I just got it in the mail yesterday. I have it setup in a spare room at the moment waiting to be seem sealed. I have three questions as i am kinda new to all this.

(1) Do i need to seam seal it really i have read that some do and some do not. I imagine seam sealer will only add to the weight?

(2) Can i lighten up the tent as is by say replacing the cord it came with and stakes or are the items that come with the lighthouse already pretty light. If so what products do people suggest?

(3) i am thinking of Cubing fiber stuff sacks for the poles stakes and tent itself. Will that only add to the weigh or will it help get the weight down. Or is it better to just stuff the tent and poles in the mesh stuff pockets on the outside of my pack?

I am trying to go as light as i can the places i can as i am new to this and have a few restrictions. For instance i run not hike so i need a proper running/hydration pack and that ends up costing me a good amount of weight. And then the tent over Tarp is my fear of flying creatures ruining a good trip and also that my girlfriend often comes with me on these weekly trips and i cant imagine her sleeping cowboy style?

Next season i will get us both in bivy bags and head nets. I can just see it now getting busted rolling around in the middle of the woods the two of us zipped into one beag and one head net lol..

The stakes are garbage, so I'd replace them. I like the cord well enough, but I also added LineLoc3's to make them even easier to work with. I believe the stuff sacks are 1.1 silnylon, so you could go lighter. The material is somewhat fragile against abrasion, so I'd personally keep using a stuff sack. I got mine used from a member here, and it was already seam sealed.

Can you recommend some good light weight steak. I will need something for both regular surfaces and snow as i will use this tent often in the winter.

Also i kinda thought that about it being fragile and stuff sacks. It is gonna be a real PITA to figure the weight of Cubin Fiber vrs. the silion provided with the tent. Any idea if Cubin fiber is a good lightweight choice for stuff sacks if i am looking to save weight?

Cheers man....

Absoluteley need to seam seal. I bought my Lighthouse used, it was apparently sealed but the job was not a good one and it leaked at the seams (but nowhere else).

I like having a stuff sack, but the one it comes with is too small for my tastes. A little bigger sack makes life much easier especially when the tent is wet/muddy. If it fits in your pack pocket and you don't need to put other stuff in there that can save a little weight, but it is slightly more exposed to wear and tear that way. A Cuben sack is going to save you maybe half an ounce over the sil unit so it's not worth much effort, but if the cuben is laying around just waiting, and if you don't like the size of the OEM sack, then why not?.

I take only two guylines with mine. I have them rigged with a loop at the tent end so that I can easily move them to the corners that need them. I've never needed more than two at once.

as mentioned above you gotta seam seal this tent and do a good job. it makes all the diffrence in the world. as many times as not i ditch the stuff sack and just stuff the tent into my pack. it's amazing how it appears to just dissapear. switch out the guy lines and stakes to whatever makes you happy. for snow, just make up a bunch of these -



they work equally well buried in snow, sand or with some rocks piled on top.

also watch this a couple of times http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRLu0nsYfuE and then time yourself

enjoy the tent -

Edited by RICKO on 06/10/2011 12:31:44 MDT.

I got a pair of fiberplex tent poles for my FirstLight. The stock poles weighed 13oz. The Fiberplex poles are 7ozs.

Can you recommend some good light weight steak. I will need something for both regular surfaces and snow as i will use this tent often in the winter.

That's a tough question. I don't think there's the perfect stake yet. My best answer is to get a bunch of different types and try them all until you find some you want to keep using. On my last trip I used long steel nails because the ground was so hard I needed to drive them into the ground with a hammer, and on the trip before that I went to great excess and used 12" Easton stakes. All I know is that I don't like using y-stakes like the MSR Groundhog at the base of the tent....hook stakes would work better.

All i am gonna say is those carbon tent poles are pricey pricey pricey being i only payed $250 for the tent shipped. I gotta admit though i am sure i will be ordering them as soon as i put my packed bag on a scale and my jaw drops and i go ow crap what now!!!!

I dont know much about all this stuff "light weight" except what i can dork out following interweb trails. I notice that many small cottage makers seem to selling the Easton tie tent steaks. Who makes the lightest ones that still work well?

Thanks again guys!!

First I had never seen that video before and I can honestly say that I am extremely thankful for the likes of lightheart gear and henry shires tarp tents. I have a contrail and I know that I can get it set up in under 3 min. I'm thankful to no longer have to deal with tent poles.

Second if you want the lightest stakes I believe lightheart gear has some that are 6 g. / 0.21oz. each and they sell for 2.50

I would definitely ditch the stuff sack for the poles and stakes and just put those in your pack since they are far more durable than the tent material.

For seam sealing you will need a nice day and a tube of the silicone, paint thinner, and a foam brush. I am unsure about how much texture the bottom of your tent or sleeping pad has but sometimes while you have it all out it is a good thing to make some shapes on those to prevent slipping and sliding all night.

Great info on the slip and sliding thing i may just do that. How often do people tend to seam seal? And is it best to do two coats the first time. I am using the Silnet and syringe applicator that came with the tent and small artist brush. It kinda sucks smearing Silicone all over a nice new tent but i am doing a nice neat job and i am sure i will be thankful when i have no leaks.

I am gonna try and get away with no pad until fall when the temps get start to drop. I sleep on a hard wood floor with only a simple blanket under me every night. Yes i find this more comfortable as i stare at a perfectly good mattress/bed when i lay on my right side.

Pretty cool i can save about a half lb on with the carbon poles. I can probably ditch the stuff sacks also and get lighter steaks and maybe in the end shed a good 3/4 of a lb off the tent. Not bad as i run and don't carry trekking poles so most tarp tents with bug nets seem to be around the 2lb mark sans trekking poles?

Spend a little more time doing research before you mod the tent. One of the great things about this tent is how much wind it can withstand. I'd hate for you to unknowingly give that up in your effort to reduce its weight.

So is it the stakes or the poles your are worried about? Or both?

Both. There's no such thing as the perfect stake. Depending on the soil, a really thin titanium stake, or MSR Groundhog, a nail stake or one of those fabric anchors may hold best. If you have the experience and time, you can make almost any stake work, often by putting a really big rock on it. As far as poles go, I have yet to hear of a composite pole that is as stiff as aluminum poles.

Good heads up on the poles!!!

Great comment on the poles, Eugene.
But the carbon can be just as stiff - look at the arrow shafts with spines that are as low as .2 or .3 inches (deflection). But while lighter, they are not as durable as alloy. It is the usual trade-off of durability for weight reduction. One could also replace heavier alloy like Easton .340's or DAC's with lighter Easton .344's, as TarpTent did on the Moment; but there is always a trade-off for lighter weight, even between the alloy poles. In fairness to the carbon, if the alloy were as light, it would probably be just as fragile, if not moreso.

Yeah, they could be as stiff, but that would require a bit of tinkering with sizes. I haven't seen anyone do that yet. Ideally I would have at least two sets of poles. The first set would be the lightest composite poles I could get, and the second set would be much thicker than the standard poles.

Eugene,
After testing several dozen carbon shafts from arrow, kite and pole suppliers, I settled on the Victory V6 V-Force 300s as the best for strength to weight. Weight is about 9.75 grains per running inch (~.265 oz per foot), compared to 8-9 grains for most others, except the Easton FX, which are heavier at 12 grains. No reliable data yet on the new carbon ones used by Easton on the Kilo tent.

Unlike many other brands that try to confuse, the Victory 300 designation means a spine (stiffness) of .3" deflection under a standard weight and span. The Easton .344 alloy pole happens to be just the right inner diameter to use as an external ferrule, and is available from Quest, and possibly TarpTent (Scarp cross poles). Of course, the weight of shock cord, ferrules and tips must be included. The most recent pole set I made of Victories was 9.5 oz total for a total of 26 running feet.

Will be using the V6 300's for dome poles this summer, often above timberline, and will report on how they work in real conditions, as distinguished from improvised break tests at home. Will set up the tent at home and give it a good drubbing before leaving, just to make sure the Victories are as good as I expect.

Edited by scfhome on 06/12/2011 20:17:14 MDT.