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Gossamer Gear Spinnshelter
Long-term
Report
Year 2004 Model
Reviewer
Stuart
Bilby
male
stu -AT- bwpl -D0T- co -D0T- nz
Age 38
176 cm
(5'9")
81 kg (179 lb)
Website
www.gossamergear.com
Measured Weight
12.8
oz (362 g) including tarp, poles, guylines and stuff sack.
A more
detailed description is given in my
Initial Report.
Testing
I
have now had the chance to use the Spinnshelter over eight nights,
including several nights of very heavy rainfall and some strong
winds.
Material
The
fabric is waterproof enough for tent use and the only water I found
on the inside seemed to be condensation. Like all the single wall
shelters I have used, the condensation on the inside walls was
sometimes heavy. On the notoriously damp West Coast of New Zealand,
on calm nights, both rainy and clear, the condensation reached
extreme levels with streams of it running down the inside of the
fabric. When there was heavy condensation on the inside of the
Spinnshelter, raindrops hitting the outside of the fabric caused a
spatter of cold condensation onto me. I have generally used
the Spinnshelter with a lightweight bivy sack and no groundsheet. The
bivy sack protects from any spatter except for the occasional
annoying spray on my face.
Making
a hollow in the spinnaker fabric and filling it up with water shows
that the fabric is still waterproof. The stuff sack, which is made of
the same fabric, got dirty and a little mouldy so I put it through
the washing machine. It came out much softer and quieter but
unfortunately was no longer waterproof to water placed in a hollow in
the fabric.
I questioned the manufacturer about this and he contacted the fabric manufacturer who suggested that mild soap and water used with a sponge was the appropriate way to clean the fabric and that heat and detergents could possibly affect the silicone based coating.
I have
not had strong winds while using the Spinnshelter since my Field
Report so I can’t comment further on the noisiness. It feels to
me as if the fabric has softened slightly but it still has that
crinkly noisy sail fabric feel about it.
Pitching Options
In
summer it is nice to pitch the Spinnshelter high off the ground and
by using an extra stick to hold up one side it makes a usable shelter
for two. This is useful flexibility that is not available in tents
with sewn in floors.
In windy rainy weather the
standard pitch provides complete protection and I never had problems
with rain coming in. It is completely buttoned down and sheltered
from wind-driven rain. The peg loops, which are mounted about an inch
(2.5 cm) up the sidewalls mean that there is generally no gap at the
bottom to allow fugitive rain to drive through. It also means that on
a rainy morning some of the pegs can be removed while still under
shelter.
I enjoy being able to open
a whole side panel so I can cook without getting out of my sleeping
bag. As my real estate agent would say, it has wonderful
indoor/outdoor flow.
Set-up
With practice I
have found the Spinnshelter becomes easier and quicker to set up. It
was well worth persevering through any initial difficulties. After
lots of experimentation, I have found that following the Gossamer
Gear instructions is the best way of setting it up in the standard
configuration. (Who would have thought!) That method is starting at
the foot end, pegging out the guyline to the pole then pegging out
the three foot corners in a triangle using the measured bit of string
as a baseline for the width. Then pegging out the guyline for the
front pole to give a taut ridgeline, followed by pegging out the
front three corners. A further walk around the Spinnshelter adjusting
of tension is normally adequate to remove most of the wrinkles. I am
often unable to get the front door panels taut and these make most of
the noise in windy conditions. Set-up takes me a total of between
five and seven minutes on easy ground. This is longer than for a good
tarptent, but about the same as most free-standing tents. It takes me
1.5 to 2 minutes to take the shelter down and pack it away.
Setting up with either the
supplied aluminium poles or a trekking pole was straightforward.
Using an adjustable trekking pole helped to get extra tension or
raise the ridgeline slightly.
Size
I have found to my
surprise that the Spinnshelter is actually too long. If the internal
poles are placed vertically it is 8 feet 4 inches (2.54 m) between
poles. With the generous vestibule at the head and a smaller one at
the foot there is always more space to store gear than I need. While
with a flexible tarp like this, any extra width can be used to
stretch out extra awnings, I found little use for the extra length.
The long length became a problem when pitching on small sites, it
requires extra pegs, is harder to get a taut pitch with and is not as
strong in high winds as a smaller tarp. I would be happy to see the
length shrunk by a whole 2 feet 4 inches (700 mm) between poles, to
the length of a long Therm-a-Rest.
Guy lines
The
supplied guylines are super thin braided spectra cord. This cord
looks as thin as dental floss but has a breaking strain of 200 lbs
(91 kg).
After our whining in
the earlier reports about the thin guylines the manufacturer sent the
testers some thicker guylines. This is bright orange EZC spectra-core
line with a 275-lb (125 kg) nominal tensile strength. It is fairly
stiff (it will stand out horizontal under its own weight), does not
get tangled so badly and is much easier to tie knots in with cold
fingers. It adds an extra 0.3 oz (8 g) to the Spinnshelter’s
total weight.
In the end, both
types of guylines are usable and whether it is worthwhile increasing
the shelter's total weight by a couple of percent for the
heavier guylines will depend on the user. For winter use, where I am
likely to be handling the lines with cold fingers I prefer to use the
thicker lines. They also have the advantage of being suitable for use
with the tiny plastic cam devices for guylines.
The little plastic
hooks supplied to clip the cord across to measure set-out distances
are not weight bearing and should not be used for guylines. The hooks
straighten out and let go of the line under only 7 kg (15 lb) load.
Insects
The
white colour seems to be unusually attractive to insects and in
warmer weather they seemed to converge from all directions, both
insects who were interested in eating me and others who seemed to be
just attracted by the light colour. I wonder if the Spinnshelter
looks bright in the ultraviolet range that insects see in?
Dislikes
Likes
Summary
Overall,
I have grown to really like the Spinnshelter. It has proved to be
durable enough and with practice I have become adept at setting it up
quickly. It keeps the rain off during storms and I like the way it
can be opened up easily to the sky while quickly providing shelter if
the weather turns bad during the night. But best of all it is very,
very light. This is my shelter of choice when weight is critical..
Backpacking Background
I
live in Auckland, New Zealand and have been heading into the
mountains for 18 years. I am an experienced backpacker, tramper and
climber and most of my trips are multi-day off-trail trips. I love
long trips up the remote gorges, forests and glaciers of the South
Island's west coast. Over the last three years I have converted to an
ultralight style.
2 June 2005
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