Author Topic: WC zephyros designs  (Read 1399 times)

landy87

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WC zephyros designs
« on: 22:25:41, 21/12/17 »

was going to pull the trigger on zephyros 1 but it seems there is no bathtub design to it, has anyone found this to be a problem?
is there any variation in the floor designs between the different models?

ive been through this mammouth zephyros owners thread at outdoorsmagic and a possible positive i havent seen mentioned  to the 1 over 2 is more porch room for cooking etc


Cairncamper

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Re: WC zephyros designs
« Reply #1 on: 00:11:55, 22/12/17 »
Seems that Terra Nova cut weight on  a lot of their tents by making shallow bath tub floors.








fernman

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Re: WC zephyros designs
« Reply #2 on: 09:19:06, 22/12/17 »
Have had my Zephyros 1 for three years and, yes, the lack of a bathtub groundsheet concerns me, although I've had no problems to date, it has remained 100% watertight.

Maybe I've just been luckier with the weather, though, for there were a few occasions with my old Ultimate Tramp 1, which did have a  bathtub, when I woke in the small hours to feel pressure under the groundsheet and find it was flooded outside. While I've had hours of overnight rain in my Zephyros I just don't seem to have had the same torrential downpours as before, but I also like to think I'm now more experienced at choosing a pitch that is less likely to flood.

My memory is a bit hazy as to when and where, it was either on here or OM, but when I was thinking of getting a Zephyros, or maybe just after I got it, another owner assured me that he hadn't had a problem, even when there was water running underneath his tent.

As for the smaller porch of the Zephyros 2, neither of them is exactly spacious and I don't think you'd notice a lot of difference. I extend my space by holding the flysheet door open over a walking pole, which helps keep all but the worst rain off you provided you've pitched as WC recommend with the wind at the back of the tent.

gunwharfman

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Re: WC zephyros designs
« Reply #3 on: 09:48:13, 22/12/17 »
I've used my Zephyros 1 many times over the past few years. In May I was stuck in it from about 3pm until 7am the following day. For most of that period I was lashed by wind and almost non stop torrents of rain. I was camped at the top of a field, there was a hedge behind me but that didn't help to stop the blasting. The wind made my tent wobble, buckel and at times it seemed to move in all directions, but I stayed perfectly dry. I couldn't have had a better test.

I always put a ground sheet under my tent, just a cheap and light one from Cotswold if I remember correctly. Although I prefer my other tent, a Marmot Pulsar 1, it has greater internal space I am happy to admit that the Zephyros 1 is much better for absolute dryness.

landy87

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Re: WC zephyros designs
« Reply #4 on: 13:28:13, 22/12/17 »
is there no tub  at all or is it just very shallow like an inch deep?

landy87

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Re: WC zephyros designs
« Reply #5 on: 13:33:32, 22/12/17 »
I've used my Zephyros 1 many times over the past few years. In May I was stuck in it from about 3pm until 7am the following day. For most of that period I was lashed by wind and almost non stop torrents of rain. I was camped at the top of a field, there was a hedge behind me but that didn't help to stop the blasting. The wind made my tent wobble, buckel and at times it seemed to move in all directions, but I stayed perfectly dry. I couldn't have had a better test.

I always put a ground sheet under my tent, just a cheap and light one from Cotswold if I remember correctly. Although I prefer my other tent, a Marmot Pulsar 1, it has greater internal space I am happy to admit that the Zephyros 1 is much better for absolute dryness.

hi gunwharfman did you end up getting a naturehike tent?

fernman

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Re: WC zephyros designs
« Reply #6 on: 14:24:09, 22/12/17 »
is there no tub  at all or is it just very shallow like an inch deep?

Probably not what you want to hear, but there is no tub at all.

gunwharfman

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Re: WC zephyros designs
« Reply #7 on: 17:10:23, 22/12/17 »
Re: Naturehike tent. No, but I am still keen on the idea. I'm in a bit of a dilemma though, 4 of my Marmot Pulsar 1p tent poles were broken in the summer and I eventually found a way of securing them (a bodge!) so the tent now works again. I also have my Zephyros 1 which although not my favourite still works for me. I broke a pole on the this as well but have also bodged a repair and this now works again. I am also looking for a Snugpac Stratosphere, hopefully a second hand one, so I end up with one shall I then buy a 3rd tent? I always beat myself up like this!

fernman

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Re: WC zephyros designs
« Reply #8 on: 17:22:05, 22/12/17 »
GWM, how did you break your Zephyros pole? You've got me worried now!
My only fear to date has been that I might stumble and tread on it while pitching or unpitching the tent, you know how it is when you've got it all laid out in front of you on rough grass and you're stepping around it on tired or stiff legs.

gunwharfman

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Re: WC zephyros designs
« Reply #9 on: 18:35:48, 22/12/17 »
I was hiking the Pennine Journey this summer and camped on Hexaham Racecourse. What a bleak place! The toilet/shower block was horrible!

It had been raining and my tent was still wet when I started to erect it. I pushed the interconnected pole through the tent sleeve and secured one end to its brass hole. I wasn't concentrating and did my usual movement to secure the other end in its brass hole. The last pole on my side of the tent just snapped!

When I looked at the tent and pole closely I realised that if the inner sleeve is damp or wet you really have to make sure that the curvature of the poles is correct. I failed to check, so in my case the sleeve material and the pole material were not correctly positioned and because of this and because they were wet, they just stuck together like glue. So when I made that final move to push the pole into its other brass hole the angle was all wrong, I was out by about 1.5" I believe and  so it just snapped.

If the inner sleeve and pole are dry they move against each other easily.

fernman

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Re: WC zephyros designs
« Reply #10 on: 20:36:43, 22/12/17 »
Thanks for the info. I don't think that's likely to happen to me as it's something I'm already aware of with my big campsite tent. It has 3 fibreglass poles which you bend to make hoops, and I've broken 2 of them to date. It's a fiddly enough job when there are two of you, each bending the ends of a pole, but when you do it on your own you struggle to put one end in the ring and then when you run round to the other side and try to do that one, the tent fabric slides along the pole as you bend it and it's extremedly difficult to centralise it again. It's also annoying that I only know of one source of the right-sized repair sleeve and that's an eBay seller who charges a p*ss-taking amount for postage which is more than the cost of the item.

FOX160

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Re: WC zephyros designs
« Reply #11 on: 20:12:35, 29/12/17 »
You just have to be careful of pitch selection and not near sloping areas
where streams could appear or in a small divot where water can pool.

 

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