Switching to floorless.

[tdot]

So would you guys get a SO Cimarron dcf or a hyperlite mountain gear 2 person tipi thing?

Are you going to run a stove? If yes, SO

Can you wait til July/August? If not. HMG.

Otherwise I think they are very similar. Slightly different construction, mildly different other attributes. I personally chose the HMG and will make modifications for a stove if I need to.

 

[Jotis]

Are mostt of you guys who use a floorless shelter also using a bivy sack for extra protection from the elements

 

[AK Troutbum]

Are mostt of you guys who use a floorless shelter also using a bivy sack for extra protection from the elements

I do. I also have a UL wt. shelter/tarp with just a Zpacks DCF bathtub floor strapped up to the walls. That system works very well when I don't need anything for bug protection.

 

[hcaudle]

Are mostt of you guys who use a floorless shelter also using a bivy sack for extra protection from the elements

My group uses a Kifaru 8 man w/a stove, none of us use a ground cloth or bivy. We just try to be careful about removing rocks/sticks/etc. under sleeping pad.

 

[Yukon Cornelius]

I wonder if Mosquitos and gnats depend on a conical/peak type tent. I have a little pocket tarp shelter for mountain hunting and am going to try it here as well. But here in the Lowcountry of SC, we have masses of skeeters and no-see-ums. I won't know till I try it, but I'm thinking a tarp type floorless is not going to work for me locally. But I am definitely going to try it. Out West any type of floorless seems to work.

Do you think in AK a tarp floorless would protect you from bugs as well as a TP style?

spending my youth in GA Piedmont and part of my adult life in Beufort SC, I thought I understood bugs. Then I moved to Alaska.

 

[Mike Islander]

spending my youth in GA Piedmont and part of my adult life in Beaufort SC, I thought I understood bugs. Then I moved to Alaska.

You know exactly what our conditions are like here, then. Do you think a non-tipi floorless would work? I'm thinking that without the tall top vent to collect CO2, the bugs will just stay at body level and eat me alive if I pitched my Hilleberg Nallo without the inner tent (floorless).

 

[Yukon Cornelius]

I live my tigoat. I still use my Cabelas geo dome 8 man, but the tigoat is my favorite. It’s the 6.5 vertex so big enough for two. Awesome for one. No bug issues last summer. Easy to pitch on the tundra around tussucks. While my partner spent 2 hours leveling his spot for his 2 man tent, I was set up. Cooking dinner and glassing.

 

[Yukon Cornelius]

You know exactly what our conditions are like here, then. Do you think a non-tipi floorless would work? I'm thinking that without the tall top vent to collect CO2, the bugs will just stay at body level and eat me alive if I pitched my Hilleberg Nallo without the inner tent (floorless).

when I was at Parris Island we used those floors shelter half’s. I don’t necessarily remember getting eaten alive any different than when outside. But as bad as the sand fleas and mosquitos were there (I was also stationed there for 6 months post 9/11) they ain’t nearly as bad as the Alaskan no-seeums, though that might be because of the sheer numbers. They suck no matter what. I was pleasantly surprised at the floor less model with Bugs up here.

 

[duchntr]

So would you guys get a SO Cimarron dcf or a hyperlite mountain gear 2 person tipi thing?

Cant comment on SO as far as their DCF offerings but everything Ive had from them was top notch as quality goes. As for HMG, I have an Ultamid2 and it is great and I would recommend it highly. My U2 has enough room for 2 and gear but I would still recommend getting the 4 for the small weight/ footprint penalty. Also HMG does 15-20% off store wide multiple times a year, subscribe to their newsletter.

 

[AK Troutbum]

Cant comment on SO as far as their DCF offerings but everything Ive had from them was top notch as quality goes. As for HMG, I have an Ultamid2 and it is great and I would recommend it highly. My U2 has enough room for 2 and gear but I would still recommend getting the 4 for the small weight/ footprint penalty. Also HMG does 15-20% off store wide multiple times a year, subscribe to their newsletter.

I’ll add to that and also say that the rectangular shape (Ultamid 2), or the square shaped (Ultamid 4), shelters are very quick and easy to setup. As far as manufactures go, I agree with what’s been said above, both HMG and SO make excellent shelters, although I also don’t have any experience with SO‘s DCF offerings.


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[torysavage]

I’ve always been on the fence about this, sounds dumb but it’s a pretty big leap for me.

move been doing some thinking though and I realize I could drop my pack weight significantly by having one of these in my quiver. I’m taking a long look at the seek outside ultralight options as well as the hyperlite mountain designs ones.

So tell my your story. Was it tough to make the change? Do you ever regret it or have you learned some tricks and will
Never go back to a regular tent?

thanks!

I went to floorless one year and had mice and bugs on me the entire trip. Which was fine but I decided I would prefer to pack an extra pound or so for the benefits. but that’s just me.

 

[rbljack]

I have been enjoying the floorless shelter/stove combo for hunting trips. I have had some issues getting good fires going with the stove. But at the same time, both trips (where I felt the need for stove/fire) were during very wet conditions. My third trip out with the sawtooth was my backpack elk hunt in 2018. It snowed the day we were expecting to hike in. It dropped a foot overnight. So we hiked in the next day and didn't get as far back as we planned. My first lesson was the footprint of the sawtooth (or any bigger shelter) can be a problem when trying to find the "Spot" sometimes. I had to move snow out of the way for about 30 minutes to clear an area to pitch the sawtooth. It was damn cold that first night out there. I had limited success with the stove, but im partially to blame because I didn't prep enough wood properly. All the wood was damp and wet which made it very hard to get a good fire going/sustainable. The room in the sawtooth was nice. My lessons from that trip were:
1. Prep the wood for the stove before dark/ bring tools necessary to prep the wood. In dry conditions a "stomping rock" may be enough...but in snow and rain, the ability to split wood becomes apparent to me in order to have dry wood to get a sustainable fire going.
2. In snow, the MSR ground stakes wont hold very well. need to add rocks, logs, etc to keep the shelter in place when the wind comes up.
3. I used Tyvek as my ground cloth which worked ok. The problem is that my sleeping pad was like a slip and slide on top of the Tyvek because I wasn't able to pitch the tent on flat level ground. I need to use some seam seal or something on the bottom of my sleep pad to hopefully limit that slip and slide effect.
4. Do not think you can run a lighter sleeping back just because you are bringing a stove. One is not a substitute for the other IMO.

I really do enjoy the ability to cook in the tent though, and be able to walk in with muddy boots on (in the sawtooth). I also have the supertarp for solo trips. Its not as easy to get in/get out of....but was sufficient for my mule deer solo hunt last fall.

 

[Jimss]

l've had great luck using solely the fly off my Hille Nallo. Here in Colo and Wyo during early fall it is relatively dry with few bugs. I don't like rolling in dirt and mud so prefer bringing along thin painters plastic for an ultra-light floor. It also keeps everything dry in wet conditions.

The nice thing about the Nallo fly is the walls are almost to ground level so there is no worry about snow and rain coming in when it's windy. It also is a 4 season fly so totally bomber-proof. I've used the same setup in super wet and rough Alaska conditions and it's performed well. If super wet I have the option of bringing a bivy bag. Having a fly almost at floor level likely keeps bugs out "a little better" than a fly that is open.

 

[ctmillwo]

Are you going to run a stove? If yes, SO

Can you wait til July/August? If not. HMG.

Otherwise I think they are very similar. Slightly different construction, mildly different other attributes. I personally chose the HMG and will make modifications for a stove if I need to.

For a single guy with a dog (short term will be AT camping, long term goal is a western hunt) would you go with the Ultamid 2 or 4? Any opinion on whether you think a dog’s nails on the dyneema floor of the nest would be an issue?

 

[TradLife406]

Only issue I have with a floorless is for whatever reason where I'm at in Montana is there's a ton of spiders and crawly bugs. I'm not scared of em, but frick who wants em in their bed? So just use a bug bivy to keep them out.

With a tipi and a stove it's pretty frickin awesome to get back at night when it's cold and light that baby up. I don't usually do a fire in the morning because I like to just get up and go. Unless it's super cold.



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[ctmillwo]

My thoughts were to spray permethrin on the border of my ground tarp and see if that helped with creepy crawlies


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[Fins_N_Tines]

My issue with floorless, if you have to use a bug bivy or nest it kinda takes away the point of going floorless. At that point weight savings is negated.

 

[WyoBC_99]

By a cheaper one off the classifieds or AliExpress first and take it on a backpacking trip to see if you like it before dropping that much money.

Second this. My first floorless shelter was a cheap ENO tarp that I bought on sale. It's not as light or roomy or bomb-proof as many of the higher-end options, but it proved to me that I could make floorless work for me and that was after a minimal $$ commitment.

 

[Poser]

My issue with floorless, if you have to use a bug bivy or nest it kinda takes away the point of going floorless. At that point weight savings is negated.

True, but you have the option of dropping weight and going without a nest and, with a bivy sack, the option to not set up a shelter at all. I have a tarp and bivy sack combo that is 14 oz total. I have a Sea to Summit big nest and I carry it in late July and August, especially after big snow years, but don’t need it outside of that time frame.

 

[GunsAreFun]

My issue with floorless, if you have to use a bug bivy or nest it kinda takes away the point of going floorless. At that point weight savings is negated.

Not necessarily. A DST tarp for example is 16 ounces. A Borah bivy is 6 ounces. That’s about a $200 investment for a 22 ounce shelter. I don’t know of many tents that offer the same room or flexibility for $200 at that weight.