Field Information:
I purchased the Tarptent Rainshadow for our 2004 Appalachian Trail family section hike. There are three of us: my wife, our teenage daughter, and me. During our 2003 section hike, we used individual hammocks for shelter. They were comfortable, but we had a hard time finding campsites where we could hang the hammocks close together. For the 2004 hike, we wanted a lightweight shelter that provided good bug and rain protection, some privacy, and was easy and fast to pitch.

Location(s) where test was conducted:
We used the Tarptent Rainshadow on all of our weekend hikes in the Mt. Rogers area of southwestern Virginia in May, June, and July of 2004. We also used it on our section hike from Fontana Dam to Deep Gap in North Carolina in late June. Elevations ranged from 1700 ft (518 m) at Fontana Dam, to 5300 ft (1615 m) at Wayah Bald. Temperatures were moderate, with lows in the high 40s F (9 C) in May, and highs in the mid-80s F (30 C) during the July hike.

Previous Shelter Experience:
We have a variety of shelters, including sil-nylon tarps in various sizes, the hammocks, a Sierra Designs 3-person tent, and a huge 6-person dome that we use for car camping.

Description:
The Henry Shires Tarptent Rainshadow (hereinafter called the tarptent) is a large, single-wall, sil-nylon shelter that combines features of a tent and a tarp. Like a tent, it has a floor (optional), a door, a vestibule, and noseeum netting to keep the bugs out. Like a tarp, it is open and airy, provides a 360 degree view, and is extremely light weight.

Features:
The Main Canopy is a large piece of silicone-impregnated nylon. When pitched, it is 92 in (234 cm) wide in the front, tapering to 75 in (191 cm) wide at the rear. (These measurements are the entire width of the covered area, not the floor size.) The interior is 93 in (236 cm) long, and the optional floor measures 78 in (198 cm) wide at the front, by 64 in (163 cm) wide at the rear, and 86 in (218 cm) in total length. The design uses a catenary cut, a curve which provides a taut pitch with fewer stakes. [The curves are visible in the pictures, above, along the left side of the tent, and along the main seam on the top of the canopy.]

The canopy is supported by two poles. The rear pole is 105 in (267 cm) long, made of aluminum, and runs through a continuous pole sleeve at the rear edge of the tarptent. This sleeve has an opening on each side, and grommets for the pole ends. The rear pole weighs 5 oz (142 g). The rear pole creates an arch over the back mesh opening, increasing the headroom (well, footroom) inside. The front of the tent can be supported with the included aluminum pole (49 in long, 3 oz (124 cm, 85 g)), or with a hiking stick. The manufacturer recommends the use of a hiking stick for additional strength, especially in wind. The front pole fits into a grommet at the top of the tarptent. Adjusting the hiking stick varies the width and inside height of the canopy within a small margin.

The tarptent is pitched using four titanium tent stakes (included), and Spectra guylines. The front and side guylines are conventional, but the rear guyline is a clever piece of design: it connects three tie-out points on the rear hood to a single stake, in such a way that the stake can be almost anywhere behind the tarptent, and the pressure on all three lines will still be equal. There is an additional tie-out point in the middle of each long side, to tighten up the pitch and provide a little more interior room if necessary.

All four sides of the tarptent have noseeum mesh panels. The tarptent is available with an optional sil-nylon floor, which is sewn to the mesh panels for complete bug protection. The floor on our tent is flat, though an optional bathtub-style floor is available on newer models. The only entrance is at the front, where zippers down the middle of the mesh panel and along the floor allow the entire front mesh to be opened. The three zippers form an upside-down 'T' shape, allowing each side to be opened individually. The opened doors can be rolled up and attached to the canopy, where they are secured by hook and loop tabs.

Front and rear are protected by large hoods, or beaks, and the front beak can be opened completely, closed halfway, or completely closed. The front beak is sewn down to one side of the canopy, and uses a long hook-and-loop fastener on the other side. (In the Front View, above, the beak is rolled up in the completely open position, and stored against the right canopy.)

The tarptent comes with a single sil-nylon stuff sack, 4 titanium stakes, two aluminum tent poles, and complete directions for use.

In Use:

Carrying the Tarptent:
The tarptent comes with a long, skinny sil-nylon stuff sack, which I found difficult to use. The sack is designed to carry the long tent poles in addition to the tarptent itself, and I had a very hard time folding or rolling the tent in such a way that it would go back in the sack. We replaced the sack with a homemade version, and carry the poles separately.

The total weight of 38 oz (1077 g) is incredibly light for a 3-person shelter, and the tarptent doesn't take up much room in my pack. Note that we save 3 oz (85 g) by using a hiking stick for the front support, and leaving the supplied pole at home. The total weight is for the tarptent body, the rear pole, 6 stakes (in a small stuffsack), and a homemade sil-nylon stuff sack.

Pitching the Tarptent:
This is the easiest tent I have ever used -- I can pitch it by myself in about 3 minutes. Insert the rear pole, stake out the back, install the front pole, stake out the front, then stake out the two front corners, and it's done. I occasionally need to readjust one corner or the other, or lengthen the front pole, in order to tighten the pitch. Because of the single-wall design, the Rainshadow can be pitched in the rain without getting the interior wet.

The only minor issue with pitching the Rainshadow concerns the rear pole, which is not staked down at the bottom corners. I have to be careful to make sure the arched pole is fully upright as I stake out the front and rear of the tarptent, otherwise the bottom can 'kick out' and the back end can partially collapse.

Packing up the tarptent is a fairly simple process, except for the rear pole. When removing a pole from a continuous sleeve, my normal instinct is to grab one end and pull -- it works for every other tent I own. With the Rainshadow, the pole sections come apart inside the sleeve, and the pole gets stuck. It's much better to push the pole out the other side, gently.

Performance:
The living area is huge. Unlike some other 3-person shelters we have tried, the Rainshadow will comfortably sleep 3 adults. There is additional room inside the tarptent for personal gear for all three people, but most packs won't fit inside except for frameless ultralights. There's a fair amount of headroom, though like any A-frame tent, the side walls are steep and the only usable headroom is in the middle of the tent. As a tall person I can easily sit up in the middle, but it can get tight when three people all want to sit up or move around. For a visual impression of the size, look at the front view (above), and note my trail running shoes in front of the tent.

The tarptent works well in rain, keeping the inside dry even with most wind-blown rain. I had it out in a serious summer thunderstorm this year, and didn't get a single drop inside. The main canopy extends about 12 in (30 cm) past the side edges of the floor, and the front and rear are protected by the beak and hood. However, with three people and all their gear, there is not enough room under the front beak to store packs and other gear that won't fit inside the tent. That's when I rig up a 5x8 ft (1.5x2.5 m) sil-nylon tarp as an awning over the front of the tarptent (see photo, at left). This awning nearly doubles the covered area, giving us a dry spot to cook, sort gear, and generally hang out in bad weather. Since all three of us use hiking sticks, I have plenty of extras to rig the awning. Note that I only use the awning when there are three of us -- with two people, the Rainshadow is a palace, with plenty of acreage for all our gear, our packs, and lots of stretching-out room. I can even cook under the front beak if the weather is truly bad. (The 5x8 tarp serves a dual purpose as a groundsheet when we stay in the shelters along the Appalachian Trail.)

The view from inside the tarptent is similar to a battened-down tarp: there's a good view out the front and back openings, but the sides are fairly close to the ground. However, when I lie down, I get a 360-degree view outside. I can see the weather, the view in all directions, and any wildlife wandering by. This is one major reason I switched to tarps in the first place-- I wanted to remain 'connected' to the wilderness in a way that is impossible with a conventional tent. The Rainshadow preserves that connection.

Like any tarp, the Rainshadow requires careful site selection for best performance. I try to avoid well-used, hard-packed campsites, or else rain can run right through the middle of the tent. One day on our section hike this summer, we stopped for dinner at the top of Wayah Bald in North Carolina, then continued hiking for an hour or so, looking for a good campsite. As it got dark, we found an obvious campsite next to a small creek, just off the trail. We set up the Rainshadow as night was falling, and ended up putting it in a terrible location -- on a hard packed site on the side of a mountain, with several obvious runoff streams running directly through the middle of the site. It rumbled thunder all night, but the rain held off. We would have been very wet campers if it hadn't (and I didn't sleep very well that night).

Henry Shires, the designer of the tarptent, recommends pitching the rear (lower end) of the Rainshadow into the wind for improved performance in bad weather. The rear hood provides the most protection against blowing rain.

One common problem with single-wall shelters is condensation on the inside walls. The design of the Rainshadow provides plenty of ventilation, and we haven't noticed any problems. We haven't tried the tarptent in colder weather, but I expect all that wonderful mesh would make it a bit chilly inside. When the tarptent gets wet, either from rain or condensation, it dries quickly inside and out. Sil-nylon doesn't absorb water, and I am able to shake or towel almost all the water off the tent before packing it up in the morning.

Construction and Durability:
The construction quality of the Rainshadow is impeccable. The seams are straight and tight, all the materials are high quality, and we have had zero problems. I realize that the ultralight sil-nylon is more susceptible to abrasion damage than heavier fabrics, but I am careful with my equipment, and I expect the Rainshadow to last for many hiking seasons.

Conclusions:
The Tarptent Rainshadow has been a significant improvement for our family hiking trips. It's one-third the weight of any other 3-person shelter system that we have tried, and takes up one-third the space in our packs.

Suggestions for Improvement:
There's really not much to improve in this design, as it's evolved over the years from Henry Shires' prototype PCT shelter. I do see a lot of potentially useable covered space under the rear hood, and I wonder about a small zippered door in the rear mesh that might provide access to that space. This would be a good place to store boots, water bottles, or maybe the odd small dog.