Reviews > Shelters > Tarps and Bivys > Tarptent Cloudburst > Steve Nelson > Field Report

Field Report: Tarptent Cloudburst
December 14, 2004

Reviewer's Information

Name: Steve Nelson
Age: 44
Gender: Male
Email address: nazdarovye at y..oo dot com
City, State, Country: San Francisco, CA, U.S.A.

Backpacking Background:

As an interface design and usability consultant by trade, I'm always excited by analyzing and improving designs and processes; backpacking provides a fertile and fun arena for that. I have been backpacking since I was a kid growing up in upstate New York: we backpacked and canoe-camped in all seasons, throughout the Adirondacks and nearby areas, ranging as far as La Verendrye Wildlife Reserve, Quebec. As an adult, I've backpacked and hiked extensively in California, but also have taken trips throughout the West, from New Mexico to British Columbia, and return often to the Adirondacks.

In the past year I made the transition to lightweight and ultralight backpacking. I like moving fast, and lightening the load facilitates that. I also enjoy urban strolls, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, kayaking, and aviation in addition to hiking and backpacking, so my gear gets exposed to a wide variety of uses and conditions.

Product information

Overview

The Cloudburst is a hoop-style, two-person, lightweight, "3+ season" tarptent constructed primarily of silnylon and mesh. I provided additional descriptive detail in my initial report, which you may wish to reference. Here's the Cloudburst in use at a lovely snow camping site in the Sierra Nevada:

Field Conditions

I have used the Cloudburst on a backpacking trip to the West Canada Lakes area of the Adirondacks, a snow camping trip near Castle Pass in the Sierra Nevada, and for three days in inclement weather in a backyard in Niskayuna, New York. Campsite altitudes ranged from approximately 300 ft (90 m) to 7,400 ft (2,260 m), with temperatures from 15-55° F (-9-13° C). Weather was on the challenging side, including alternating rain, hail, sleet and snow with sustained light wind and stronger gusts at the West Canada Lakes campsite; 20 mph (32 km/h) sustained winds with gusts up to 38 mph (61 km/h) according to the weather reporting station nearest our campsite down off Castle Pass; and two strong wind and rain storms, plus a lot of sustained drizzle and mist and an occasional interlude of sunshine, in the backyard site. Ground conditions were soggy fall leaves and dirt at West Canada Lakes; dry, semi-consolidated snow near Castle Pass, and a damp, grassy lawn in Niskayuna.

Field Experiences

I've been enjoying using the Cloudburst so far. I've found it roomy, generally easy to set up and adjust, and to provide excellent shelter from precipitation. Aside from a couple of minor annoyances noted herein, it's a fine shelter and I feel it provides an excellent ratio of weight to functionality and space.

Pitching the Cloudburst is a fairly straightforward affair, involving (as per the instructions) unrolling the body, assembling and inserting the rear pole, staking out the rear guylines, assembling and inserting the front pole, then "walking" and staking out the front of the tent with its three guylines. It's also possible to add two side tie-outs, though I've not yet felt the need to do that.

In general, this is a smooth and easy process, and I've found it easy to get a pretty taut pitch. I did note, however, a couple of small issues with pitching: first, the grommets for my front pole seem to be spaced just a wee bit too close together, making it hard to get the second end of the pole snapped into place (I have to really tug and pull on the webbing to make this work). Also, on the Castle Pass trip I had a tough time with the pitch; this was my first experience in truly strong winds, and I realized that in those strong winds that I actually needed to stake down the rear first (pointing into the wind), then insert the pole, so that the tent wouldn't blow away. This was exacerbated in those conditions by the fact that I could not get any stakes—not even snow stakes—to hold in the dry, loose snow at our campsite. I finally ended up staking out the tent with my snowshoes, a SnowClaw shovel, and my ice axe, as shown here:

Breaking the Cloudburst down is an even easier affair—I'm able to disassemble and pack it in under two minutes now. The body and collapsed poles are easy to roll up into a bundle and stow in the included stuff sack, even when the tent body is wet, and the manufacturer thoughtfully included a small sack for the stakes, which helps keep mud and dirt off of the tent body or other items.

Once the Cloudburst is set up, it's easy to navigate and use. The dual entries are plenty big. Generally, I leave one beak deployed and one beak rolled up—as shown above—when not sleeping or sheltering from bad weather. So far I've just used the Cloudburst by myself, which means that I can bring my gear inside and spread it out. (I have come to realize that it's important to take care not to set gear onto the sidewall mesh, lest it contact wet ground or snow and get wet—the only minor issue I have with the interior layout).

The internal height is not as tall as I'd prefer (I can't quite sit fully up even at the center toward the front of the Cloudburst, and my head inevitably brushes the roof and picks up moisture from condensation), but it's enough so that I've not felt stooped or uncomfortable so far. I've also found it comfortable to cook while seated inside the opening of the tent, with a stove set outside and away from the Cloudburst's fabric. This was a big help in the sustained precipitation of my Adirondacks trip as well as the very cold and windy conditions we experienced at dinner time near Castle Pass.

Zippers and other adjustment features work well—no snags or problems so far. I've found it surprisingly easy to manage the front beaks from inside the shelter—strips of hook and loop fastener holds the two halves together down a center seam, and the tips of the beaks clip to the guylines. My only complaint is that the small hook and loop wraps that hold the mesh doors and beaks rolled up against the roof and sides of the opening are a bit too small, and thus hard to negotiate while I'm wearing gloves or mittens. I suppose they save weight, but I wouldn't mind a slightly more "fumble-friendly" way to secure the doors.

I feel that the Cloudburst provides excellent protection from precipitation. On all occasions where I had rain, sleet, hail and snow, none of it reached the inner sanctum of the sewn-in floor, despite the rather open nature of the beaks at each end (I did roll down the sidewalls in more inclement conditions, and beleive they helped increase the weatherproofness of the inside of the shelter. Here are two pictures of the Cloudburst near West Canada Lakes, during one of the brief lulls in the precipitation and giving a nice overview of how the tent looks when pitched:

I only noticed two minor precipitation-related issues: first, as promised by the manufacturer, the tent fabric sagged in the rain (you can see that in the above pictures). I found this was easy to remedy by "walking" the poles a bit and restaking the Cloudburst's guylines. Second, when strong precipitation hits the tent, it causes small sprays of any internal condensation to be splattered down upon everything (and everyone) below. This was slightly annoying, but not consequential; the amount of moisture released was small. Even in the soggy conditions of the Adirondacks, I saw far less condensation inside than I'd expected.

In the very windy conditions near Castle Pass, I found that the inside of the Cloudburst was a drafty place—the upside of this was that I had absolutely no condensation on the inside of my Cloudburst when I awoke, while another camper on the trip who was using a tipi-style silnylon shelter had extensive condensation inside.

My overall summary of the storm-worthiness of the Cloudburst is that it is very good against precipitation and adequate against wind. The Cloudburst kept me dry and safe in conditions that could have been uncomfortable in a lesser shelter, and I feel it lives up to its claimed "3+" season rating.

Regarding seam sealing: I followed the directions provided with the tent and mixed silicone sealer with mineral spirits to produce a rather runny solution that I applied with a foam brush. I didn't do the neatest job, but the seam sealing only took about an hour to complete, and it so far has not shown a single leak. Someone more meticulous than I might consider using a small brush or syringe to apply the sealer so that it is only applied to the seams themselves. This would make for a neater job and provide a miniscule bit of weight reduction.

The one thing that I neglected to seal was the stuff sack. On my Adirondacks trip I stuck the very wet Cloudburst into its sack, then stuffed that sack into my backpack, and water from the tarptent did leak out of the sack and onto some of my other gear. I'd recommend sealing the stuff sack seams along with those on the Cloudburst itself.

Further Test Locations

I'll be continuing to take my Cloudburst on trips in the coming months, and also will be using it as a two-person shelter, not just for solo use.

Specific trips planned include:

• Confirmed weekend backpacking trips in the Desolation Wilderness, Pt. Reyes National Seashore, Santa Cruz mountains
• Car camping in Mendocino and Big Sur during the rainy season; possible car camping at other locations this spring (Colorado, New York)
• Planned winter backpacking and snowshoeing trips in the Lake Tahoe, Mt. Shasta and Yosemite areas

In addition, I hope to use the tent on at least one canoeing or ultralight rafting trip—possibly a canoeing trip in the Adirondacks this spring, or near Point Reyes this winter.

Altitudes on these trips will range from sea level to over 10,000 ft (3,050 m). Weather will range from wet and soggy east coast hiking and paddling to wet and windy winter Pacific storms, moderate snow, and later in the season, sunny and drier Northern California spring conditions. Temperatures will likely range from below freezing to as high as 100° F (38° C). Most of the campsites will be on dirt and rock in the Sierra Nevada; on forest duff, rock or sand on the California coast; and on forest duff, heavy undergrowth and/or mud on the east coast. Winter camping will be on snow or frozen ground. Canoe camping will expose the stored Cloudburst to splashing and pooled water as well as soggy shoreline campsites. Since I got the extended beak, I will actively seek out some adverse weather and soggy sites and see if I can push the limits of the design. I love camping out in storms!

Test Plan

Among the issues I intend to continue to monitor with the Cloudburst are:

• Ease of setup, including during adverse weather conditions (does the Cloudburst get wet inside as you're setting it up? How easy is it to set up in strong wind?)
• General usability (features, zippers, poles, location and type of tie-outs, etc.)
• Roominess and comfort, for both solo and duo use (including headroom, whether we brush up against condensation, ease of entry and exit, ease of changing clothes and getting into sleeping bags, and so on)
• Stormworthiness, including the effectiveness of the roll-down sidewalls, rear and extended front beaks, and floor flap in keeping out precipitation and dust, as well as the design's resistance to wind loading
• Ventilation and condensation; draftiness
• Suitability for colder, windier weather (Does the great ventilation become a liability in windy and cold conditions? Does the extended beak help mitigate this?)
• Ease and speed of breakdown, including in adverse conditions
• Packability, including ability to split up the load between two people
• Durability of all materials (including fabric, mesh, zippers, loops, provided stakes and lines)
• Suitability for winter use (again, respecting the stated "3+ season" rating of the Cloudburst); how well does the flat floor work on snow; is the openness of the ends a problem in winter?
• Whether it's possible to safely cook in the vestibule of the Cloudburst (an assessment I will approach very cautiously, if at all, due to the flammability of Silnylon)
• Issues, if any, with seams and seam sealing
• Slipperiness of bags and pads on the floor (taking into account the instructions' suggestion to paint seam sealer stripes on it to limit this)
• An evaluation of its overall suitability for solo versus duo camping

I'll record information about weather, terrain and gear used for each trip, and photograph pitches, locations, and features of interest where relevant.

Summary

The Cloudburst is an impressively light, airy and roomy two-person shelter that has also proven to be quite stormworthy for me so far. I look forward to further testing in California's winter coastal rainstorms, in additional mild winter conditions, and in sunnier climes as Spring dawns on California next year.

Things I like so far:

• Nice design
• Flexible beaks and side coverings
• Lots of fresh air
• Light in weight
• Easy and fast to pitch and tear down
• Less internal condensation than I'd expected

Things I don't like so far:

• Difficulty getting front hoop pole inserted into its second grommet
• Not as much headroom as I'd prefer
• Instructions could include a few more details and pointers
• Quite a handful to pitch solo in strong wind

Thanks to BackpackGearTest and Henry Shires/Tarptent for giving me the opportunity to participate in this test.

Reviews > Shelters > Tarps and Bivys > Tarptent Cloudburst > Steve Nelson > Field Report