The Tarptent Cloudburst has arrived.

I ordered it on the 13th, today is the 29th – just over two weeks. I wasn’t expecting it for at least another week.

It is well made of very lightweight components. The construction is unconventional. Web straps with grommets for the poles at each end are attached only at the ends to the tent canopy, instead of being sewn to the floor. In the sewn-in floor version I got, I think some weight could be saved by attaching short pieces of webbing to the floor instead of having a full-width, free piece of webbing attached to the canopy. As it is, the setup is similar to a fly-only pitch of my old North Face Tadpole tent.

Two issues:

I originally ordered the tent with no floor and a tyvek groundsheet. After a vigorous discussion with my camping partner, I emailed and asked Henry to make the tent with a sewn-in floor rather than the groundsheet. Although he did add the sewn-in floor, he also shipped a groundsheet.

Also, the Tarptent site specifies that stakes are “titanium for strength.” This is mentioned in at least two places. The tent arrived with MSR Groundhog stakes instead – a high quality anodized aluminum stake, but hardly titanium. I’ll have to call Tarptent to see what the deal is.

I set the tent up in our office, much to Julie’s annoyance. I used blue masking tape to fasten the guylines to the carpet. Couldn’t get much tension, but it seems as if setup will be a breeze, and there will be ample room for two inside.

I’ll weight it on the postal scale later. It should be 38.5 ounces, more or less.