Reviews > Shelters > Tarps and Bivys > Hilleberg Rajd > Ralph Ditton > Long Term Report

Number of pole sections per pole: 3

Field Test Information

Since submitting my Field Report, I realise that I was pitching the shelter incorrectly.
What I was doing was pegging out the shelter through the corner guy line rings at both ends of the shelter. This method of pegging out did work, but I realised my error when I went to use sand pegs. The sand pegs are 20 mm (0.8 in) wide and the internal diameter of the guy line ring is 10 mm (0.4 in), so they did not fit.This caused me to examine the shelter to see where I could use the sand pegs and I discovered the tape corner loops that are at the base of the shelter, but hidden from view when spread out on the ground to be erected.I now pitch a shelter that looks like the image provided on the manufacturer's web page and instruction sheet. It gives me a little tub floor.

tent peg in corner loop
The instruction booklet is silent on these loops.

My first trip was an overnighter to the Prickly Bark campsite on the Coastal Plain Trail which sits at an elevation of 83 m (272 ft) as measured by my Garmin Geko 301 GPS. It was in late October 2006.
I pitched the shelter using my ten sand pegs as the area I was camping in was basically sand. However, I did use four pegs supplied by the manufacturer to peg out the footprint as it was windy so as to prevent the footprint from blowing away. I tied the elastic cords on the footprint into loops so that the pegs had something to hold onto.The shelter was pitched at 3 pm with a temperature of 24 C (75 F), Dew Point of 15.9 C (60.6 F) and a Relative Humidity of 60%. Wind direction was WNW at 37 Km (23 mph) (20 knots) and gusting to 54 km (34 mph) (29 knots). (Source: Bureau of Meteorology). I did not stay inside the shelter at this time although I was inside setting up my bedding for a short time. It was not really all that comfortable heat wise as the inside temperature was higher. I estimate about 26 C (79 F).

I went inside the shelter to sleep around 11 pm and these were the following conditions as supplied by the Bureau of Meteorology:
Outside air temperature: 19 C (66 F).
Dew Point: 16.9 C (62.4 F).
Relative Humidity: 86%.
Wind: NW.
Wind speed: 18 km (11 mph) 10 knots).
Wind gust: 28 km (17 mph) (15 knots).

The weather hardly changed over the course of the night as evidenced by the following conditions at 6 am when I got up and dismantled the shelter.
Outside air temperature: 18 C (64 F).
Dew Point: 16 C (61 F).
Relative Humidity: 84%.
Wind: SW.
Wind speed: 15 km (9 mph) (8 knots).
Wind gust: 20 km (12 mph) (11 knots).

No rain was recorded and I did not experience any condensation inside the shelter. During the night, the sides where the doors are did blow in and out in the wind and I had to tension the guy lines a few times, especially the ones from the apex of the A frame which were strung out to trees. These were my own personal guy lines that used a different guy line runner. I still kept the poles in place and guyed them out also from the shelter's eaves due to the wind. I wanted to give extra support to the poles.

My next trip was back to my stamping ground of Prickly Bark. Again I used the sand pegs and the supplied poles as the weather forecast was for rain and a thunderstorm.

sand peg
I arrived at the campsite around 3.30 pm and immediately pitched the shelter because I did not want to be doing it in the rain. The wind, rain and thunderstorm arrived around 6 pm. The rain was patchy in that it would rain heavily for a few minutes and then drop off to a light drizzle, then be heavy again. The impact on the shelter was that the fabric became wet and sagged. I initially thought that the guy lines had slipped but they had not. The fabric appeared to stretch. Inside the shelter some moisture had dripped onto my self inflating mat and sleeping bag. When I went to bed around 10 pm the rain had stopped and the wind was 24 km (15 mph) gusting up to 32 km (20 mph) (13 knots). No further rain fell and the wind was fluctuating between 19 km to 24 km (12 mph to 15 mph) when I got up around 6 am. Apart from a damp shelter from the rain I did not notice any condensation on the interior or further moisture on my sleeping gear. I guess that the wind dried things out a bit.

When I got home I hung the shelter over the clothes line for most of the day and the next day to dry completely, especially the cords  of the guy lines which were soaked. In mid November I used my walking sticks to erect the shelter with in lieu of the supplied tent poles. As my two walking sticks are made from branches of two different trees and they are my height 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in) I had to dig a hole for them to sit in. This way I was able to achieve the desired height of 115 cm (45.5 in) above ground level.

using walking sticks
When I pitched the shelter it was reasonably breezy with speeds of around 24 km (15 mph) (13 knots).
From about 8 pm the wind dropped markedly to a very calm zephyr of 4 km (2.5 mph) (2 knots). I went to bed around 10.30 pm and noticed very fine condensation on the exterior and interior  of the shelter. According to the Bureau of Meteorology, from 10.30 pm to when I got up at 5 am, the wind speed fluctuated from calm to 6 km (3.7 mph) (3 knots). The Dew Point fluctuated between 11.7 C to 15.1 C ( 53 F to 59 F) and the Relative Humidity ranged between 81% and 91%. The outcome of this was that condensation got worse inside the shelter and around 3.30 am I was woken up with moisture dripping onto my face. I looked at my watch. Condensation had also collected in a corner nearest my head. I estimated it to be about 20 ml (0.67 oz). It took two tissues to mop the corner up and the tissues were completely soggy. My self inflating mattress also got wet on one corner nearest my head.
No rain was recorded.

wet corner on self inflating mat

condensation on catch
When I took the pegs out of the ground to pack away the shelter, the two walking sticks buried in the ground held the shelter up, so I was able to fold it up very easily without getting sand stuck to the surface due to the condensation. Normally when I use the supplied poles, the whole structure collapses when the pegs are removed and the shelter tends to spill out sideways off the footprint onto the ground picking up any loose soil if the surface is wet. The footprint was another matter. Because it had rained the day before, the ground had moisture present and the underside of the footprint was covered with wet sand sticking to it. All I could do was place it in a bag sand and all, and bring it home to dry on the line, letting the sand fall off it when it dried. The shelter did have some sand sticking to some of the extremities when I packed it away. I also hung it over the clothes line to dry and the sand fell off.

I was not able to do any camping over December as it was my busy work period and the temperatures were not conducive to camping. The average late evening from 6 pm, night time and early morning temperatures to around 6 am ranged from a low of 28 C to a high of 34 C (82 F to 93 F). Day time temperatures ranged from 35 C to 43 C (95 F to 109 F). I do not like hiking in those temperatures.

I am very impressed with the Rajd Shelter even though I was pitching it incorrectly. It still worked very well when I pegged it out incorrectly. There has been no damage to the shelter by the terrain it was pitched on or by the Sun's Ultra Violet rays which peaked at an index of 13 over the test period which is extreme.

Overall Findings against Test Plan
There is adequate room inside for two average sized adults but not both backpacks. I tested this with my walking mate to try it out for size. He did not sleep the night inside the shelter with me. The pole-end cups were up to the task of accommodating my walking sticks. They have a diameter of 30 mm (1.25 in). Erecting the shelter is not that difficult. My main problem was trying to identify the top from the bottom of the shelter when I was laying it out on the footprint prior to erection. I hit on the idea of looking for the pole cups as that identifies the top relatively quickly. After finding the top and using the supplied poles, it only took me on average around seven minutes to erect the shelter. I was not racing the clock, just doing it in a methodical manner. Packing away took a little longer when the inside of the shelter was full of condensation. I could collapse the shelter quickly, but I then had to dry off as much of the condensation as possible before stowing it away in the stuff sack. The instructions on page 3, point 2 of the handbook in my opinion needs a bit more information such as this added to the sentence, "through the black tape loops" or similar wording to avoid wrongful pegging points. I was not able to erect the shelter without poles as my guy lines were too short to reach the nearby trees that I could safely camp under. I estimated that I would need about 10 metres (32.8 ft) of guy line on each side to string up onto a tree on either side and my own guy lines were only 4 metres (13 ft) long. It would be helpful if the guy lines that are made of 2 mm (0.08 in) Spectra-blend cord have a reflective thread woven into it to prevent tripping over the guy lines during the night, especially the ones at the rear of the shelter that are pegged out at a 45 degree angle.
I had no trouble at all with the non-slip line runners used to tension the guy lines.

With regards to the portion of no-see-um mesh in the top third of the doors that promotes cross ventilation to help combat condensation I found that condensation still formed. If the proportion of mesh was extended then the eaves would have to be made bigger to prevent rain from entering, possibly adding more weight, so it is a Catch 22 situation. I managed to live around the condensation issue. The colour green was good at blocking some of the early morning sunlight into the shelter. I compared this to my yellow fly on a tent that I have and that is shocking for early morning sunlight.
I had no issue with zippers catching on the shelter fabric.
The storage bag for the shelter is short and squat so it does not lend itself to be attached by way of straps to the outside of my backpack. I have to carry it inside my backpack.

Things I like

• Lightweight.
• Excellent interior space.
• Inclusion of tent poles and footprint.
• Lots of guy lines.
• Square tent pegs. Did not bend any.
• Unique guy line runners.

• Lack of clear instructions on the correct method of erecting the shelter especially the pegging out.
• The shelter storage bag is unable to be attached to the outside of my backpack.
• No reflective thread in the guy lines.

Reviews > Shelters > Tarps and Bivys > Hilleberg Rajd > Ralph Ditton > Long Term Report