WilderNest owners vote here.

[adrenaline503]

So today I pulled the tent off the out of the 'Nest. Pretty easy, I'll post some pics later. I did this in order to replace ALL the hardware with stainless, replace the seals and paint the shell itself. My gung ho sanding messed up the gel coat, just like Dave said it would. So, why the tent is off, I am going to get some quote on getting a replacement tent made, so off to the polls for you all. Previous Wildernest owners are welcome to vote and offer advice as well.

Oh, I forgot to add. I would be looking to have it built out of a heavy waterproof rip stop canvas, like the Eeezi-Awns. I toyed with the idea of adding a rain fly, but this would require some modification to the structure. The fly cannot touch the tent underneath so some external poles or guys would have to be incorporated. The windows would be in the same spots, maybe a slightly different size. Color would be something earthy, gray, tan, olive... What options or changes would you like to see.

[DaveInDenver]

I'm going to be interested in see how this turns out. Hopefully your results are better than mine. Didn't seem like anyone was interested in bothering for what it costs. The pattern maker didn't quote this time at $0 and so the first one was pretty expensive (over $1,000). But once you have a pattern, the incremental cost became more reasonable. Or at least what I thought was reasonable. There's a lot of material in the WilderNest tent and they used a very nice 4 oz urethane-backed nylon originally that is not cheap. With good fabric and seam seal, you don't need a rain fly, the material is waterproof. However when mold gets between the nylon and urethane, the coating peels off and you are left with a leaky nylon tent. Seems most people who have that are happy to throw a $20 tarp over their WilderNest rather than spend a few hundred dollars to replace it.

[adrenaline503]

Yea, its pretty ambitious, but since I have the tent off I thought I would give it a shot.

[paulj]

I haven't thought about this tent in some time, but I do have experience using a large poly tarp as a rainfly over a WilderNest. Separation between fly and tent body would be nice, but not entirely essential.

Perhaps the easist way to get a separation, is to hang the breathable, bugproof part from the poles, using sleeves or clips, and drape the fly over the poles. However a tent 'inside' the poles might get in the way of folding them up and down.

I ended up tying two long bamboo poles to the sides of my tarp. With those it was much easier to lift the tarp up over the open tent (provided there wasn't any wind).

paulj

[adrenaline503]

I was thinking of using the Eureka poles, the model used for large tarps to suspend the tarp. But that sort of seems to ruin the simplicity of the system.

[paulj]

If you can find it, waterproof polyester makes good rainfly material. When wet it does not expand like nylon, hence stays tighter.

I wonder if the MSR Outfitter tarp would fit over a Wildernest. That's a large 7 point wing tarp. It's long enough to form an overhang at the back.
http://www.moontrail.com/tents/msr_outfitterwing.html
paulj

[adrenaline503]

If you can find it, waterproof polyester makes good rainfly material. When wet it does not expand like nylon, hence stays tighter.

I wonder if the MSR Outfitter tarp would fit over a Wildernest. That's a large 7 point wing tarp. It's long enough to form an overhang at the back.
http://www.moontrail.com/tents/msr_outfitterwing.html
paulj

I was planning on getting a model like that, at least to pitch off the back over my tailgate. I'll try it over the WilderNest too.

[captainchris13]

so i got mine without the tent, and short of finding someone parting one out, i will have to make it myself. How did yours turn out in the end? Would you make any changes to it? Do you still have the patterns and how much would one be now. It might be worth it to post it on several sites (including wildernest.com) and see if there are a few other people interested and make a small run of them.

I did mine a bit differently, i decided to rebuild my utility trailer to the correct dimensions, 2' tall, van style doors in back, and insulate it to be an all weather hard shell towable, and if i had the tent topper, it would be the best of both worlds.

Lemme know!

Chris

[adrenaline503]

I actually ended up selling the Wildernest before I built a replacement tent. I contacted a few local vendors and manufacturers and came up with the following.

1. A lightweight single wall design is the way to go. Most 4 season mountaineering tents use single wall methods. This does limit the breathability of the tent, but there isnt a simple way to add another layer to the Wildernest.

2. Lightweight fabric wont last very long with the closing and opening of the tent, the poles rub against the fabric, hence the black streaks you see on a lot of tents. That is why the stock fabric is so thick. Sunbrella fabric was recommended but that is hardly light weight fabric. Powdercoating the poles might help with thr steaks.

Basicly you have to pick a few points you want to focus on. Weight, durability, breathability and cost. You can probally pick 2 of the 4. The Wildernest is basically a roof top tent, so the fabrics and methods used by those companies would be a good starting part. I imagine you would need a donor tent for paterns, but a good sailmaker should be able to scratch build it. I have no idea how much that would cost, I was quoted about $75 dollars an hour in lavor alone.