Reviews > Shelters > Tents > Sierra Designs Hercules Assault AST > David Sowards-Emmerd > Field Report

Field Report - Sierra Designs Hercules Assault AST
January 2, 2006

Name: David Sowards-Emmerd
Age: 28
Gender: Male
Height: 5' 8'' (1.73 m)
Weight: 155 lb (70 kg)
Email Address: drunken_marmotATyahooDOTcom
Los Altos, California, USA

Backpacking Background:
I began backpacking semi-frequently about six years ago, soon after moving to California. I generally take weekend (1 night) trips, and occasionally take 3-4 day trips. Most of my backpacking experience is at moderate altitude, 6,000'-12,000' (1,800-3,650 m), in conditions ranging from dry desert to hail/heavy snow in the mountains. In winter and spring I split time between Southern California (SoCal) deserts and snowshoeing/skiing/snowcamping in the Sierra/Cascades. Summer and fall I tend to stick to the high country. I have reduced my packweight, including food and water down to less than 50 lb (23 kg) for snow camping and mountaineering and under 30 lb (14 kg) for 3-season camping with temperatures down to freezing. I'm trying to include more mountaineering, climbing and bouldering in my trips.

The product was received on October 11, 2005.

Product Description:

Manufacturer's Description:
Manufacturer's Specifications:
Trail Weight 6 lbs 10 oz (3.01 kg)
Packed Weight 7 lbs 2 oz (3.23 kg)
Packed Size 22'' x 7'' (56 cm x 18 cm)
Number of Doors 1
Interior Area 35 sq. ft. (3.25 sq. m)
Vestibule Area 7 sq. ft. (0.65 sq. m)
Peak Height 30'' (76 cm) / 42'' (107 cm)
(30'' is a typo both on the hang tag as well as the manufacturer's website, the tent dimensions diagram lists the correct height of 42'')
Floor Type SuperSeal
Floor Material 70D Taffeta Nylon, 118'' (3000mm)
Body Material 40D Rip Stop Nylon, DriZone 2L
Fly Material 40D HT Rip Stop Nylon, 59'' (1500mm), PU/Silicon
Number of Poles 3
Poles DAC Press-Fit 7001

Specifications (as measured by tester):

Weights:
Main Poles: 11.5 oz and 11.53 oz (326 g and 327 g)
Vestibule Pole: 2.15 oz (61 g)
Stakes (each, 6 included): 0.49 oz (14 g)
2 Guys Lines and 2 Tighteners: 0.71 oz (20 g)
Pole Stuff Sack: 1.09 oz (31 g)
Main Stuff Sack: 2.58 oz (73 g)
Stake Stuff Sack: 0.25 oz (7 g)
Tent body (including 4 attached hub sets): 5.46 lb (2.477 kg)
Total: 7.51 lb (3.406 kg)

Product Description:

The Assault is a two-person, single-wall, 4-season tent. For a detailed description, see my Initial Report.

Field Testing:

I've slept in the Assault 9 nights during the field testing period. Details of the use, locations and conditions follows:

Tiltill Valley, Yosemite National Park, CA
October 15-16, 2005
Elevation: 5,600' (1,700 m)
Conditions: Foggy, rainy and cool, with a sugar pine attack overnight.

The weekend after the tent arrived, I was hoping to get it out in the snow. A storm was forecast for the Sierra with local (to this trip) snow levels predicted around 6,000' (1,800 m). I slept solo in the tent on this trip since my wife was also testing a shelter at the time. Light rain fell off during the afternoon and evening. The wind picked up overnight in the tree tops and I was bombarded by enormous sugar pine cones up to 18'' (46 cm) or so in length (see photo), several of which left sap marks on the tent. All the pine cones in the photo fell during the night, since we burned all that we found in our campfire the night before.

When I woke up in the morning, I noticed what appeared to be small pinholes (see photo below) where the pole clips are sewn to the tent. After returning home from this trip, I applied SeamGrip to the inside and outside of most of the areas with heavier stitching (of course, this slowly flaked off the SilNylon portions).

To dry off the tent, especially the bottom, I set the tent up on its end.

Penner Lake, Tahoe National Forest, CA
October 22-23, 2005
Elevation: 6,900' (2,100 m)
Conditions: ~40 F (4 C), no wind, partly cloudy

This was a quick fair-weather overnighter. There was a little condensation present on the outside of the tent before we got inside. Both my wife and I slept in the tent and there was considerable condensation on her side of the tent in the morning, but my side was dry - I usually try to sleep cold and vent my blanket a lot to avoid overheating at night. We slept with our heads at the far end of the tent and the pockets above our heads collected lots of condensation. Both of us bumped our heads on the pockets several times when sitting up. We slept with our feet by the door mainly due to the slight incline where we set up the tent, but also to see whether this would help prevent condensation building up between the vestibule and tent (since we'd be breathing at the opposite end). This was not the case, and there was still a lot of trapped moisture in the morning.

Round Top Lake, Eldorado National Forest, CA
November 12-13, 2005
Elevation: 9,300' (2,800 m)
Conditions: Clear, ~25 F (-4 C), with little to no wind

We settled on Round Top lake instead of 4th of July lake since there was a lot more snow on the trail than we expected and only a small minority of the group brought snowshoes along. I set up the tent in a somewhat exposed area on about 1' (0.3 m) of snow. I anchored the tent with 2 SMC Sno-Tent stakes buried in the snow, and 6 nail stakes hammered into the frozen ground beneath the snow. Both my wife and I slept in the tent this trip. I set up four guylines inside the tent using Triptease, but the conditions never really warranted them. I didn't find these guylines to be in the way, but my wife did complain about them a few times (mainly about me reaching over her to tighten them up). Lots of condensation in the morning on the sides and floor, as well as some ice crystals on the ceiling. Again, there was a lot of moisture trapped between the vestibule and the tent - noticing a pattern here?

Four Night Thanksgiving 2005 Car Camping Trip - Death Valley National Park:

Wednesday Night: Glass Creek Campground, Inyo National Forest, CA
Elevation: 7,500' (2,300 m)
Conditions: Probably ~15 F (-9 C), clear, and calm

I pulled into the empty campground around 11 PM and quickly set up the tent and went to sleep (just me in the tent). In the morning, the tent was covered with a layer of frost on the inside and a layer of ice between the vestibule and the tent. I wanted to get on the road quickly, so I just packed the tent loosely in the back of the car so it could air out a little.

Thursday Night: Eureka Dunes, Death Valley NP, CA
Elevation: 2,900' (900 m)
Conditions: Calm and dry, ~45 F (7 C)

I set up the tent on sand, and my wife and I slept in the tent that night. There was just a small amount of condensation in the morning between the vestibule and the tent body, but none in the tent.

Friday Night: Chloride Cliff Area, Death Valley NP, CA
Elevation: 3,800' (1,150 m)
Conditions: ~40 F (5 C), calm at first, but winds picked up after I went to sleep

There wasn't any wind when I set up the tent, and still none when I went to sleep (solo). Since there wasn't any wind, I just did a minimal stake job in setting up the tent - 6 nail stakes in what appeared to be rocky soil. However, the winds became very strong overnight, and 3 stakes blew out on the windward side. I tried restaking them by myself, but the tent was very tough to keep on the ground, and could have blown away, contents and all - except there was a truck grille in the way. Luckily, I was able to get my wife's attention and she (eventually) came out and held the tent in place by the pole vertex while I re-staked it with SMC Sno-Tent stakes hammered in with a hatchet. Turns out the rocky ground was just a rock and dust matrix that didn't hold narrow stakes very well, but the snow stakes held much better. I hunted down my wife's pillow that had blown away and went back in the tent and was able to fall asleep again while the winds continued through morning. Before all the stakes pulled, there was a frequent cracking/snapping noise (like cracking a towel) that I attributed to the vestibule. I originally though this was the flap that covers the zipper blowing in the wind, but since this didn't return after restaking, I think one corner of the vestibule must have pulled out first. No wear or damage resulted from the tent blowing around.

Saturday Night: Wildrose Campground, Death Valley NP, CA
Elevation: 4,100' (1,250 m)
Conditions: ~40 F (5 C), and strong winds again.

I staked out the tent good this night, and it held up fine in the wind. Since it was dark early, my wife and I watched a DVD on my compact laptop from our sleeping bags in the tent, and the wind noise was quiet enough that we could hear the tiny speakers fine.

November 28, 2005
I cleaned tent thoroughly with water and a small towel to remove all the desert dust and then dried it thoroughly.

Wildcat Camp, Point Reyes National Seashore, CA
December 3-4, 2005
Elevation: 76' (23 m)
Conditions: Cool and sunny

I slept alone in the tent on this trip. Camp was near the ocean and the air was cool and humid. Again, the main condensation in the morning was between the vestibule and the tent - the rest of the tent was dry, save the bottom of the bathtub floor.

Lake Winnemucca, Eldorado National Forest, CA
December 17-18, 2005
Elevation: 9,000' (2,750 m)
Conditions: 2-3' (0.6-1 m) of snow and strong winds forecast for Sunday - actually started Saturday afternoon. Temperatures around 25 F (-4 C).

Finally, some interesting weather for testing this 4-season tent. The snow started falling while we assembled our group at the trailhead, and didn't stop. The wind began to pick up as we got to the campsite. Setting up the tent was no problem with two people to stake it out. After staking out one end, my wife decided socializing would be more fun, so I assembled the rest of it in the wind without a problem. The initial setup was easy, but I spent about an additional hour staking and double staking out the tent to be on the safe side. The few feet of very light, dry powder on the ground needed a lot of stomping before the stakes (8 SMC Sno-Tent stakes and 4 homemade fabric snow anchors) would hold any weight, I added ice axe for backup on the windward side, and guyed out two of the pole clips at the far side of the tent (the windward side, see photo).

My wife and I both got a bit of sleep in the tent that night. We spent about 13 hours in the tent that night. The winds really picked up as the night went on, and many of the tents in my group were damaged, uprooted, or simply crushed by the strong gusts and snow loading. Something in the range of 2-3' (0.6-1 m) of snow fell by morning and the wind built up a ~2' (0.6 m) bluff a few feet (fewer meters) from the windward side of the tent, but the snow loaded onto the leeward side of the tent. We were able to push off a good deal of this during the night, but considerable snow had gathered there by morning (see photo below). Luckily it stayed cool, and the snow didn't stick to the tent, other than for a brief period around midnight. According to the Sierra Avalanche Center, winds peaked out at 143 mph (229 km/h) that night with an average speed of 65 mph (104 km/h). I wasn't exactly where these wind speeds were measured, but I was in an exposed area at the crest (also at a higher elevation than where the measurements were taken) as well as in the area where the storm dumped the most snow. All of the anchors held, and the wind noise wasn't enough to keep me awake. The only problem was that the wind was blowing the far end and my side of the tent in, and the wind was strong enough that the gusts would push the walls enough to roll me over on my pad, waking me up (or keeping me awake). This meant that the pockets at the far end of the tent (just above our heads) and their contents were constantly bouncing all over the place. The poles flexed slightly with the wind, but very little. Others in our group that were out late in the night (due to their shelter being uprooted) commented on how little the wind affected the tent even during the gusts.

The big problem of the night was that snow constantly piled up and blew in the large vent at the far end of the tent (above our heads - we slept with feet at the door). The mesh fabric that keeps bugs out did a poor job of keeping the snow out. Unfortunately, the only way to close the vent is by a small square of hook and loop fastener, and this wouldn't hold in the wind (and it just meant two half size vents instead of one big vent). This is a major flaw in my opinion - considerable snow accumulated on our sleeping bags during the night. Luckily my wife's -20 F (-29 C) bag had a 'waterproof' shell on it, and my 0 F (-18 C) modified blanket was much warmer than I needed, since it was very wet from the melting snow by morning. I was able to make a snowball from the snow that collected on my wife's sleeping bag! I will be contacting the manufacturer to see if they can recommend a fix for sealing off this vent in such inclement weather.

In the morning, we woke up early and packed quickly (no time for breakfast), meaning the tent was packed away very wet. I noticed a very small t-shaped hole in the side of the tent that to me looked like a puncture from a sharp object like a knife or tent stake. The odd thing was that the hole was on the downwind side of the tent. Had it been on the windward side, I would have shrugged it off as debris (or a tent stake) blown by the storm. I quickly patched the hole both inside and out with fabric from an old Gore-Tex repair kit. To save time, I put the tent on my pulk instead of taking the time to make room for it in my already stuffed pack.

Note: I set up the Assault several times around the apartment (often inside) to thoroughly dry the tent out and have only stored it dry at home.

Observations So Far:

Floor Space:
There's adequate room for two with minimal room for extra gear like water and pee bottles. My wife and I both fit comfortably: me on a 25" (64 cm) wide pad, and my wife in a very lofty -20 F (-29 C) sleeping bag on a standard width pad. The ceiling is plenty high for changing clothes and playing cards.

Drying Time:
The majority of the tent dries out very quickly. However, the moisture trapped in the vestibule took considerably longer to evaporate, and I've needed to wipe out this area with a small towel to avoid packing the tent wet.

Ease of Setup/Takedown:
I've found the tent very quick and easy to set up. I spend more time staking it out than assembling the poles and clipping the tent to them. The lowest clip on each side of the entrance are much 'tighter' than any of the others, and the middle vestibule clip is also fairly tight. I've often needed to take my gloves off to attach these clips to the poles. However, removing all the clips from the poles is easy with gloves on. I generally start unclipping at the far end of the tent and work my way towards the entrance to help push the air out as it collapses. I've set up and taken down the tent in strong winds without any problems - 2 people made takedown and rolling up much easier.

Stormworthiness:
Excellent so far, it's held up to very strong winds and shed snow well on the only trip where that was an issue. The far end/wall of the tent tends to flex a lot, but the flapping noise (walls moving inward and then outward) hasn't been excessive in my opinion and is more of a 'whoomp' than a snap or crack. My only complaint in this area is with the main vent that can't really be sealed (see below).

Vents:
The small vents near the door are easy to access from the inside or outside of the tent. However, the large vent at the far end of the tent is very difficult to prop open from the outside, and annoying to do so from the inside (very difficult with gloves on). The smaller vents seal relatively well with hook-and-loop fasterners, but this is not the case with the larger vent. It cannot be sealed realistically, and the hook-and-loop patches effectively convert it to two smaller vents that are still open if the wind is blowing. As stated above, this lead to a lot of snow blowing in my tent during my last night of testing. I am in the process of getting this resolved, either through a fix by Sierra Designs, or failing that, I will sew a zipper closure to the vent myself.

Condensation:
Inside the tent, this was mainly present on the floor and seam tape on the upper parts of the tent. Additionally, water has been trapped between the tent and the vestibule, mainly towards the top of the tent, every time I've checked this area. Below is a photo showing the areas where breathable and non-breathable fabrics are used as well as where the moisture gets trapped.

Internal Guy Lines:
I've set up internal guy lines a few nights, but it was only windy on one of these nights. I don't notice them being in the way too much.

Window:
Most of the time I've wanted to look out the window, it's been fogged up or frosted up (on one or both sides). When it's just condensation on the inside, it's easy to wipe off. I find it's easier to just barely open the top of the vestibule and stick my head out.

Vestibule:
The vestibule is definitely on the small side. There's room for boots and maybe a small pack, but not much more than that if I'm going to be able to get to the vestibule zipper. I find it difficult to reach out from in the tent and zip the vestibule completely shut since it angles out so far.

External Guy Lines:
Only once did I feel the need to guy out extra points on the tent, and in this case, I tied cords to the 3rd clips on the far end of the tent and staked these out. The main reason I did this was that I didn't feel the tent was anchored as well as it could be due to the dry, powdery snow, and I figured I could use some extra insurance on the windward side of the tent.

Stakes:
Six stakes is what I consider to be the bare minimum - four for the corners of the tent, and two for the vestibule. However, since having several stakes 'pop' when wind picked up (from no wind), I'll be thoroughly staking out the tent with eight bomber stakes.

Jake's Corners and Packability:
The Jake's Corners seem to be a good idea in my opinion. They distribute the stress of the main poles over a larger area and definitely give it more stability (from a physics point of view). However, it is a bit awkward having them permanently connected to the tent via webbing. This tends to twist around when I pack the tent, so when I lay out the tent for staking, the first thing I do is untwist all of the Jake's Corners. When the testing period is over, I'll probably cut the webbing and splice in some buckles so they can be disconnected from the tent for packing purposes (see below). When packing the tent, I roll it up starting at the far end and rolling towards the vestibule end. The corner poles are a nice starting point for rolling up the tent, but the corner poles at the vestibule end always seem to fall out of the rolled up tent. Since the corner poles are sewn to the tent, this obviously translates to a minimum size for the packed tent, unless an extra effort is made to in rolling up the tent. In theory, the poles can be kept separate from the tent when rolling it up, allowing the tent to be rolled up to a shorter length and poles to be stashed externally on a pack - however, I haven't tried this yet. The long overall packed length requires special packing efforts with all but my largest pack, especially when I also need to carry a bear canister.

Things I Like:

• Bombproof stability in wind, very structurally sound.
• Relatively quiet in the wind.
• Quick and easy setup.

Things I Don't Like:

• Snow blowing through the top vent, which can't really be sealed. It's also difficult to open/close the vent (propping it open that is) from outside the tent, and I always forget to close it before I get out of the tent and am ready to take it down.
• The use of coated (waterproof but not breathable) nylon on the upper parts of the vestibule creates a large moisture trap between the vestibule and the tent body fabric.
• The vestibule is a bit on the small side.
• Long minimum packed length due to the Jake's Corners being sewn to the tent body.

Further Testing:

I expect several more winter camping trips during the next two months, as well as one trip below snow level. Whether the Assault will see any more snow use will depend on a timely fix to the leaky vent issue, either by Sierra Designs (whom I've contacted) or by myself.

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