Ralph Ditton
2005-04-22 00:44:51 UTC
This is my second owner review now being submitted for your attention.
Snowgum Storm Shelter 2 Tent Owner Review
Personal Information :
Name : Ralph Ditton
Age : 53
Gender : Male
Height : 1. 76m (5 9)
Weight : 79 kg (12 st 6 lb) (174 lb)
Email : rdassetts-sFbbPxZDHXw0n/***@public.gmane.org
City : Perth, Western Australia
Date : 18th April, 2005
Backpacking Background :
Apart from my Air Force Cadet days, age from 13 to 17, where we camped out
in the bush, I only took up backpacking seriously some four years ago.
I have been walking the Bibbulmun Track in sections, some sections more than
once, and usually in the opposite direction, and my goal is to complete the
964 km (603 mi) and become and End to End walker. So far I have completed
approximately 2/3 of the Track from North to South, and ¼ South to North.
I have evolved from a very heavyweight (averaging 28 kg [61. 5 lb])
backpacker to a midweight backpacker, averaging on the first day out, 18 kg
(38 lb) and I am aiming to go lower, funds permitting to purchase more
lightweight gear. Food and water are included in the weights.
My trips are usually between 3 to 5 days duration.
Product Information :
Model : Storm Shelter 2 Tent
Manufacturer : Snowgum
Year of Manufacture : 2000
Year of Purchase : 2001
Made in : Vietnam
Website : www.snowgum.com.au <http://www.snowgum.com.au/>
Seasons Ratings : 4
Style : Dome
Pitches : Inner first
Sleeping Capacity : 2 persons
Manufacturers listed weight : 3. 1 kg (6. 83 lb)
Actual weight : 3. 67 kg (8. 09 lb)
Fly : 1. 15 kg (2. 54 lb)
Inner : 1. 25 kg ( 2. 76 lb)
Pegs : 180 gm (6. 35 oz)
Poles : 575 gm (20. 28 oz)
Pack : 175 gm (6. 17 oz)
Ground Sheet (Optional) : 28 gm (9. 88 oz)
Number of Poles and Material : 2 1/2 , 7071 Aluminium Alloy, shock corded.
Length of Poles : Long 3. 965 m (13 ft) Short 1. 23 m (4. 04 ft)
Number of Doors : 2
Number of Vestibules : 2
Fly/Floor Fabric : Polyester Ripstop UV Resistant, Seam sealed/ Nylon
Fly/Floor Waterhead : 2000/5000 mm (6. 56 ft/16. 4 ft)
Floor Dimensions : 210 cm x 135 cm (6. 89 ft x 4. 43 ft)
Peak Height (Inner) : 125 cm (4. 1 ft)
Colour : Marine
MSRP : AU$349
Optional Ground Sheet : AU$29. 95c
Optional Rectangular Gear Loft : AU$14. 95c
Overview :
The Snowgum Storm Shelter 2 (there is a No. 3 for three people version) is a
double skin, freestanding dome tent. The manufacturer states that the tent
is a four season tent below the snowline. There is no instruction booklet
with the tent, only a single piece of paper, printed on both sides, of Dos
and Donts , where to select a tent site, a warning about flicking the
poles as they could be damaged by this action, and informing the owner of
the short piece of hollow aluminium tube found with the poles. It is the
tent pole repair sleeve. Finally there is the marketing angle as to where I
can purchase spare parts and accessories.
Choosing this tent :
After a very early experience of being caught out at a Hut site without a
tent, I decided to do some research on what type of tent to purchase with an
upper limit on my budget of AU$450. Once the budget was set, I set the
parameters to weight, pack size, inside height and the slope of the walls,
whether they cleared my face by a good margin or came down at a severe angle
nearly touching my face causing claustrophobia.
At the cheaper end of the market, the tents were either one or two seasons
and used very heavy fibreglass poles. Ultralight tents were few and far
between and very expensive. Within the upper limits of my budget I found the
Snowgum Storm Shelter 2 and it has suited my need to date, although,
technology has made it a bit of a dinosaur due to its weight. I purchased a
two person as opposed to a single, because my son was walking with me on
earlier hikes. He has not come since the purchase.
Some time after my purchase, I became aware of tents that could be pitched
fly first, but they were very expensive, so I examined mine to see what
could be achieved
Features of the Fly :
There are two ventilation ports towards the peak of the fly, one on either
side, to allow flow through ventilation. They can be closed from the inside
by pushing the wall of the inner to the outer edge of the port and making
contact with the Velcro, or, alternatively, I can go outside and push down
on the top of the port to close it.
Reflective tape is on the vents and guy points for night use. I have also
replaced the guy cords that came with the tent with reflective cords
(another optional extra) so as not to trip over them in the dark. All the
seams are factory tape sealed and the peg out points are reinforced. No
additional seam sealing has been required by me.
The fly has two openings, one on each side, that are opened and closed by
using a YKK zip and as an added feature, are further sealed, when closed, by
strips of Velcro placed at intervals along the seam. The openings can be
regulated as to how far I can open them up by rolling up the door of the fly
and tying off at one of two positions by way of fixed toggle points. That
is, halfway open or fully open.
The fly has twelve (12) peg and storm-guy points.
Features of the Inner :
The inner tent is rectangle-shaped when pitched, with two sides 2. 1 m (6.
89 ft) and the other two 1. 35 m (4. 43 ft). The inner tub floor is made
of very thin nylon and the walls are polyester. It has two doors that are
double layered. One layer is see- through mesh which acts as a window, and
the inner layer is polyester. When both panels are closed together, I can
not see out.
The tub floor has factory tape sealed seams. I have not had to do any
further sealing. The sides of the nylon tub floor are high to prevent
rainwater from entering, and to prevent splash on the lower parts of the
mesh doors, which makes getting in and out of the tent slightly awkward
since I have to step over a 30 cm (11. 8 in) barrier.
To either remove or put on my boots, I have to sit on the inside of the tent
with my knees well bent over the bottom edge of the door, with my feet in
the vestibule. I am not keen on bringing unnecessary dirt into my tent. I
always use a footprint groundsheet (an optional extra) made for the Storm
Shelter 2 to protect the floor and keep it relatively clean.
The two large door, 88 cm long x 83 cm high (2. 89 ft x 2. 72 ft), one on
each of the longer sides of the tent, are double meshed, so I can regulate
the internal heat somewhat by unzipping one panel, the polyester one, and
rolling it back and tie into place with the appropriate toggle, and still
leave the other panel in place to keep out insects. When it is cold, I want
to keep heat in, so I leave both panels zipped together. The make of the
zips on the inner are YKK.
On each side wall, diagonally opposite each other in the bottom corners, are
good sized diagonal mesh pockets where I store a torch, toiletries, reading
material and water to drink during the night. They are very handy for those
small items that can get lost in my bedding and loose clothing laying inside
the tent.
The gear loft is a handy extra to lay a torch on so I can illuminate the
tent at night to read by. In addition, I also put some clothing up there,
mainly socks for the next day, or to pop on during the night should I get
cold feet, and nibblies like nuts, biltong (dried marinated meat strips) and
Mars Bars (the small ones) to tide me over during the evening when I am
reading.
The inside of the inner tent is very roomy for one, bit crowded for two, but
height wise it is very good with the roof being slightly peaked at the
centre. The gear loft does sag a little, but my head still clears it when I
sit up. A fellow walker commented on the height of my pitched inner by
saying that it was very high at 1 ¼ m (4 10).
Pitching the tent :
To pitch the tent, the two longer lightweight 7071 Shock Corded Aluminium
Alloy Poles with locking pole tips are placed into grommets at the corners
of the inner tent, crossed, and clipped to plastic hooks on the outside of
the inner tent. They keep the inner taut. The fly takes the short pole
across the centre to help create the vestibules. The fly is attached to the
inner tent frame by way of Velcro straps, one halfway up on each side. The
base of the fly then clips onto the male section extruding from each of the
four corners of the inner by way of a webbing strap, locking all into
position. The short pole is the most difficult to install into its pockets
on the fly. I have to bend the pole a bit, and being short, there is not a
lot of flex to play with.
On a number of occasions when it is warm, I have just pitched the inner
only, to provide a bug free shelter, and no pegs are required. When I use
the fly, I like to peg out the fly entrances. If I dont do this, I lose the
vestibule space on either side of the tent as the fly wants to collapse
against the doors of the inner tent when not pegged out. However, I can
still put gear in the space but the outer walls flap around against the
backpack and whatever else I put out there. Only by pegging out the fly
entrances do I have two fully functioning vestibules. This is where the
minimum number of pegs comes in, and in this case it is four (4).
When I am erecting the tent by myself in fine weather, it takes me around
seven (7) minutes, and to peg out, another three (3) minutes. I am not
trying to break any speed record as the weather is pleasant, so there is no
hurry. I find the tent very user friendly to erect. As a speed trial in my
yard, I was able to erect the tent just under five (5) minutes and pegged
out around two and a half (2 ½) minutes. There is a potential problem I
became aware of when doing the speed trial, and that is snapping the shock
cord in the poles, because the quickest way to put the poles together is to
flick the arrangement like a whip, but not as vigorous. To dismantle the
tent, I can do it much quicker, around four (4) minutes, and that includes
removing the pegs, but not folding up and packing away
Although the tent is designed as an Inner Pitch First, I have worked out a
method of pitching the fly first to protect the inner from getting wet
during wet weather, and it only takes me a few minutes longer.
I lay the fly face down on the ground, insert the short pole into position,
then strap the other two poles onto the fly where they belong, there are
four Velcro straps/loops, and this is where the innovation comes in, I place
the tip of one long pole in the loop at the end of the webbing that has the
Male part of a clip which matches up with the Female part of the clip
attaching to the inner tent, then I bend the pole into its diagonally
opposite end loop. Then I repeat the process for the other pole. All is in
place and I the right the fly, hop under it and hook up the inner to the
poles. When that task is complete, I then remove the tip of each pole, in
turn, and place it in its correct position, ie., the metal eyelet attached
to inner tent in each corner. All I have to do is then go outside, clip the
fly and inner together and peg out.
To date, I have done it twice when it started to rain.
I am unable to use the fly as a stand alone tent as the pole tips in the
loops put stress on the stitching, so it is very much an emergency action
for inclement weather.
Field Information :
I have used my Snowgum Storm Shelter 2 in all seasons whilst backpacking on
the Bibbulmun Track in the South West of Western Australia (WA). The major
use has been in winter conditions and rain is pretty well guaranteed on most
days and nights. The South West of Western Australia is characterised by a
Mediterranean climate with hot dry summers (16 C 42 C [61 F 108 F])
(December to March) and cool wet winters ranging from -3 C to 28 C (26 F to
85. 5 F) (June to August).
Terrain on the track is undulating, ranging from 0 to 585 metres (0 to 1,920
ft).
Within this region I backpack along old forestry roads, sandy tracks, and
purpose- built walking tracks.
Use :
Ventilation between the inner and fly is meant to minimise condensation and
to keep the occupants warmer in colder conditions. However, on warm, still,
sunny days, I found that I could not stay very long inside the tent as the
interior was much hotter than the outside. The fabric appeared to magnify
the temperature. I even rolled back the inner and fly doors to vent the heat
and it worked to a degree, but it still was uncomfortable to be inside, so I
would take myself outside and occupy myself doing other task or just sit
under a tree and watch nature till evening when the interior becomes much
more pleasant.
The manufacturer states that the tent is a four season tent below the
snowline, and I find this to be correct. I have never camped in snow as it
is an extremely scarce commodity in W.A.
There are two big door openings in the fly which can be closed enough to
keep me dry when it is raining, and still provide extra ventilation to
minimise condensation, and there are two vestibules created when the tent is
pegged out provide enough room for gear. In this area I store my boots,
backpack, collapsible kitchen sink and drinking water. Mostly I store items
in one vestibule and use the other vestibule for entry and exit.
To date, I have not shared the tent with another person, but there is
definitely enough space for another mattress.
When hard surfaces are encountered, and I have to pitch the tent
freestanding without pegs, I bring my backpack inside the inner, but I do
leave my boots outside the inner but under the fly.
There is a certain skill, arrived at through trial and error, on how to
repack the tent into its pack. The sleeve for the poles is not quiet
correct, as I find the Velcro strip is slightly out of alignment and does
not stay sealed when the poles are in the sleeve and the pack is rolled up
into its normal format. In my opinion, there is a small risk losing the
poles as the end is completely open. Probably the reason the poles have not
become lost, is that the rolled pack is tensioned by two straps going around
its circumference. But should the straps not compress the pack enough, and
the whole arrangement is a bit loose, and the disaster of lost poles could
happen.
Worst Conditions :
The worst conditions in which I have used this tent, and I was on my own,
was during an electrical thunderstorm when condensation actually formed on
the inside of the tent and made the inner quite damp.
My sleeping bag got wet on the foot end where it came into contact with the
wall of the tub floor.
I did slightly get rained upon inside the tent when the Earth shook from the
many claps of thunder, thereby vibrating the condensation from the inside
of the tent and gravity took over the droplets.
No damage was suffered by the tent, but the lower part of the tent fly was
very dirty from the splashing up of the rain mixing mud and water together ,
and the webbing attached to the locking pole tips were caked in mud and
saturated.
Summary :
The tent has been a very loyal friend to me throughout extreme weather and
warm nights, but it is now five years old technology.
There are no signs of wear and is still an excellent tent.
I see the tents future being taken in a vehicle and used at campsites at a
beach by my children, who have done this on a number of occasions.
I would like to see the manufacturer install one metal eyelet on each of the
webbing straps at each corner as this would give the tent an option of being
pitched Rain-Fly-First without any possible damage being done to the end
loops of the webbing and/or another possibility would be to modify the
dedicated optional groundsheet by adding metal eyelets on each corner by way
of Tabs, in lieu of the existing fabric loops. The locking pole tips would
lock into position. Once the tent is erected, it is just a matter of going
to each corner in turn, removing the locking pole tip from the groundsheet
eyelet and/ or webbing eyelet and reassemble the inner tent corners first,
fly corners second and groundsheet last.
Features I like about the Storm Shelter 2 :
Easy to pitch
Freestanding
Good cross ventilation
Able to Rain-Fly-First Pitch (My innovation)
Good Door design
Storage pockets
Accommodates a Tent Loft
Features I dislike about the Storm Shelter 2 :
Heavy
Storage bag is too short to be strapped horizontal to my Backpack. I have to
roll it up differently out of the Tent pack.
Very stuffy and hot inside on a hot/warm day
Stress on webbing when pitched fly-first
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Snowgum Storm Shelter 2 Tent Owner Review
Personal Information :
Name : Ralph Ditton
Age : 53
Gender : Male
Height : 1. 76m (5 9)
Weight : 79 kg (12 st 6 lb) (174 lb)
Email : rdassetts-sFbbPxZDHXw0n/***@public.gmane.org
City : Perth, Western Australia
Date : 18th April, 2005
Backpacking Background :
Apart from my Air Force Cadet days, age from 13 to 17, where we camped out
in the bush, I only took up backpacking seriously some four years ago.
I have been walking the Bibbulmun Track in sections, some sections more than
once, and usually in the opposite direction, and my goal is to complete the
964 km (603 mi) and become and End to End walker. So far I have completed
approximately 2/3 of the Track from North to South, and ¼ South to North.
I have evolved from a very heavyweight (averaging 28 kg [61. 5 lb])
backpacker to a midweight backpacker, averaging on the first day out, 18 kg
(38 lb) and I am aiming to go lower, funds permitting to purchase more
lightweight gear. Food and water are included in the weights.
My trips are usually between 3 to 5 days duration.
Product Information :
Model : Storm Shelter 2 Tent
Manufacturer : Snowgum
Year of Manufacture : 2000
Year of Purchase : 2001
Made in : Vietnam
Website : www.snowgum.com.au <http://www.snowgum.com.au/>
Seasons Ratings : 4
Style : Dome
Pitches : Inner first
Sleeping Capacity : 2 persons
Manufacturers listed weight : 3. 1 kg (6. 83 lb)
Actual weight : 3. 67 kg (8. 09 lb)
Fly : 1. 15 kg (2. 54 lb)
Inner : 1. 25 kg ( 2. 76 lb)
Pegs : 180 gm (6. 35 oz)
Poles : 575 gm (20. 28 oz)
Pack : 175 gm (6. 17 oz)
Ground Sheet (Optional) : 28 gm (9. 88 oz)
Number of Poles and Material : 2 1/2 , 7071 Aluminium Alloy, shock corded.
Length of Poles : Long 3. 965 m (13 ft) Short 1. 23 m (4. 04 ft)
Number of Doors : 2
Number of Vestibules : 2
Fly/Floor Fabric : Polyester Ripstop UV Resistant, Seam sealed/ Nylon
Fly/Floor Waterhead : 2000/5000 mm (6. 56 ft/16. 4 ft)
Floor Dimensions : 210 cm x 135 cm (6. 89 ft x 4. 43 ft)
Peak Height (Inner) : 125 cm (4. 1 ft)
Colour : Marine
MSRP : AU$349
Optional Ground Sheet : AU$29. 95c
Optional Rectangular Gear Loft : AU$14. 95c
Overview :
The Snowgum Storm Shelter 2 (there is a No. 3 for three people version) is a
double skin, freestanding dome tent. The manufacturer states that the tent
is a four season tent below the snowline. There is no instruction booklet
with the tent, only a single piece of paper, printed on both sides, of Dos
and Donts , where to select a tent site, a warning about flicking the
poles as they could be damaged by this action, and informing the owner of
the short piece of hollow aluminium tube found with the poles. It is the
tent pole repair sleeve. Finally there is the marketing angle as to where I
can purchase spare parts and accessories.
Choosing this tent :
After a very early experience of being caught out at a Hut site without a
tent, I decided to do some research on what type of tent to purchase with an
upper limit on my budget of AU$450. Once the budget was set, I set the
parameters to weight, pack size, inside height and the slope of the walls,
whether they cleared my face by a good margin or came down at a severe angle
nearly touching my face causing claustrophobia.
At the cheaper end of the market, the tents were either one or two seasons
and used very heavy fibreglass poles. Ultralight tents were few and far
between and very expensive. Within the upper limits of my budget I found the
Snowgum Storm Shelter 2 and it has suited my need to date, although,
technology has made it a bit of a dinosaur due to its weight. I purchased a
two person as opposed to a single, because my son was walking with me on
earlier hikes. He has not come since the purchase.
Some time after my purchase, I became aware of tents that could be pitched
fly first, but they were very expensive, so I examined mine to see what
could be achieved
Features of the Fly :
There are two ventilation ports towards the peak of the fly, one on either
side, to allow flow through ventilation. They can be closed from the inside
by pushing the wall of the inner to the outer edge of the port and making
contact with the Velcro, or, alternatively, I can go outside and push down
on the top of the port to close it.
Reflective tape is on the vents and guy points for night use. I have also
replaced the guy cords that came with the tent with reflective cords
(another optional extra) so as not to trip over them in the dark. All the
seams are factory tape sealed and the peg out points are reinforced. No
additional seam sealing has been required by me.
The fly has two openings, one on each side, that are opened and closed by
using a YKK zip and as an added feature, are further sealed, when closed, by
strips of Velcro placed at intervals along the seam. The openings can be
regulated as to how far I can open them up by rolling up the door of the fly
and tying off at one of two positions by way of fixed toggle points. That
is, halfway open or fully open.
The fly has twelve (12) peg and storm-guy points.
Features of the Inner :
The inner tent is rectangle-shaped when pitched, with two sides 2. 1 m (6.
89 ft) and the other two 1. 35 m (4. 43 ft). The inner tub floor is made
of very thin nylon and the walls are polyester. It has two doors that are
double layered. One layer is see- through mesh which acts as a window, and
the inner layer is polyester. When both panels are closed together, I can
not see out.
The tub floor has factory tape sealed seams. I have not had to do any
further sealing. The sides of the nylon tub floor are high to prevent
rainwater from entering, and to prevent splash on the lower parts of the
mesh doors, which makes getting in and out of the tent slightly awkward
since I have to step over a 30 cm (11. 8 in) barrier.
To either remove or put on my boots, I have to sit on the inside of the tent
with my knees well bent over the bottom edge of the door, with my feet in
the vestibule. I am not keen on bringing unnecessary dirt into my tent. I
always use a footprint groundsheet (an optional extra) made for the Storm
Shelter 2 to protect the floor and keep it relatively clean.
The two large door, 88 cm long x 83 cm high (2. 89 ft x 2. 72 ft), one on
each of the longer sides of the tent, are double meshed, so I can regulate
the internal heat somewhat by unzipping one panel, the polyester one, and
rolling it back and tie into place with the appropriate toggle, and still
leave the other panel in place to keep out insects. When it is cold, I want
to keep heat in, so I leave both panels zipped together. The make of the
zips on the inner are YKK.
On each side wall, diagonally opposite each other in the bottom corners, are
good sized diagonal mesh pockets where I store a torch, toiletries, reading
material and water to drink during the night. They are very handy for those
small items that can get lost in my bedding and loose clothing laying inside
the tent.
The gear loft is a handy extra to lay a torch on so I can illuminate the
tent at night to read by. In addition, I also put some clothing up there,
mainly socks for the next day, or to pop on during the night should I get
cold feet, and nibblies like nuts, biltong (dried marinated meat strips) and
Mars Bars (the small ones) to tide me over during the evening when I am
reading.
The inside of the inner tent is very roomy for one, bit crowded for two, but
height wise it is very good with the roof being slightly peaked at the
centre. The gear loft does sag a little, but my head still clears it when I
sit up. A fellow walker commented on the height of my pitched inner by
saying that it was very high at 1 ¼ m (4 10).
Pitching the tent :
To pitch the tent, the two longer lightweight 7071 Shock Corded Aluminium
Alloy Poles with locking pole tips are placed into grommets at the corners
of the inner tent, crossed, and clipped to plastic hooks on the outside of
the inner tent. They keep the inner taut. The fly takes the short pole
across the centre to help create the vestibules. The fly is attached to the
inner tent frame by way of Velcro straps, one halfway up on each side. The
base of the fly then clips onto the male section extruding from each of the
four corners of the inner by way of a webbing strap, locking all into
position. The short pole is the most difficult to install into its pockets
on the fly. I have to bend the pole a bit, and being short, there is not a
lot of flex to play with.
On a number of occasions when it is warm, I have just pitched the inner
only, to provide a bug free shelter, and no pegs are required. When I use
the fly, I like to peg out the fly entrances. If I dont do this, I lose the
vestibule space on either side of the tent as the fly wants to collapse
against the doors of the inner tent when not pegged out. However, I can
still put gear in the space but the outer walls flap around against the
backpack and whatever else I put out there. Only by pegging out the fly
entrances do I have two fully functioning vestibules. This is where the
minimum number of pegs comes in, and in this case it is four (4).
When I am erecting the tent by myself in fine weather, it takes me around
seven (7) minutes, and to peg out, another three (3) minutes. I am not
trying to break any speed record as the weather is pleasant, so there is no
hurry. I find the tent very user friendly to erect. As a speed trial in my
yard, I was able to erect the tent just under five (5) minutes and pegged
out around two and a half (2 ½) minutes. There is a potential problem I
became aware of when doing the speed trial, and that is snapping the shock
cord in the poles, because the quickest way to put the poles together is to
flick the arrangement like a whip, but not as vigorous. To dismantle the
tent, I can do it much quicker, around four (4) minutes, and that includes
removing the pegs, but not folding up and packing away
Although the tent is designed as an Inner Pitch First, I have worked out a
method of pitching the fly first to protect the inner from getting wet
during wet weather, and it only takes me a few minutes longer.
I lay the fly face down on the ground, insert the short pole into position,
then strap the other two poles onto the fly where they belong, there are
four Velcro straps/loops, and this is where the innovation comes in, I place
the tip of one long pole in the loop at the end of the webbing that has the
Male part of a clip which matches up with the Female part of the clip
attaching to the inner tent, then I bend the pole into its diagonally
opposite end loop. Then I repeat the process for the other pole. All is in
place and I the right the fly, hop under it and hook up the inner to the
poles. When that task is complete, I then remove the tip of each pole, in
turn, and place it in its correct position, ie., the metal eyelet attached
to inner tent in each corner. All I have to do is then go outside, clip the
fly and inner together and peg out.
To date, I have done it twice when it started to rain.
I am unable to use the fly as a stand alone tent as the pole tips in the
loops put stress on the stitching, so it is very much an emergency action
for inclement weather.
Field Information :
I have used my Snowgum Storm Shelter 2 in all seasons whilst backpacking on
the Bibbulmun Track in the South West of Western Australia (WA). The major
use has been in winter conditions and rain is pretty well guaranteed on most
days and nights. The South West of Western Australia is characterised by a
Mediterranean climate with hot dry summers (16 C 42 C [61 F 108 F])
(December to March) and cool wet winters ranging from -3 C to 28 C (26 F to
85. 5 F) (June to August).
Terrain on the track is undulating, ranging from 0 to 585 metres (0 to 1,920
ft).
Within this region I backpack along old forestry roads, sandy tracks, and
purpose- built walking tracks.
Use :
Ventilation between the inner and fly is meant to minimise condensation and
to keep the occupants warmer in colder conditions. However, on warm, still,
sunny days, I found that I could not stay very long inside the tent as the
interior was much hotter than the outside. The fabric appeared to magnify
the temperature. I even rolled back the inner and fly doors to vent the heat
and it worked to a degree, but it still was uncomfortable to be inside, so I
would take myself outside and occupy myself doing other task or just sit
under a tree and watch nature till evening when the interior becomes much
more pleasant.
The manufacturer states that the tent is a four season tent below the
snowline, and I find this to be correct. I have never camped in snow as it
is an extremely scarce commodity in W.A.
There are two big door openings in the fly which can be closed enough to
keep me dry when it is raining, and still provide extra ventilation to
minimise condensation, and there are two vestibules created when the tent is
pegged out provide enough room for gear. In this area I store my boots,
backpack, collapsible kitchen sink and drinking water. Mostly I store items
in one vestibule and use the other vestibule for entry and exit.
To date, I have not shared the tent with another person, but there is
definitely enough space for another mattress.
When hard surfaces are encountered, and I have to pitch the tent
freestanding without pegs, I bring my backpack inside the inner, but I do
leave my boots outside the inner but under the fly.
There is a certain skill, arrived at through trial and error, on how to
repack the tent into its pack. The sleeve for the poles is not quiet
correct, as I find the Velcro strip is slightly out of alignment and does
not stay sealed when the poles are in the sleeve and the pack is rolled up
into its normal format. In my opinion, there is a small risk losing the
poles as the end is completely open. Probably the reason the poles have not
become lost, is that the rolled pack is tensioned by two straps going around
its circumference. But should the straps not compress the pack enough, and
the whole arrangement is a bit loose, and the disaster of lost poles could
happen.
Worst Conditions :
The worst conditions in which I have used this tent, and I was on my own,
was during an electrical thunderstorm when condensation actually formed on
the inside of the tent and made the inner quite damp.
My sleeping bag got wet on the foot end where it came into contact with the
wall of the tub floor.
I did slightly get rained upon inside the tent when the Earth shook from the
many claps of thunder, thereby vibrating the condensation from the inside
of the tent and gravity took over the droplets.
No damage was suffered by the tent, but the lower part of the tent fly was
very dirty from the splashing up of the rain mixing mud and water together ,
and the webbing attached to the locking pole tips were caked in mud and
saturated.
Summary :
The tent has been a very loyal friend to me throughout extreme weather and
warm nights, but it is now five years old technology.
There are no signs of wear and is still an excellent tent.
I see the tents future being taken in a vehicle and used at campsites at a
beach by my children, who have done this on a number of occasions.
I would like to see the manufacturer install one metal eyelet on each of the
webbing straps at each corner as this would give the tent an option of being
pitched Rain-Fly-First without any possible damage being done to the end
loops of the webbing and/or another possibility would be to modify the
dedicated optional groundsheet by adding metal eyelets on each corner by way
of Tabs, in lieu of the existing fabric loops. The locking pole tips would
lock into position. Once the tent is erected, it is just a matter of going
to each corner in turn, removing the locking pole tip from the groundsheet
eyelet and/ or webbing eyelet and reassemble the inner tent corners first,
fly corners second and groundsheet last.
Features I like about the Storm Shelter 2 :
Easy to pitch
Freestanding
Good cross ventilation
Able to Rain-Fly-First Pitch (My innovation)
Good Door design
Storage pockets
Accommodates a Tent Loft
Features I dislike about the Storm Shelter 2 :
Heavy
Storage bag is too short to be strapped horizontal to my Backpack. I have to
roll it up differently out of the Tent pack.
Very stuffy and hot inside on a hot/warm day
Stress on webbing when pitched fly-first
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