Looking for closed tarp style tent using no poles....

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Jun 17, 2012
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Basically I'm looking for a tube tent. Tie a rope between two trees hoisting up the tent, with some stakes spreading out the bottom. It needs to keep out the bugs for summer, but I don't care about it breathing at all.

I was thinking about this when thinking about how to reduce the weight of my tent. Currently the Northface Tadpole 23.
 
Basically I'm looking for a tube tent.
Tube tents are still made, but before I'd ever go that route, I'd get a bivy sack. Tube tents really offer nothing and the cons probably outweight their pros. That said, I know of no tarptent not requiring at least one pole. I use a tarp often and a tent less so. My tarp is an '80's vintage Australian S-59 shelter, aka Aussie hootchie. I choose a tarp over a tarptent because a tarp provides more options/flexibility. My S-59 and a 3'X6' piece of Tyvek for a ground cloth make for a very light shelter.
 
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if you just want to keep bugs out you can go with a regular tarp and a rectangular bug net (for maximum room).

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if you really don't want to use a bug net then a kifaru supertarp with annex (front door) might be close to what you want - right at 1.50 lbs. the smaller version, the paratarp is even lighter. here's my supertarp with two poles in the inside but if you look on the outside two peaks there are loops there for cordage as well.

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interior pic from a different trip...where the two poles are there are corresponding loops outside.

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Basically I'm looking for a tube tent. Tie a rope between two trees hoisting up the tent, with some stakes spreading out the bottom. It needs to keep out the bugs for summer, but I don't care about it breathing at all.

I was thinking about this when thinking about how to reduce the weight of my tent. Currently the Northface Tadpole 23.


I'm not sure you'll be able to find all you want with this approach.

In the woods of New England, we have a lot of trees but precious little flat ground to sleep on. For where I camp, I find that relying on trees to tie out a tarp becomes problematic because when I find good trees to use, the ground between them is awful. So, I start with finding a good place to put my bivy on the ground first, and then put my tarp over that spot. Most of the time, this involves using my hiking poles (or dead fall) to keep it up. If you're used to having no poles underneath, this may take some getting used to, but it is possible to adjust and I find the extra flexibility to be well worth it.

With respect to bugs.... I've been using a tarp tent and tarps for years. In my experience, if you want protection from bugs, you have 3 options which you may need to use together. 1) Get a headnet. I keep one in my "10 essentials" kit and it's always in my pack. 2) Use a bivy sack with a built in bug net. It's stuffy and not ideal but it's a way to eat your dinner without going insane. 3) Use a lightweight integrated traditional tent.

You will notice that I didn't list either using a tarp tent or a tarp tent in conjunction with a bug liner. No tarp or tarp tent is going to keep out bugs. It just won't. And by time you add a bug liner to a tarp tent, IMO you're better off in terms of weight and usability just get an ultralight fully integrated tent. For the best weight savings, look for non-free standing tents. The problem with the Tadpole (we have the grand-daddy Big Frog) is that it's freestanding and generally speaking, all free standing designs are heavier. You can easily find a 1 man integrated non-freestanding tent in the sub 3 lb range and it's very hard to cobble together a tarp tent/bug liner/ground sheet solution for less weight. The Eureka Spitfire 1 is one of several 1 man tents that get under the 3 lb mark.
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For where I camp (in New England), I no longer use either a tarp tent or a tarp unless I use a bivy sack. Run off along the ground is a problem (I choose to not trench my campsites as it scars the land where I camp) and both tarps (better) and enclosable tarp tents (worse) are prone to having so much condensation under them so as to cause rain inside the tarp. I still prefer a tarp/bivy to an integrated tent at this point because I enjoy the elbow room and being close to the outside world, but IME there is a realistic weight limit that I have a hard time getting past. For me, that is right around 2.5 lbs for shelter. Most light bivies come in around 1 lb, a tarp is about 1 lb (unless you spend big $s), and then toss in cordage and stakes and I'm right around 2.5 lbs.

For what it's worth... our Big Frog tarp could be pitched without the inner tent. This relied on two things. First, there are Velcro wraps on the underside of the tarp at every pole intersection. Second, it came with (and I promptly lost) a length of webbing with grommets in it. This strap ran along the ground to hold the ends of the front arch pole from spreading out - essentially replacing the structure provided by the tent floor. You might be able to jury rig something similar with a length of parachord. The velcro wraps at the pole intersections add some rigidity too. Anyway, this might give you a way to experiment with an enclosed tarp tent.

Lastly, many tarp tent designs have loops or grommets at the top corners to allow for the possibility of hanging from a guy line or branch. The Black Diamond Beta Light (loops) and the Kelty Range Tarp (grommets) both have this feature.

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But again, I prefer to use poles for greater flexibility in location choice.
 
There have been some good ideas so far, I don't have much to add, besides keep in mind that once you take away your advantage of a free-standing tent, you need to gain some advantage back, and the only way to do that is to have a very adaptable system. I like the idea of bug net and tarp, not a fan of bivy bags myself, but they have their place. Breath-ability will be a factor, I've always found that if its warm enough for bugs, I want air movement, otherwise everything is soaked in the morning.

As has been mentioned there are a lot of shaped tarp shelters on the market, but a square is going to be most adaptable for you. I think thats the important factor if you want to stay away from poles. At least then your worst case situation is using the tarp burrito style.

I don't know of any quality tube tents on the market, so hopefully someone can actually answer that question. To my mind its got the disadvantage of a hammock (needing good tree placement) without the advantage (not caring what the ground is like)
 
Since you are pitching between trees have you considered a hammock? Hennessy hammock for example.

The other option would be a bivy shelter.
 
That's news to me... I suppose you could pitch the hammock touching the ground when the inspectors come around and call it a bug screen with overhead tarp. :)
 
A lot of the bans seem to be coming via urban parks that get overrun with students, but due to some of the management, that can lead to a blanket ban in other places, or so I've heard, I might be misunderstanding that. LNT.org is supposed to have some guidelines out either currently or very soon that will allow for better regulations to be put in place.

A hammock would be a reasonable choice if your local trees are capable of supporting it, and you don't mind re-learning a lot of stuff, but its not for everyone.
 
I suggest you get your fellow hammock campers to follow suit most rickytick. You can use the eye roll emoticon, but the fact remains that damage to trees is exactly why hammocks are now being banned on public lands. Just look at CA's latest regulations as one example. Some Oregon and Washington state parks have already banned hammocks too. We're likely to see much more of the same across the country.
 
Basically I'm looking for a tube tent. Tie a rope between two trees hoisting up the tent, with some stakes spreading out the bottom. It needs to keep out the bugs for summer, but I don't care about it breathing at all.

I was thinking about this when thinking about how to reduce the weight of my tent. Currently the Northface Tadpole 23.

There's a lot more information needed here. Are you looking at a specific area, where you can be guaranteed suitable trees and flat ground? Or do you want something that can be pitched pretty much anywhere? You're talking about 'summer' (a nice sunny day, or relentless heat and humidity?) and keeping bugs out, but you don't care about breathability? I can definitely appreciate wanting to keep the bugs out, but breathability and airflow are crucial to maintaining sanity when it gets really hot. For me, I'd go with what you've got, or get something similar in a one-man version. The versatility of being able to camp above or below the tree-line, and having an integrated structure that can stand up to high winds, be pitched fly-less as a mossie tent in summer or with fly in rain, snow etc, far outweighs the very slight weight loss.
 
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