Owner Review:  Eureka Gossamer Solo Tent.

 

Personal biographical information

 

Name:                          Sandra Greive

Age:                             33

Gender:                       Female

Height:                        160 cm (5 feet 3 inches)

Weight:                       66 kg (143 lb)

Email address:             srna89@yahoo.com

City:                            Eugene, Oregon, USA.

Date:                            7 July, 2005

 

Backpacking background:

I discovered backpacking (around Sydney and Newcastle, Australia) when I was 14 and went regularly until I was 21 when I developed arthritis.  Since arriving in Oregon 4 years ago, I have started backpacking again with my usual trip length being 2-4 days (8-16 km or 5-10 miles /day), once or twice a month between May and October (late spring-early fall here in the US). To reduce the stress on my creaky joints, I am trying to find a balance between carrying lightweight gear while maintaining comfort. I am in the process of replacing my heavy or old gear with lighter equipment, where possible, given my requirement that comfort be maintained. So far my pack weight is down to ~9 kg (20 lb) or so, including water.

 

Product Information

 

Manufacturer:              Eureka

Year of manufacture:   2003

URL:                           http://www.eurekacamping.com/

Listed weight:              1.3 kg (2 lb 14 oz)

Weight as delivered:    Unknown

Weight as used:           0.96 kg (2 lb 2 oz)

Dimensions:                81 cm wide, 244 cm long, 74 cm high (2 ft 8 in x 8 ft x 2 ft 5 in)

MSRP:                        Unknown

 

Modifications: sealed the seam over the main pole and zipper in the fly.

                        replaced the steel stakes with aluminum ones

replaced guy lines with Kelty Triptease cord.

 

Product Description

 

This is a two-hoop (aluminum), non-free standing bivy tent, with the main pole at the entrance or head end of the tent and smaller pole over the foot.  The tent body is no-see-um mesh while the fly and floor of the tent are constructed of coated nylon.  The fly can be arranged in a number of configurations:  staked out at both ends with the door open or closed; or rolled back and secured to the main pole from each end of the tent.

 

Field Information

 

This tent can be a little fiddly to pitch, but goes up easily with practice.  The body sometimes sags and it is difficult to get the mesh to stay taut, as it stretches during the time it is pitched.  I overcame this problem by guying out the main pole from the webbing loop provided by the manufacturer, and the foot pole by running some Kelty Triptease cord from the webbing loop at the foot end of the fly out to a stake, back up underneath the fly around the highest point of the foot pole and then back out to the stake.  This seemed to keep the whole tent and fly, taut and stable, even in high wind.  The tent is quite small, as I am short and can barely sit up (hunched over) in it. When I lie down in my bag, there is only a little room to move between the walls of the tent.  I do not use the entire length of the tent, and can store my pack and some gear at the bottom if I need to.

 

I used this tent during the spring and summer of 2004 and 2005 on numerous trips along alpine (Timberline trail, Mt Hood; Three Sisters wilderness) and river trails (Rogue River and Bull of the Woods wilderness). The weather was generally mild during the day, but was sometimes very cold and windy at night.  I am not sure what the temperature was, but one night all the snow banks and little creeks froze and a heavy frost was evident the next morning. On one occasion it was not only very cold and windy, but rained heavily and consistently during the night.  The other trips were not nearly so cold and some nights were quite warm as my -10 C (14 F) sleeping bag made me too hot.  I have pitched this tent on a variety of ground conditions, such as rocky river banks, sandy soil, wet heavy soil, and hard-packed dirt.

 

This tent is a great little tent for my purposes, it is light, I have ample room to sleep in and store most of my gear, and it did not leak at all when it rained really hard one night, even though it was very windy.  The integrated fly is a really useful design feature when pitching the tent in the rain.  I always extend the fly out over the tent when I pack it away and when pitching it in the rain, the fly covers the tent at all times.  On warm nights, I was able to sleep with the top part of the fly folded back, and even on cooler nights I slept with the door open.  The mesh walls of the tent make it a cold tent to sleep in when it is cold and windy, even with the sides staked close to the tent and the ground.  However, a good warm sleeping bag (I have a -10 C or 14 F down bag) and clothing (I use thermals and an insulated vest on cold nights) can compensate for this.  On the night where everything froze, I was aware that it was cold, but did not feel cold and slept pretty well most of the night.

 

One disadvantage with this tent is condensation accumulation on the inside of the fly on still and humid nights where it is too cool or rainy to have the door open.  This was not a problem for me as my sleeping bag was never wet as a result, and the condensation could be shaken off really easily in the morning.  So far there is no damage or failure in either seams or fabric on the tent, although I do use an REI roadster footprint to protect the floor.  The disadvantage of a non-free standing tent is that when camping in places where stakes are difficult to use (e.g. a rocky beach) the tent is hard to pitch. I overcame this problem by placing a big rock in each corner of the tent body and tying the guy lines to large rocks to make the tent relatively stable.

 

Advantages:

Value for money

Lightweight

Rainproof if the main pole seam is sealed

 

Disadvantages:

Small (this is not a problem for me due to my small size)

Condensation

Difficult to get a taut pitch

Cold when it is windy

 

This tent works well for me at the moment.  It was an excellent value, is light, rainproof and I have figured out how to use it well.  At some point in the future, I would like to replace it with a lightweight freestanding tent, but since these are relatively expensive, that will not happen until the Gossamer wears out.