Modifying an Alpkit Hunker

[gunwharfman]

I'm seeing my wife's friend tomorrow evening, I sent her an email with the Alkit photo of the Hunka attached. She thinks the idea of her sewing in a 3 or 4 foot waterproof zip along one side of the Hunker is viable but she will not know for sure until she sees it.

[gunwharfman]

It took me an age but I finally tracked down a 42" waterproof zip on eBay. Once it's delivered and I hope its before I am due to go to La Palma in the second week of January, my wife's friend will modify my Hunker for me, she said it will just take her about an hour to do. If it arrives late I'll just take my heavier Snugpack Stratosphere with me which already has a side zip.

I'm not going to take my long waterproof coat with me this time, just my Marmot Precip. My plan is to be as minimalist and as lightweight as possible. I would normally take my rain skirt but I'm waiting for a new one to be made, so for this four-day journey, I'm going to go back to an 'old faithful,' my very lightweight Peter Storm leggings. I've cut off the bottom 6" of each leg and by doing so they now slip over my boots and gaiters very easily now that the narrowest part of the leggings has gone. I don't know why I didn't think of doing this years ago?

[gunwharfman]

My modified Alpkit Hunker has been returned to me, it now has a 4' waterproof zip down one side. The lady who did it for me has done a wonderful job and has for more protection fitted a waterproof flap over the waterproof zip. She refused my offer to pay for it, so later today I'll take her what I hope is a good bottle of French red wine, she won't say no to that!

I'm planning to sleep in it, for the next 4 nights on La Palma with my Alpkit tarp to cover my head and torso if it rains.

The other matter I'm going to assess is, if successful, shall I stick with my present Hunker or buy the larger model? Is it best to have the correct space or more space than one needs? I'm thinking along the lines of, is it better to buy a one-man tent for one man or is it better to buy a two-man tent for one man?

[ninthace]

How did she make a 3' 6" zip fit a 4' hole?

[jimbob]

Take a tube of seam grip, just in case.

[gunwharfman]

Sorry, NinthAce, I don't understand? I'm looking at it now, the lady with the sewing skills has cut one side from the base of the hood area for four feet down one side and then fitted the zip.

My wife has now gone to Gatwick Airport to pick my daughter in law so I have the house to myself and everything I need for my trip is laid out in front of me on the lounge floor. I have been practising getting in and out of my Hunker, with my sleeping quilt inside because I need to know how to make it work best when I'm in darkness and especially if it's raining as well. I can now confirm unless I've missed something really important, that the long zip has made the Hunker much more usable than it was before.

I can foresee a possible problem when I wild camp, it's a volcanic mountainous area so how do I secure my tarp if I cannot find an earthy place to push in my tent pegs? If not I may have to resort to placing rocks on the corners to keep it in shape? When I was on Gran Canaria last year I just sought out small olive orchards to sleep, hopefully, it will be just as easy this time?

I'm now experimenting as to how I pack my rucksack so I can take it on the plane as hand luggage. I'm planning to pack all of my soft materials in my rucksack and compress then down to the Easyjet sizing requirements. I'll then wear all of my 'hard' stuff in my sleeveless, many pockets Columbia 'waistcoat.'

If I don't suceed it will cost me, dearly!

[ninthace]

I was just wondering how she fitted a 42" zip into a 48" hole without leaving a gap at one end or the other.

[gunwharfman]

I recently spent a few days on La Palma and took my modified Hunker with me. A friend of my wife fitted a 4' long zip down one side of it and it really improved its usability. I camped out twice, both nights were warm, no wind and in bright moonlight. The zip made it so easier to get in and out of and it made getting organised so much easier. I just put down my groundsheet, laid my Thermarest Prolight on top, then the Hunker. I undid the zip pushed my sleeping quilt into position and I was ready to sleep!

My Hunker is the standard sized version which fits me well, but to really improve my lot the Hunker XL with a 4' zip would be an even better purchase, giving me more room to move around in and be able to store some items of clothing in, etc as well. A great way to stealth camp. I personally felt so much better knowing that if I opened my eyes I could see ahead and around me, rather than be entombed in my tent just making decisions based on noises.

What was so great was to be able to turn onto my back and to look directly up at the stars, looking at them fro 7000 feet up was truly beautiful and 'out of this world!'

I took my Alpkit 3.5 Tarp as well. I never erected it, I just tucked one of the narrow ends under my rucksack, which was just behind my head, the rucksack weight secured it to the ground and my plan would have been just to pull it over my head if it rained. It didn't so I was unable to test it.

Added together, my groundsheet, inflatable matress, Hunker sleeping quilt and Tarp was noticably lighter than carrying my tent

[gunwharfman]

My Hunka is the medium size. The decision I want to make now is, would my camping experience improve if I invested in the larger size? My present Hunker fits me OK so it's not just me feeling that it's the wrong size as such, its just the idea of having a bit more space that appeals. Has anyone on the Forum bought the medium and then moved on to the XL model and if they did was it a good move? For example, with more space to move around in, does that mean the problems of inner condensation might be greater?