Bearpaw Wilderness Designs
Posted by RonSep 9 2011
Panthertown Valley, NC
I was planning a trip to the Panthertown Valley in North Carolina and wanted to trim my pack some more. My current go to tent for my son and I is the Big Agnus Sunnyside 2. This is an amazing tent but at 5 lbs 13 oz packed it is no longer a lightweight.
For a few years now I have been eyeing tarps from various makers. Living in Florida however, requires some sort of bug protection. So I needed something with a closed bug net.
Bearpaw Wilderness Designs (BPWD) had some great prices and a pretty good name on the hiking forums. I have been wanting to try one of their products for a few years. I browsed their site and found a two part setup that looked like it would do the trick
Canopy Tent 2
For the tarp I chose the Canopy Tent 2 and for the bug net I chose the Minimalist 2 Bivy. The only issue was that these are custom orders and I needed the items in less than a week. I emailed John over at BPWD and asked what he could do. Well he said if I ordered today (Thursday) he would have it in the mail Saturday and I should have it no later than Wednesday the following week. I was leaving Friday so that worked.
Monday came and when I got home from work there was a small package waiting for me. Wow, that was really fast! I opened it up to find two grey silnylon bags stuffed with goods and two tiny light weight Easton shock cord poles for the minimalist. I immediately went outside to set it up and get a feel for it and make sure it was road worthy.
Minimalist 2 Bivy
First thing I notices was how huge the tarp was compared to the fly on the big Agnus. This was a very versatile size. It will easily hold two large men and lots of gear. More than enough for my son and I. There are lots of attachment points on the tarp. Twelve to be exact. Ten of this use a great little plastic connector called the LineLoc 3 that acts like a strap pull for light weigh string.The other two are just nylon strap loops.
Included in each bag was a bundle of orange 2.5mm nylon guy line. Uncut and no instructions. No big deal. How hard can this be.
Canopy Tent 2
Opened up the minimalist and laid it out. I inserted 4 MSR Groundhog stakes I bought into the four corner loops and put the poles into the little sleeves and the eyes made for them. Crap! I need to put the tarp up to erect the Minimalist. Remember, no instructions. John said they are working on videos. That will be great. Anyways, I put the tarp over the Minimalist and spaced out the side a foot or so from the base of the Minimalist. Then I went in the house and looked on the BPWD website for some hints on how to set up the tarp. The Tarp Tent is designed to be erected using your hiking poles. The picture on the site shows the poles outside the tarp and guy lines strung up and over them. I did some pre measuring of the lines and cut them to what seemed right. Set up my Leki Makalu Ultralite poles and tried my best to get it up and sturdy. Then I went under the tarp and used some more line to attach the Minimalist to the tarps loops made for that purpose. Pulled on the line to tighten it up and bam. The poles on the Minimalist came up against the sides of the tarp. My measurements were off. Next day I tried again. Same method with adjusted spacing, same result. This time I added some shock cord to the minimalist to bring the foot area up a bit. That worked out well. Day three, Wednesday, I decided to set up the tarp first. I also decided to put the poles into the little reinforces pockets in each peak of the tarp. This worked out better for the tarp. I believe the poles on the outside would work well with the Tarp Tent “1″. The larger “2″, not so much. I climbed under the tarp, lined up the Minimalist and attached the guys. Pulled tight and voila! Everything came together perfectly.
They need to include more line for the tarp. There Are 6 attachments along the outer parameter that I do not have enough line for this would make setup much easier.
With the lines attaches and everything packed up, the weights are as follows:
| Total: | 2 lbs 15.2 oz (47.2) |
| Weights include guy lines and stuff sacks | |
| Canopy Tent 2 | 1 lb 5.4 oz |
| Minimalist 2 Bivy | 1 lb 2.1 oz |
| MSR Ground Hog x 12 | 7.7oz |
On the trail I can say I enjoyed the extra weight loss from my pack. I was a little worried if I would find it hard to set up in the field. I should jot have worried. Applying what I had practiced, I could get the whole setup complete as fast as my hiking buddy’s Kelty tents.
On the first night I set the tent up on a slight incline. Incase it rained I didn’t want to be where the water gathered. Well, sylnylon is slippery stuff. My son and I ended up at the bottom of the Minimalist after a few minutes. To the point where the stakes broke loose at the top. Midnight I got up and moved it to flatter ground. Much better. Any little slope and your an Ice Capade.
Stuff Sack Replacements
On day two, the weather turned for the worse and it poured all night and morning. I am happy to say not a drop got in. Not a single peck. In the morning, I packed up out bags, took down the minimalist and could have cooked breakfast right on my Tyvek groundsheet without ever getting out of the tent. AWESOME!
When I returned home I had to call about the silnylon stuff sacks for the tent and the bug net. The top seam was loose and the frayed badly. I emailed john with pictures and he apologized and put two more in the mail the same day. With a product and service like that too book. Bearpaw Wilderness Designs has my loyalty. I will be purchasing a solo setup in the future. Maybe a flat tarp and the minimalist 1. Who knows.
What I liked
- The price is mid range but fair for what you get.
- The Weight is great.
- The size is good for two people and it’s a flexible platform.
- Customer service is as good as it gets in my experience.
What I would change
- Instructions and lots of them with tips on various ways to set it up.
- Add more guy line, LOTS of it along with some suggested measurements. I like that they come uncut as it gives me some more options. I think 75′ to 100′ feet should bee included with each item.
- Silnylon is slippery as heck. Not sure what can be done about it, but a less slippery surface on the floor would be great.
- I will wait to judge the stuff sacks as the replacements are in the mail. (EDIT) Just got the mail, two days after I asked about the stuff sacks, I got new ones. These are much nicer. Folded seams and the Minimalist stuff sack is in mesh. Heck, the old bags weighed in at 22g, the new ones 19g. Perfect ending.
Welcome to my blog. This is just one of those blogs where I will post random events and interests I have. If you have any questions, leave a comment. Take care.
9 comments
Comment by pat t on September 9, 2011 at 1:07 pm
Read your post on BCUSA and thought I’d bump your visitor count up
Comment by Ron on September 9, 2011 at 1:09 pm
Much obliged brother. Thanks for visiting.
Comment by Madfaxman on September 9, 2011 at 1:43 pm
Same as Ron, saw the post on BCUSA and came to have a visit and bump the count up
Comment by Ron on September 9, 2011 at 1:47 pm
No necessary but much appreciated. I hope someone gets something out of the post. Took me most of the day. haha
Comment by George Krpan on September 9, 2011 at 9:58 pm
Followed the link from BCUSA.
Thanks for the review. Next stop, the BWD site.
Comment by Ron on September 9, 2011 at 10:00 pm
Let me know if you get anything. Great stuff.
Comment by Paul regula on January 5, 2012 at 10:31 am
I emailed John about six times asking various questions about a net 2 for use with a tarp from integral designs. Happy your happy with your purchase. I will be ordering my net 2 with cuben sides and floor , hopefully not as slippery on tyvek, thanks for a great review!
Comment by Ron on January 5, 2012 at 10:34 am
I think you will be happy with it. I am not sure Tyvek will help with the slipperiness. Please let us know.
Comment by Poe on February 8, 2012 at 9:14 pm
I have to beielve the person responsible for the design of the tent must be an avid camper. Plenty of detail is in the structure including operation of the windows, multiple organization compartments, air flow , ect. I chose the tent based on strict criteria. The tent must be less than 10 pounds to fit on the luggage rack on a motorcycle. The tent must be free standing and easy to erect under minimal light conditions. Another friend purchased the same tent. Both of us conducted pre-test to know how to erect the tents once in the field. My tent did not set up correctly in pre-test. One of the legs wanted to twist out preventing the complete erection (In the field the same situation occurred). The other tent had no erection difficulties in pre-test. We conducted our field tested at the Thunder in the Mountains motorcycle rally. The area we were in was rock under the about an inch of soil. We were unable to use the stakes that came with the tents since they were not heavy duty enough for the conditions. Likewise, gusting winds up to 30 mph posed a problem with the tent setup. Under heavy winds the tents became airborne since the staking step follows erecting. We were able to use field procedures and secure the tents by tying to large rocks as a solution to staking. There are no instructions with the tent on the use of the rain fly. An experienced camper will be able intuitively attach the rain fly, however, my friend had to ask during pre-test what the purpose of the extra pole not being experienced in the realm of camping. With simple handling the stitching came out of the bottom of the stake bag. It may not seem like any big deal but an unsecured stake loose in the carrying bag could lead to a paint rub when attached to the motorcycle. Part of my tent did collapse under the high winds. When re-erecting one of the poles split length wise however remained serviceable. The bath tub floor is a pro and con. I did encounter a puncture so I would recommend carrying a roll of duct tape. With the floor as the foot print, under muddy conditions you will be packing up the mess with the tent and soiling the top nylon portion. Both of us were able to pack up the tents and secure them back to the condition they were shipped. While cleaning the tent after the rally I noticed additional poles fracture at joints where the pole connects to the hinge. Update: Tent went into the field during one of the worst and wet rallies. Pretty much eveything remained dry. The rain fly adequately covers the tent. Seams held tight. additionally cleaning of the tent is easy since it can be free standing. Nothing like cleaning dries horse manuer! I have used the tent for right at a year now and it’s preformance has held up. I have change the star rating from 3 to 4. I continue to challege the equipment I take motorcycling and so far this is the best tent at the pricing point. There are now three of us using the tent on rallies. I think I have had the most difficulties. The split/fractures poles are still holding up. When the one I own wears out I plan on buying another one.