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Gear

Argos Hike-Lite Mods
 
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Argos Hike-Lite Mods
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RichW
27/09/09 00:34
 Rookie 117 forum posts

/members/images/47046/Gallery/end_attachment.jpg



/members/images/47046/Gallery/front_of_tent.jpg



/members/images/47046/Gallery/door_attachment.jpg



RichW wrote (see)

I have changed the guys for 1.5mm Dyneema with Linelocs, and changed the big buckles for little Lineloc 3 adjusters, with 2mm dyneema.

Also added a q/r attachment to the front of the inner using some 1.5mm line and an Alpkit small carabiner, to enlarger the vestibule when needed.

The tent is less bulky to pack, the guys are much stronger than the originals, and I have saved 250grams to boot! Not bad I dont think.

 With titanium pegs the tent will weigh 1630 grams, a big drop from the original 2100grams, and the total cost will be £40. I'm impressed.

I've moved this from the other thread to give it a more obvious title, and add some pics.

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Edited: 27/09/09 00:36
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a.b. fox
27/09/09 10:00
 Rookie 80 forum posts

Excellent - how much weight did changing the buckles save?

Are you still planning to dye it?

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SD
27/09/09 10:25
 Rookie 845 forum posts 2 reviews 2 classifieds
Sorry cannot figure what q/r  is ? I have the older grey model and need too do this,where did you get the linelocs from?
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bailout
27/09/09 12:16
 Rookie 119 forum posts

Looks interesting but I wish the photos were bigger as it is difficult to see much on the tiny ones you posted. Have you made any changes to where the poles fit into the tape on the inner? I see you have replaced the buckle on the outer that would clip to the same bit of tape. Does this mean you are using an extra peg?

Also unsure where your weight savings are coming from. You say you have saved 250 with replacing the buckles and guys which would bring the total weight to 1850. How do you get from there to 1630, ie a further 220 drop? You mention replacing the pegs with ti ones but the alloy pegs only weigh 170 so your ti pegs would need to be filled with helium

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Sand Dancer
27/09/09 14:00
SD - from a different sd! Try cleats.co.uk for line-loks. I'm stuck on q/r.
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RichW
27/09/09 14:15
 Rookie 117 forum posts

Right where to start.....

It is someone else who is planning to dye their tent.

The quick release bit I'm talking about, I have just attached a bit of line around the attachment point on the front of the inner, then clipped a mini carabiner to that, which then goes round the peg. It will just mean I can unclip it without removing the peg.

I have left the brass inserts where the poles insert, it just made things easier. I sewn the back of the webbing into loops, attached some 1.5mm line which is then used to peg down the inner, using the same peg thats holding the outer.

The Lineloc 3 guy adjusters I could only find in America, so I had some shipped from Quest Outfitters I think they were called.

The buckles probably saved around 200 grams, if I presume the guys were around 50 grams?

With regards to the weight saving, by getting rid of the bags I got the weight down to 1980 grams, with replacing the guys, buckles and zips, the weight then dropped to 1730 grams. Using 6 gram pegs instead of the standard 16 gram pegs would lose another 100 grams, while still being useable and not hair pins.

This is my first time doing anything like this, so it was all a bit experimental, but I'm happy with it!

I can add some better photos if you wish?

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Edited: 27/09/09 14:18
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RichW
27/09/09 14:42
 Rookie 117 forum posts

http://www.alpkit.com/shop/images/pi_16304.jpeg


/members/images/47046/Gallery/endattachsmall.jpg


/members/images/47046/Gallery/door_attach_small.jpg


Its hard to put up decent pics with the file size limit.

The top pic shows the carabiner used for the front of the inner.

I could loop the line under the poles instead of pulling it out to peg, but pegging it out from the pole helps to take up the slack, andprevent the flappy material across the door.

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JonnoS www.ni-wild.co.uk
28/09/09 09:30
 Rookie 371 forum posts 6 photos 1 bookmark
Has anyone made any mods that allow the use of the entry flap as a porch using a walking pole?
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bailout
28/09/09 23:41
 Rookie 119 forum posts

Thanks for the extra explanation and photos. I don't know about the file size limits here but I have seen bigger photos on other posts. The second lot of photos are much clearer though.

It looks like your mod at the rear probably gives better separation than the original and having the outer come out a bit on the front pole must give extra space as well. I have the original green one and didn't notice much problem with flapping but have heard some people with the new one mention it.

I wonder how much could be saved by using cheaper, more easily available buckles and bits for similar mods. I keep thinking of modding mine but I mainly want to convert to pitch outer first rather than saving weight but your mods are interesting.

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R_Mac
05/10/09 19:03
 Rookie 2422 forum posts 19 photos 5 reviews 16 bookmarks
twiglegs wrote (see)

Tiny porch, no chance of cooking in it, maybe could mod it to overcome this though


It's possible with care.

See Here

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R_Mac
05/10/09 20:59
 Rookie 2422 forum posts 19 photos 5 reviews 16 bookmarks

Yeah it's very easy to hook the inner back but difficult to explain, here's how I do it.

http://maceachain.blogspot.com/2009/06/pro-actio-hike-lite-1-review-part-1.html

It would be even easier with the Fastex buckles removed as shown by the OP.

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bailout
09/10/09 22:11
 Rookie 119 forum posts

twiglegs, I haven't modded mine yet but not sure what you mean about the poles? My initial plan was to cut the pole 'sockets' off the inner tent and join them with a length of ribbon while leaving part of the tape on the inner so I could attach it back to the sockets with a buckle. The main issue was whether the poles would be stable without the inner. I don't think the front pole would be a problem as the shape of the outer would hold it up but not so sure about the rear pole. It will be easy to test by just not clipping the inner to the poles.

Having seen the OPs mods I am wondering whether there is a more complete way of doing it that might save a bit of weight as well. One of reasons I wanted to do it was to use just the outer as a liteweight tent in summer but now the weather has turned it isn't such an issue so I haven't got round to it yet.

As to folding the inner back to give more porch space. I used mine on Lundy last year and had 3 days of rain and strong winds. I just pegged the outer at the front and had the front of the inner not attached or pegged at all. I would pull it back to cook etc and then just fold it forward but still unpegged to sleep. It didn't seem to cause any problems or reduce its strength to the wind not having the inner pegged at the front.

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RichW
10/10/09 21:15
 Rookie 117 forum posts
An easy way to pitch outer only is to thread the poles through the ties, and keep the ends of the poles in position by tying loops at each end of the correct length line, and slotting the poles into them.
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Tommy B
18/10/09 21:18
 Rookie 1 forum post

I do a kind of pitch to gether method.

I pack the tent with inner and outer atttched to each other. Then once at campsite its

 1. Unrole and peg inner (still with outer attached over the top) .

2. Unclip on side rear clip, you can then post rear pole through tent, pock the ends in each brass bits, and attach outer and inner then reclip the one uncliped clip.

3. Do the same to for the front but you don't need to unclip, just use the door.

4. Finish pegging out.

I've done several wet pitches like this, minimal rain gets in.

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Ray Britton
18/01/10 10:08
 Rookie 612 forum posts 16 photos 4 reviews 1 bookmark

Hi all.

I have only just seen this thread after viewing the above picture.

I have a couple of these tents (originally called 'tiger paw', but now known as hike lite)

I instantly replaced the very good but heavy pegs with mostly light weight titanium ones (5g), and threw in a couple of Y or V section ones (for soft ground). In the final version of mymodes, I use 15 pegs instead of 10, but of course they are still much lighter in total (all of my pegs are also painted with dayglo orange tops, so they should not get lost).

I replaced all the guys with 1.5 dyneema, and also allowed for an extra two at the side, and one more at the rear (for four season use). In the pic above, you can see that the tents outer is ribbed with diazonal creases. This is common on all of these tents. There are 2 ways to counter this: First the peice of webbing that runs under the the outer tent at the front end (to keep the tent in shape) is too short, and needs to be lengthened by 5-6cm. This is on ALL models, and not just the 2 I own. Users of this tent may have noticed that is is quite a tight fit to get the outer over the pole at the front, and it seems not to fit quite right, well this is cured by adjusting the length of the webbing.

Secondly, I also added 4 more pegging points. two either side of the tent. One midway along the base of the front 'triangle' section, and one midway along the rear section.

These additions/mods, will make the outer taught in use, and so will avoid it flapping, and keep it more stable. This more taught outer will also get rid of most or all of the condensation problem.

Someone also mantioned using a walking pole witht the door. For this, I smply added a loop of webbing to the base of the door (next to the base of the zip). There is a piece of dyneema I can thread through this, with a loop at each end (approx 30cm). I attatch the other end of the dyneema to an upright walking pole (sometimes guyed out with a removed guy line) and this keeps the door wide open, and makes a good wind break/cooking area.

The above length of short dyneema also doubles as a kind of guy line (thinks hard how to explain its use without photo's lol). Basically, as per above, I have added extra pegging points

to the front sides of the outer. When I am going to bed down for the night, I can use the short length of dyneema to tention the tent's door (as these are prone to flap a bit). I place a tent peg about 15cm away from the added pegging point on the outside of the tent. The dyneema then runs from the added pegging point, around the peg on the outside, and then returns into the tent (under the door), and attaches to a second peg just inside the door. This way I can get good tension on the door. Although this does sound very complex (as possibly as clear as mud), it is very easy to do, and the extra length of dyneema, and extra peg (for the walking pole) are with me anyway.

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Ray Britton
18/01/10 10:09
 Rookie 612 forum posts 16 photos 4 reviews 1 bookmark

 Part 2

I have not replaced the webbing/buckles on one of the tents, but have considerably shortened the webbing at all pegging points. Although this does save weight, I did it to reduce the 'lift up' of the fly sheet (which can be seen at the front end in the original pic), as this makes the tent a lot colder, due to masses of wind coming in through the innner netting.

A poster above mentions the 'ties' attached to the outer. I also added 2 more of these to the front and rear of the outer, as this prevents the poles from moving in very high winds. This is very easy to do, but does look a little ugly, as I seem sealed them on both the inside and outside of the fly.

One of the tents also has the entire inner base seem sealed, to prevent any entry of water on soaked ground (both tents have the inner material of the zip seam sealed).

Finally. Both tents have been modified to hav a gear loft. I simply placed four loops of dyneema on the roof of the inner, and the gear loft (home made) clips in with miniature toggles. I use this to store my glasses in, or to hang a head torch from, to use as a tent light.

Oops, one more thing. I cut the 'spider' bit off from the stuff sack, as this saves a massive amount of weight too. On the other tent I replaced the stuff sac with a breathable based waterproof compression bag (which is lighter again)

So, in the end, I have one of these tents, which is pretty much four season, is more waterproof, is more stable, is quieter, and stronger, has four more pegging points (and uses 15 pegs compared to 10), has extra interanal storage. But even with all of the extra pegs and modifications, it still only weighs 1750g due to better/lighter materails used (this would be 1690g without the seam sealed base)

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Edited: 18/01/10 10:10
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Ray Britton
18/01/10 10:37
 Rookie 612 forum posts 16 photos 4 reviews 1 bookmark

Sorry to triple post.

One thing I would have liked to do, was to make a new inner, and replace the heavy base material, with similar stuff used on the fly. I think this would bring the weight and pack size down massively.  Sadly, I do not have the sewing skills to do this......But it is still on my list of things to try, once I can find a seamstress. I think this would roughly bring the tents weight to 1500g. Not too bad for a tent that can sleep two at a push (well, me and my other half anyway...not a good  idea with anyone else)

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Ray Britton
19/01/10 09:27
 Rookie 612 forum posts 16 photos 4 reviews 1 bookmark

OMG.

One other thing. I did manage to split the end of one pole while messing around with it in the house one day (whole tent replaced by Argos), so decided to make a pole sleeve.

I found an old fibreglass pole I had hanging around, and the metal sleeve at the end fitted around the hike lite poles very well, so I cut this off and use it as a emergency pole sleeve. As this is quite a small item, and probably won't get used much (hopefully never), I painted it dayglo orange so it won't get lost.

I do still keep the poles and pegs in bags, but lighter ones than supplied by Argos.

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Mole
19/01/10 10:39

 Hi Ray

Thanks for all that - sounds like you have spent time with this one.   I have one of these tents too. 

I have a couple of questions for you as I don't fully understand some of your descriptions.  (pictures/diagrams might help)

Ray Britton wrote (see)
First the peice of webbing that runs under the the outer tent at the front end (to keep the tent in shape) is too short, and needs to be lengthened by 5-6cm. This is on ALL models, and not just the 2 I own. Users of this tent may have noticed that is is quite a tight fit to get the outer over the pole at the front, and it seems not to fit quite right, well this is cured by adjusting the length of the webbing.

Mine doesn't have any webbing on the outer tent except at the peg points

 do you mean the webbing that is under the inner tent - the 'tension band' between the ends of the main pole?

Ray Britton wrote (see)

Secondly, I also added 4 more pegging points. two either side of the tent. One midway along the base of the front 'triangle' section, and one midway along the rear section.



 the third peg - tdo you mean the panel opposite side to the door panel?

the fourth - do you mean at the same place as the rear tape for the fastex buckle, but on the fly itself?

Thanks in advance.

Mole

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fenwick
19/01/10 10:44
I too have one of these tents and think what you have done to yours excellent. Do you have any photos of the extra guying points?
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