Wilderness Equipment Dart 2 WINTER 4 Season Tent

It's the all-fabric inner that distinguishes this ‘winter’ version of our popular 2-person backpacking tent. This model is only available with the high-tech, 30d, high-tenacity ripstop polyester with silicone elastomer face coating, providing enhanced water-repellency, snow shedding and UV resistance. The specs snapshot below points clearly to strong performance in all backpacking conditions: stability and strength in high wind, generous floor space for two tall occupants, good head room, independent access and vestibule space for each, good cross-ventilation (courtesy of the uncoverable mesh screens on the inner tent door panels) and the convenience of free-standing set-up. With its strong 3-pole framework and winter inner this Dart 2 is also great for snow camping.

 

• Totally Free-standing, 4-season, 2-person tent.
• Inner tent pitches first, outer attaches over and can be used alone.
• Min Wt 2.82 kg
• Packed Wt 3.15 kg
• Floor Dimensions: 2.4m long x 1.4m widest
• Outer Tent Fabric: 30d ripstop polyester, silicone elastomer face, tape-sealed, 1500mm PE back coating.
• Outer Tent Colour: Eucalypt
• Inner Tent: Neutral grey, air-permeable 40d nylon, Black 20d nylon mesh vent panels on doors.
• Floor: Suspended tub, 100d nylon base with 8,000mm HH PE coating, 75d outer tent fabric splash walls.
• Poles: 3 x Scandium Air Hercules FC (floating connectors), fully field-maintainable.
• Pegs: 7 x 4-Flute HT Aluminium, with pull cords.
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Much more info about the Dart 2 WINTER

This tent differs from the 3-season Dart 2 tent only in that the inner tent is made from air-permeable 40d nylon, rather than mesh. There are two sets of doors and two vestibules. Inner tent ventilation is provided through fixed mesh panels on the upper part of each door. These have zip-over covers on the inside. Although the Dart 2W mays not have the level of ventilation provided by the all mesh inner model, effective convective and flow-through cross ventilation can be achieved by suitable use of the openings provided.

From mid-2010 this winter backpacking tent now uses our lightweight 30d polyester ripstop outer tent fabric, a result of popular demand. All our waterproof tent fabrics, outer skins and floors, are now coated with a superior polyether formulation, offering much higher resistance to deterioration in high humidity and prolonged wet conditions. 

Size

Two people fit easily in the Dart 2W. There is heaps of length and sit-up head room is sufficient even for taller persons. The drawings show the main dimensions.

Architecture

The Dart 2W uses a pair of long, assymetrically-crossed poles combined with a transverse, slightly shorter one. This cross-over arrangement provides excellent interior space within a strong and stable structure. Occupants have immediate, individual access to their respective vestibules and to the tent as a whole - no need to disturb your companion. The outer tent door panels are steep enough that they and can be operated so the inner tent remains adequately sheltered when entering or leaving the tent during rainfall.

Outer Tent Features

Once the inner tent has been erected the outer skin is fastened over it. Simple narrow webbing loops on the outer tent catch under the hooks built into our new, original design universal socket fittings. The tensioning buckles provided on the webbing loops are lightweight, compact and strong. Door panels are fitted with twin sliders so their upper areas can be partly opened for ventilation in dry weather. Two vents, carefully positioned as high up as possible on the outer skin, provide optimum convective ventilation during rainfall. They are held open by short props and closed by strips of touchtape on carefully designed fabric carriers that prevent water being blown up, in and onto the inner tent in strong winds. By unzipping the top part of the inner tent doors these vents can be opened or closed from inside the inner tent. The outer tent is provided with our unique shockcorded guy system essential to assist the relatively rigid frame structure resist the drag forces created by storm wind conditions. It is possible to erect the outer tent on its own as a lightweight canopy. Fabric loops to retain the poles are provided under the outer tent at the pole cross-over points. Detach the pole tip socket components and ground tape from the inner tent so they function independently on the outer shell.

Inner Tent Features

The Dart 2 Winter inner canopy is all fabric. The fixed mesh panels in the upper 40% of the two door panels have internal, zip-up fabric covers to control ventilation and convective heat-loss out of the inner tent. When unzipped these covers can be rolled down and fastened into long pouches at the base of each screen. A nice feature of the design package is that these upper door mesh panels communicate directly with the adjacent vents in the outer tent. This unimpeded ventilation pathway is very effective. Mesh pockets are provided in each wall at the foot side of the doors. A hanging line is fitted under the top panel

The super-durable, 100d nylon floor pan on the Dart is uniquely designed to deliver the same standard of protection from water as the unstressed full tub floors of our outer-pitch-first models. The six pole-tip socket end-carriers are cleverly designed so that the tensioned floor's tub corners they connect to are suspended well above ground level. This removes the need for difficult and bulky corner sealing solutions. Inner tent finished weight is further reduced by using outer tent fabric for the floor pan splash side walls. When the tent is occupied, the floor panel simply sags down to the ground just where it is loaded. The PU floor coating is light grey in colour. It is easier to find lost items in the tent, light levels improve on dull days and, against the black fabric background, accidental coating damage is easily identified for repair by liquid sealant application.