Gear

So despite a couple of years good service from my ME dragonfly, I am now looking for something lighter.

Although only for myself, I prefer the room given by a two man tent. I am currently looking at the terr nova voyager superlite, which save nearly a kilo from the dragonfly. What are the other options available in this class?

Also when looking at the terra nova website I noticed this about the voyager superlite-

Note: Due to the nature of the silcon fabrics used in this tent, the seams are not factory sealed.

Is it just me that thinks this is pretty shoddy for a tent with a rrp of 370, made in the UK for UK 3 season use, not sealing the seems, seams like a job half done. 

It's pretty common for manufacturers not to seam-seal silicone flysheets - they won't take tape, so it's quite labour intensive to do it carefully with sealant - needs to be worked into seams/threadholes with brush/cloth. 

Having done a couple of tents, my efforts looked a little messy even with great care. Probably manufacturers don't want to add costs/spoil the look of their tents?

Some US cottage firms offer it as an additional option with their tents+$30 or so.

I like the sound of the Vango Apex 200 1.6kg

Vango info

 maybe the porch is a little small though lots of inner space

edit again - to add that some flysheets are siliconised/pu - this means pu on the inside, so can be taped. Pure siliconised cannot be taped.

Is it just me that thinks this is pretty shoddy

It's not: Vau De have now announced they can seam-tape silicone elastomer coated flysheets with their new process but nobody else does, including teh likes of Hilleberg on tents costing far more than the Voyager.

It's also actually not that bad.  Seam taping adds weight and cost to a tent.  While Vau-De claim their new process is "cold", traditional seam-taping actually requires heat that damages the fabric it's applied to (and so does a PU coating it'll stick to).  So what seam taping usually means, aside from formally waterproofing the seams, is your tent weighs more and isn''t as strong as it might otherwise be.  For some reason marketing departments aren't too keen to point this out...

As Mole notes, you can use a sealer but it's often the case that a well made seam won't leak anyway.  I've never touched either of my unsealed Hillies with it and neither has leaked, and while I did do my 2nd Spacepacker withit as a precaution the first one never leaked (I replaced it 'cause some oik nicked it, not because it failed).

On to the tent, I've never been a hug fan of Voyagers as I think the porch is a bit on the small side, but opinions on that vary and plenty of folk find them fine.  On the Superlite, one reason it's superilightis the groundsheet is very thin.  Again thecase that folk are out there using it successfully so it can't be a total mis-feature, but I like something sturdier (which is just about anything else out there!). A regular OM contributor had a rather damning report but again bear in mind that other regulars own and really likethis tent.

I like the Saunders Spacepacker but the inner is rather small (you do, however, get two large porches and a choice of doors) and they're not for everyone (see review for its quirks).

Pete.

The newer shape of voyager superlite seems to have a different shaped roof, which may not have such a bad problem with collecting water,. its hard to tell from the pictures on the terra nova website, I wonder if anyone can confirm this?

twiglegs wrote (see)

Do keep up MSP, have you not seen this thread.