgeline and really makes it a breeze to get it pitched solid.

Edward
take a look at how I do it :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n38trYmHBdk
this also shows the center rear strut in use.
Franco

The photo in this post appears to give alot of extra height near the foot and the poster shows it as being 22 inches tall which may only be good in fair weather.
Is there a light adjustable pole say from 16 to 22 inches that may adjust according to conditions?

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=8055

Edited by breeze on 09/17/2010 21:03:25 MDT.

Mike,
For this type of application for a carbon fiber strut, I use a carbon fiber arrow nock. For the other end of the strut that will sit on the ground, I cut and buff a nock to a rounded shape.
Sam Farrington

Mike
I would go along with Henry's suggestion, that is 18".
Franco

Contact an archery range or even an archery store. Get a discard aluminum (or carbon fiber) arrow, complete with intact nock tip and front end ferrule where the point screws in. If the shaft is bent or broken you may have to heat the nock &/or ferrule in boiling water to release the glue and cut the shaft to the correct ltngth. Use the same kind of glue to reattatch the ferrule on the shortened shaft.

Try to get the largest diameter shaft you can for greater strength.

Shorten the shaft to 18" with a small pipe cutter or have an archery shop cut it for you with their nifty power cutters. When using the arrow shaft tent pole just run the guy line through the nock's string groove.


Before good, light tent stakes came along I used aluminum arrow shafts and ferrules for tent stakes. I removed the plastic nocks to expose the pointed shaft back end, cut the other end of the shaft to length and re-glued the ferrule. Then I screwed on an aluminum screen door tab into the ferrul as the stake's top end to retain the guy cord. LUCKILY the thread on the aluminum screws of the screen door tabs was the same as the ferrules' thread! I couldn't believe my luck.

Edited by Danepacker on 09/17/2010 23:25:34 MDT.

If you use / carry a Hane tenkara rod you could figure out a good way to use this. The Hane collapses to 18" and if being carried anyway it could be used as a center strut for a Contrail.

Just thinking outside the box, it's fine to laugh (at me).

Edited by thomdarrah on 09/18/2010 02:43:20 MDT.

Hane rod. And why not ?
can be a stick, the other trekking pole, whatever you can think of.
I just use the strut because for the 15g (1/2 oz) I know that is there.
Franco

Thanks for the link. I set it up about ten more times and now I have it much more secure. I always seemed to have one side of the flatter rear roof plane bow in more than the other. Its about equal now. I'll probably always be fiddling with it. My neighbor just rolls her eyes every time she sees me messing with it in front of my house

The easiest mistake to make is not to have the front and rear parallel to each other.
Take a good look at this:
http://www.tarptent.com/contrail_2.html
once you memorise that top view it will be easier to remember how to do it.

BTW I have one or two tents up in my backyard every few days...
The neighbours know that I am a bit "different"
Franco

Franco - thanks for the link to your video. I watched all of the others you did related to the Contrail, too, and thought they were very helpful.

Thank you for that. One day I may just add English subtitles...
(sadly I have a strong accent in Italian too)
Franco

Franco,
There are a bunch of us out here that appreciate your videos and insight. No subtitles needed. ;-)
You were the impetus for my first Tarptent purchase, the Contrail. Still use it, still love it.