SMD Gatewood Cape - Any Experiences ?

g00gle · Aug 22nd 2015, 2:05am

SMD Gatewood Cape
sixmoondesigns.com/tarps/GatewoodCape.html

Anybody have any knowledge or experience with the Six Moon Designs Gatewood Cape?

Been taking a look at this while I've been wondering about converting myself to being a tarper. Never actually tarped before, but lately I've been exploring various ways to both lighten and simplify my gear for a long walk next year (and for hiking/camping before and after, too.)

Watched some decent videos on YouTube and got to see it in action during a storm, as well as in a few feet of snow. But videos don't always tell the whole story.

jimmyjam · Aug 22nd 2015, 7:34am

It works pretty good as a shelter. On the small side though. I'm about 6' and I used one for around 400 miles or so on the AT, then I made a larger clone of it out of cuben. It works ok as rain gear, but it wants to "billow up" in the wind, I used a piece of shock cord around my waist to help.
I used my gatewood clone for about 750 miles on the AT- used a MYOG Parcho for rain gear. I found I still wanted more room so now I have a Bear Paws Wilderness Designs 1.5 Canopy that I use a MYOG inner net tent with. Total shelter weight is right at 30 oz, a bit more than the 19 oz cuben clone I made, as the Bear Paw and net tent are silnylon. One day I may make it all out of cuben.

g00gle · Aug 22nd 2015, 4:28pm

I was a little curious about the billowing potential. I was considering a shock-cord belt with some of these little black plastic buckle clips I picked up at Wally World. So, that answers that question. For that length issue, I come in a 6' myself, so would you suggest rain pants or an equivalent if I forego making something custom? (Wifey and her mother are sewing fanatics, so I have to keep her away from this thread or they'll have one sewn before I can even order one.) Custom is always an option, just want to make sure that the Cape is worth copying first (because I'll buy it just to have on hand if we actually do go the custom route.)

I'm still getting through many threads around here, but for some reason I'm thinking you just completed a long hike on the trail recently. Is that about right? Thanks much for the input on the Cape!

jimmyjam · Aug 22nd 2015, 8:21pm

The cape will come down to about your knees. I didn't find that rain pants are necessary. I had just sold my extended cuben clone of it a few weeks ago. The gatewood has a couple of snaps that you fold the bottom foot up with when you wear it as rain gear. At 6 ft my feet or my face would sometimes touch the netting and there's not a lot of room in the net tent for much more than yourself, pad and bag. Your pack will definitely have to stay out in the vestibule. It is an ingenious piece of gear. The gatewood does shed wind very well and I near got wet under it- I just decided it wasn't roomy enough for me. The clone I made did not double as a poncho, I took the dimensions of the gatewood and added about 6" or so all the way around and made my net tent longer and wider and made the net tent five sided to take advantage of the room at the rear.'

You can see where I had to seam the pieces together because cuben only comes in 54" wide. I did finish a section hike in June from Harper's Ferry WV to Killington, VT. I was hoping to make it all the way to Katadin, but I had to stop due to a foot injury.

jimmyjam · Aug 22nd 2015, 8:23pm

And here's the gatewood for comparison:

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g00gle · Aug 23rd 2015, 2:18am

Wow! That is some truly great work you did there. I considered it at length and, so far, if I go with the Cape, I'm leaning towards not getting the net addition, but rather just sleeping with my bug net over my head up North when the bugs become an issue. What are your thoughts about that? Tenable or foolhardy?

Wow (again!) Sorry to hear about the foot, hope that's been healing up without event. That's like, what, six states?

Harpers Ferry will be a slow point for me because it's one of the places along the trail I hope to spend some down time. There's so much there historically that interests me. Including a cave I'd like to find. During the civil war, Colonel John Mosby hid his horses and men in a cave for extended periods of time along side a creek there in Harpers Ferry, one of the tactics that allowed him and his partisan rangers to appear and disappear so infamously during the war. And I really want to look for that cave!

I got my butt handed to me when I posted over in that other sandbox about wanting to see certain sights and attractions along the way during my hike. From famous hostels to little-known monuments, but many of the people that preach HYOH let me have it without mercy when I dared to say I looked forward to seeing some things along the way. (I like it the atmosphere over much better!)

jimmyjam · Aug 23rd 2015, 7:22am

g00gle wrote:

Wow! That is some truly great work you did there. I considered it at length and, so far, if I go with the Cape, I'm leaning towards not getting the net addition, but rather just sleeping with my bug net over my head up North when the bugs become an issue. What are your thoughts about that? Tenable or foolhardy?

Wow (again!) Sorry to hear about the foot, hope that's been healing up without event. That's like, what, six states?

Harpers Ferry will be a slow point for me because it's one of the places along the trail I hope to spend some down time. There's so much there historically that interests me. Including a cave I'd like to find. During the civil war, Colonel John Mosby hid his horses and men in a cave for extended periods of time along side a creek there in Harpers Ferry, one of the tactics that allowed him and his partisan rangers to appear and disappear so infamously during the war. And I really want to look for that cave!

There is a lot to see in Harpers Ferry, I could spend a couple of days there.

I got my butt handed to me when I posted over in that other sandbox about wanting to see certain sights and attractions along the way during my hike. From famous hostels to little-known monuments, but many of the people that preach HYOH let me have it without mercy when I dared to say I looked forward to seeing some things along the way. (I like it the atmosphere over much better!)

I would be concerned about lyme disease during the warmer months without a bivy or net tent inner you could get a tick bite. The foots about 99% now. I walked thru eight states.

g00gle · Aug 23rd 2015, 1:26pm

Eight states... I hope I'm blessed enough to travel that far. There is a grocery store across the street from where I live, but it sits far back at the other side of a huge parking lot. My neighbors think I'm strange because I often walk the 1,000 feet or so from my door to go shopping. In a world where it is abnormal to walk across the street for food I can only imagine what they might think if they knew I had walked across eight states!

Well, you certainly just got my attention with the ticks. For some reason I seemed to relegate the tick risk down to only where I might walk. I've been so wrapped up in worrying about things of much less importance that I feel a little foolish right now with my arrogant "gonna be ultralight" attitude. I suppose there are some areas where weight savings just may not be worth it. I need to do some re-evaluating. Thanks for all the insights!

jimmyjam · Aug 23rd 2015, 1:59pm

g00gle wrote:

Eight states... I hope I'm blessed enough to travel that far. There is a grocery store across the street from where I live, but it sits far back at the other side of a huge parking lot. My neighbors think I'm strange because I often walk the 1,000 feet or so from my door to go shopping. In a world where it is abnormal to walk across the street for food I can only imagine what they might think if they knew I had walked across eight states!

Well, you certainly just got my attention with the ticks. For some reason I seemed to relegate the tick risk down to only where I might walk. I've been so wrapped up in worrying about things of much less importance that I feel a little foolish right now with my arrogant "gonna be ultralight" attitude. I suppose there are some areas where weight savings just may not be worth it. I need to do some re-evaluating. Thanks for all the insights!

You betcha. A good way to help beat the ticks is to treat your socks, shoes, pants, shirt, shelter, ground cloth (if you use one), and even your pack with permethrin. You can get a bottle for as cheap as $10 at Wallyworld and one bottle is usually enough to treat two hiking set ups.

I think, and it's just my opinion, that for a one person shelter anything around 2 pounds is light enough, if you have the dough to spend then you can get the same set up in cuben at about half the weight but it will cost you 2 or 3 times as much as silnylon.

There are plenty of ways to save weight- the biggest is probably not bringing a bunch of stuff you don't need and packing too much food and carrying too much water- I constantly battle myself on the last two. By getting out there for a few weekend trips you'll quickly learn what you need and don't need to put in your pack.

Muddywaters · Aug 23rd 2015, 2:02pm

gatewood is known as a good shelter for shorter hikers.

but there are problems trying to set up shelter in the rain, if its also your raingear

Even with ultralighters, using shelter as raingear is not common for good reasons. OK in summer use, not so much rest of year or at high elevations.

Im currently using a similar deschutes cuben tarp that I like.

g00gle · Aug 23rd 2015, 2:44pm

jimmyjam wrote:

There are plenty of ways to save weight- the biggest is probably not bringing a bunch of stuff you don't need and packing too much food and carrying too much water- I constantly battle myself on the last two. By getting out there for a few weekend trips you'll quickly learn what you need and don't need to put in your pack.

My shakedown hikes should continue to help sort out alot of things. But water is a freakin paranoia issue for me. =O

Gonna take some serious discipline for me to sort that out. Even on my current short multi-day hikes (or the recent ones, at least) I carry far too much water. At 8.3 lbs. a gallon (I've never actually carried a gallon at a time) I can only imagine how costly that might be on the trail, going up mountains, etc. But not knowing sources, such as AWOL, etc., it's incredibly hard for me to place 100% faith in guides or whatever for something so important. I'm trying hard, but water is a tough area for me.

muddywaters wrote:

gatewood is known as a good shelter for shorter hikers.

but there are problems trying to set up shelter in the rain, if its also your raingear

Even with ultralighters, using shelter as raingear is not common for good reasons. OK in summer use, not so much rest of year or at high elevations.

Doh! Another example of worrying about the wrong things to the point that I once again overlooked the obvious. I suppose in this case, a multi-use item may not be the most practical thing.

This will take some experimenting because currently I have never used anything more than a $1 throw away poncho kept in my pack for the few times I need one. When I've needed it, I just tossed it out when I got home and loaded another cheap one in the pack.

I'm telling ya, I've been focusing on all the wrong things.

Muddywaters · Aug 23rd 2015, 5:24pm

that $1 poncho....works OK in many situtations
In others, not so good
If its cold, and wet, I like full raingear, its an important part of staying warm

Others have done same conditions, with a poncho. I just dont get that warm fuzzy from the poncho.

Drybones · Aug 24th 2015, 8:32am

There are pros and cons to a poncho, best part for me was that you could ventilate without taking it off, comes in handy when you're sweating and hot on one side of the mountain where there's no wind and freezing on the other side with a 20 MPH wind, worst part for me was stepping on it going up steep inclines.

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