I hiked in new gear that I needed to test alongside the Ottawa river near Petawawa, Ont and setted up the wolverine rain fly as a shelter for the night. The wind was fast and cold but the shelter stood strong! Sometimes I envy the badger system for the fast and light deployment but having my ruck beside me in the tent and still space for boots is a nice luxury. Good job!

    

 

As a tour company, we use a myriad of commercial grade equipment for the execution of our tours. After reviewing and using many tents in the past (Arc’Teryx, Marmot, North Face, Big Agnes, etc.), we have settled on the EBNS Coyote Brown as our core, individual use tent. The fast setup, durable construction and subdued color are ideal for our use as well as our clients.

I personally use this tent as well and have used it in Australia and as recently in the US for a 48 day horse tour scouting evolution finishing last week: http://www.riverspilot.com/River-Pilot-Fall-2011-Horse-Scouting-Evolution-n110

The current tent has been in my possession since approximately April 2009 after being shipped to me in Perth and was used for 3 months in daily use. After one year of storage it was brought back into use starting in May 17, 2011 and has been used daily until November 15, 2011. For 4 months it was static, out in the elements and used as a primary shelter. Then for 48 days it was used as the primary shelter being moved, deployed, taken down, and re—deployed daily. During that evolution the tent developed a small tear in the fly. The Easton pole also developed a crack, similar in location to where the first pole years ago failed, along it’s edge.

However, all in all this tent has performed flawlessly. It’s used in wet, cold and hot conditions and has yet to not keep me at least safe and reasonably dry at minimum. Given that this current tent has an accumulation of at least 1 year of daily use, that is a wonderful achievement by MMI/Catoma.

Below you will find our findings and field tested, minor improvement recommendations. Some pictures have been included.

Findings

1. The rain fly has a tear in it. The sun seems to have weakened the fly.
2. The Easton pole has developed a crack in the same place as before on the NON Easton pole that was originally delivered in the very first, foreign made tent.
3. The Shock Cord in the Easton tent pole is starting to be less “springy” over time and in wet conditions.
4. The tent floor and mosquito net have developed small tears. This comes from storing the tent poles and tent stakes in one package, directly touching each other. That allows friction of the two products which develops rub tears.

Good News

1. The tents fiberglass supporting rod has not cracked and the black, square, screw connector for the fiberglass rods hasn’t needed to be tightened or replaced as before.
2. In driving rains, the much used tent remained waterproof. The fly seam lamination appears to stay where it was applied.

Summary – Overall a fantastic tent. Small, lightweight, durable, with a low visibility signature.

Thanks for your assistance and feel free to contact me as necessary.

Regards,

River Pilot
Corporate Headquarters

River Pilot Tours
PO Box 38
Oakland, OR. 97462

T (01) 307-222-6347
F (01) 307-222-6347
Skype riverducati
E tours@riverspilot.com