LytW8 Mini Tent

In a quest to simplify my tarp and bivy into one item, I developed what I call the "Mini Tent". As I don't spend much time in my shelter I just needed something large enough to crawl into at night with a spot for a few pieces of gear. I wanted a shelter that was sub 1 lb, could fend off a night of rain, and protect me from insects. I used commonly available light weight silynylon.  My final design does all of this and weighed 12.75 oz.

I do not have a published design for this tent but I can offer the following specifications for those wishing to try to create something similar.

The tent was designed to be 84" long, 48" wide in front, and 24" wide in rear. I have found this to be plenty of room for me. The height of the tent is 36" high in front and 18" high in rear. The height is plenty of room to sleep in but not really enough to sit up for extended periods of time. I usually hike right up until dust, then cook, and go to bed not long after so I don't have much need to stay in the tent for long. This makes the smaller dimensions just fine for me. I'm almost 5'10" and weigh about 160 lbs.  

The "tarp" portion (top gray panels) was designed to ride 4" above the ground. This makes the "tarp" panels 85" long, 40" wide at top, and 20" wide in the rear. FYI, I designed the tent so that the rear portion is exactly half the dimensions of the front portion (1/2 height, 1/2 width). The ridgeline was cut and sewn with a catenary curve, this makes for a tight pitch. The floor is a bathtub type with sloping walls that are half mesh. This was done to improve ventilation. The entire tent is made from 1.3 oz silnylon or nanoseeum netting. The materials were purchased from thruhiker.com.