Jon,

I just purchased a Lightheart Solo - Standard.

Here is some info copied and pasted from Lighheart's website.

"The LightHeart Solo - Standard is our most popular base model.
Features:

3500 mm Hydrostatic head 1.1 oz sil-nylon".

Both the Solo and the Duo use the same material and their ridgelines are supported by trekking poles.

Solo weighs 1.69 pounds or 27 ounces.

http://www.lightheartgear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=15

Duo weighs 2.25 pounds or 36 ounces.

http://www.lightheartgear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=12

Do either of these fit your criteria?

Party On,

Newton

Thanks, Newton, for that link. I'm wondering where LightHeart gets 3500mm hydro head 1.1 oz. silnylon? It must weigh 2oz./yard after getting that kind of coating as most 1.1 oz. silnylon gets a 1200mm hydro head coating and weighs about 1.45 oz./yard after the coating.

Intriguing design. I like the 'awning' version (if nice weather, I've never liked the feeling of being cocooned in a tent--nice to be able to see out if you want as that's kind why we are out there--to experience these beautiful places, day or night) as you can see on the awning side of the shelter, the solid wall goes up a bit higher. I'm sure that they could do that custom all around the tent and the awning idea would be nice. Issue is that I often use my trekking poles all day while the tent is pitched at a 'base camp' for a day or two and so I need a non-trekking pole supported tent. I wonder if LightHeart has some UL tent poles for their tents. Might be worth a call.

http://www.lightheartgear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=&products_id=5

http://www.lightheartgear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=&products_id=18

Looks like that for another $70 and 1lb. 2oz in poles (combined weight of 2 alum. poles and carbon awning pole, that this could be done. Hmmm...does put it right up into the weight of the other tents though and this is a very long and wide tent--might be tough in some spots.

Emailed them about the 3500mm floor in the awning and custom height of solid tent body walls.

HJ:

"I'm wondering where LightHeart gets 3500mm hydro head 1.1 oz. silnylon? It must weigh 2oz./yard after getting that kind of coating as most 1.1 oz. silnylon gets a 1200mm hydro head coating and weighs about 1.45 oz./yard after the coating."

The HH of silnylon is not a function of its weight. There are sils weighing 1.36 oz/s/y including the coating that have HH above 35kPa. Durability of the coating is also important, and it not assured by the HH of a new fabric. It is the quality, not the quantity of the coating that counts. You can read all about this in Richard's test articles on this site, and if you do not want to rely on the tentmaker's specs, there are also posts on this site that show you how to build your own HH tester.

Yep...LightHeart says this 3500mm HH silnylon they use is the same weight as the 1200mm stuff, just a different formulation of silicone to accomplish the higher HH. Sure are alot of people here in the states that would like to get ahold of some of that but it's a Chinese mill special it appears and smaller manufactureres like LightHeart can't afford or won't by in the 3K yard quantities required from these mills.

Samuel, do you know where to get that 1.36 oz. silnylon with 35kPa rating? Is that out of Europe?

I have read a few of Richard's test articles. Fascinating stuff. Perhaps I need to reread them...

Edited by jmden on 01/23/2012 21:12:03 MST.

HJ,
Just checked, and thru-hiker is still selling their current silnylon in yellow and gray for $12.95 a running yard. It was tested by Lance Marshall, and the result was posted here a while back, in an update later in his thread about making your own HH tester:

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=44977&startat=20

The material had some water penetration at 3358mm HH, where Lance stopped the test.
I don't know if it went up to 3500mm, but the results were excellent IMO. There are also some comments on the thread by Richard about another test to 3500mm, but they do not state if the material was from Thru-Hiker. I'm not using the term, "Shield," silnylon; because anybody can stick a name on something - it's the tests and the reliability of the source that matter more to me.

I have a fair amount of older silnylon purchased 7-10 years ago that is much better than most of what is now available; but the Thru-Hiker stuff is the first I've run into that I could not squeeze water through with moderate pressure from my thumb and index finger. I'm very impressed with it, and appreciate that Paul Nanian has gone to the trouble to make it available for a reasonable price.

I might prefer the 1.26 oz .18 black-tinted cuben that Zpacks sells for a floor; but it is a close call. I also stretched the Thru-Hiker material in a 9" plastic embroidery loop, and observed the amount of sag when exposing it to lower temperatures. It loosened in the loop, but substantially less than any other silnylon I've tested that way. i think it would work great on any tent or tarp that is tensioned, like a Warmlite or one of Roger's tents, so that slack is taken up when the nylon expands a bit. Nylon is just a naturally flexible material, and does expand during temp drops. Thinner nylon tends to show this more. I think all the very thin materials, including sub once ounce thinner cuben, have their issues.

Hope all that is of some interest to you.

I got some of that Shield silnylon from thru-hiker that Richard recommended, for bivy floor.

Seems good but I haven't used it much yet.

I have several hiking pole supported tents, and it is no big thing to take the poles in and out to use them during the day. With my Lightheart Gear Solong 6 can take them out or put them back it in less than a minute, once the tent is set up. Maybe you can have the best of both worlds!!

Thanks for the info. As most of us are, I'm always interested in keeping up on the best fabrics and their sources!

I'll think about that a bit more. Thanks!

Samuel,

The Shield (TM) silynylon that I tested was from Thru-Hiker. I am not aware of any other high quality silnylon source for the DIY folks. See "Shield Silnylon +1 on 10/04/2011 21:42:31 MDT" found at http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=44977&startat=20

Richard,
Thank you for that confirmation and link.
You and Roger have made it possible for me to make gear while having some idea of what I'm doing and what the outcome will be.
Hope your posts are at least of equal value to those why by their gear ready-made.