I'm evaluating my choices for a cuben tent. I've looked at the Zpacks hexamid twin with its full netting floor. It's time tested and many people love it.

I've yet to see a pyramid style tent with a full netting floor. There are those with perimeter netting. The Bearpaws Luna 2 is an example.

From a design perspective, would a Luna 2, with a full netting floor, make any sense? The objective would be to provide a taller version of the Zpacks hexamid twin. An inner net tent you would diminish the useable space inside to some degree and it would be heavier than using a full net bottom.

Maybe I'm crazy and this concept wouldn't work. I'm curious what others think.

The owner does custom work quite reasonably priced. If you wanted a full net floor, I think he would do it.

I've got a BPWD Lair with an extended beak, vent and full net floor/door, so don't see why it can't be done with another model?

...why no one is offering it as an option with a pyramid-style tent. I can't think of a downside but if no one is offering it then something's amiss.

If snows or there is a solid frost, netting is a problem.

Typical 'mids have a zipper in the center of a panel, which when opened, and the flaps pulled back, is a complex challenge for a netting door.

'Mids are often pitched at various heights to deal with wind and rain, or not. Enough netting to pitch high will be drooping in your face when pitched low.

All that netting and zippers adds weight. About 10 yards of material at .75 oz/yard. 'Mid folks are prone to cutting off buckles to save an ounce.

Would you pay and extra $100 for netting?

Add your reason here:

So the default is no netting.

Edited by greg23 on 01/26/2013 08:13:42 MST.

You'd have to add an extra zipper along the bottom of the door so that it could open. Zpacks is about the only person offering a net floor on any shelter but if you really want it Bearpaw is probably the guy to ask. My thought is that if I want a floor in a shelter I probably want it to be waterproof. For strictly bug protection, a net skirt is normally enough and much lighter than a full net floor.

Adam

I think Greg did a pretty succinct job of detailing exactly why not :)

A few thoughts.

--I won't be out when there is a frost, or snow, short of something totally unexpected.
--I live in an area with a ton of bugs where I would want netting. The only issue is how to minimize the weight and still be functional.
--I'm prefer more than just perimeter netting.
--Yes, I would pay for more netting if the concept works.

There wouldn't be any netting to droop in one's face because the only netting would be along the perimeter, and bottom, just like the Zpacks Hexamid.

I would then add some groundsheet inside the tent. Maybe tyvek, maybe cuben. Don't know at this point.

Add my reason here:

There would be significantly less netting (and thus less weight) than using an innernet as the netting on all four sides are completely eliminated. BPWD shows an example of the Luna 4 with a netting door and perimeter netting. In my example, the only additional work is adding the netting to have a full floor of it.

http://bearpawwd.com/tents_tarps/tent_images/luna/dluna_4.jpg

Edited by wiiawiwb on 01/26/2013 08:47:12 MST.

"...There wouldn't be any netting to droop in one's face because the only netting would be along the perimeter..."

Door Netting

Have a "bathtub floor" of netting with velcro at corners and maybe a couple places on the sides, with matching velcro on the tent.

If you're in a no bug situation, you could just leave it at home.

There would be potential netting droop there.

if you live w/ a lot of bugs and you don't have to worry about snow/frost, then there is a fair chance you do have to worry about heat/humidity? if so w/ a mid you'll want the option of the door wide open

The 'mid would look like the picture of the Luna 4 I linked to above. The cuben doors could be rolled back and the bugs would be kept out by the netting door and floor.

Interesting to note as well, is that Zpacks listing indicates a ground sheet is required with the netting floor.

- "A ground sheet is required (sold separately). A Cuben Fiber Bathtub Groundsheet is available, or you can use Tyvek or a Poncho or another less expensive material to make your own groundsheet."

If you are going to have to take a ground sheet too, it basically negates the weight savings of the netting floor and limits its winter use.

i have a Luna 4 with perimeter netting and full net door. it weighs 40 oz or 14 more than the Luna 4 without any netting. Mine has no floor. It is definitly lighter to go with a net tent but way easier to set up and more spacious to add netting.

I've used my oware 9x9 pyramid with perimeter netting at the height of bug season in the boundary waters and that is some of the most serious bug action in the us. After a treatment with permethrin and using a ground cloth the bugs were no issue in the mid. I think a full netting floor that big would be much more problems that it is worth. I would prefer a detachable groundsheet of sil that attached to the netting maybe just for ease of set up (not having to make sure the netting is down on all corners)

Edited by justaddfuel on 01/27/2013 09:02:24 MST.

Double post, sorry.

Edited by wiiawiwb on 01/27/2013 12:11:01 MST.

> Interesting to note as well, is that Zpacks listing indicates a ground sheet is required with the netting floor.

Ah, I was wondering how you kept all the mud and debris from collecting on the netting and then getting your tarp all filthy. Is the floor really gaining you anything a skirt doesn't then?

Here's a link to a custom removable cuben floor that Bearpaws did for an MLD Supermid:

http://bearpawwd.com/custom/custom_images/MLDsupermidnettingfloor_3.jpg

I don't see why this approach couldn't be used with a cuben Luna 2.

Any drawbacks to this type of floor/netting design? Where I hike it rains a fair amount so the perimeter design would be important to keep things dry inside.

"Ah, I was wondering how you kept all the mud and debris from collecting on the netting and then getting your tarp all filthy."

The netting does collect a lot of stuff. The worst are the catkins that are all sappy on the outside. You have to pick then off individually. Everything else shakes off easily.


"Is the floor really gaining you anything a skirt doesn't then?"

I've done skirted perimeters in the past. You need about 12" of material on the ground flaring away from the shelter to confound the bugs and critters. If the skirt is tucked under they will just follow it in. Either way (usually) works for mosquitoes, as they are following a heat/chemical plume which is usually drifting out from the top of the netting.

Keeping the skirt flared out and tight to the ground requires rocks or stakes, and time.

With a Hexamid Solo Plus, by the time you looks at the 12" skirt from each side it doesn't take much more material to go across the bottom and gain a complete enclosure.

I do a fair amount of hiking in snake and scorpion country, and it seems like mice are everywhere. I don't care for any of them, so full enclosure is my shelter design of choice.

Edited by greg23 on 01/27/2013 13:27:47 MST.