m@ wrote:OK, so you need to seam-seal the fly - this involves setting the tent up then painting the seams on the fly with a slurry of turps and silicone. TarpTent can do this for you for a price but it's pretty straightforward and easy to do yourself - about a two-hour job. It's also worth painting some patches on the inside of the tent floor as it's quite slippery.
I have no issues doing this myself providing it is straight forward enough to do. Silicone sealer is $4.50 from TT, so not a major cost.
They do recommend you add two extra guylines to the guy points on the pole; if you wanted to do this you'd need two extra pegs and a bit of guyline. Personally I haven't bothered but might at some point
Does this just make it a bit more stable in stronger winds? The 2ft guyline for side pull-outs it only $1 a piece, I assume this is the correct length? Or do I get the 4ft guyline?
TarpTent wrote:Ultralight guyline cord with a highly reflective sheath and a SpectraR 900 core. Standard 2-foot section works for side pullouts. Four-foot section works for Scarp and Hogback arch sleeve pullouts. Six-foot section works for Scarp and Hogback canopy pullouts as well as apex pullouts on all other vertical front pole tents.
Additionally aluminium 6" pegs $2 each or $3.25 for 6.5" Ti pegs. Not much of an extra cost but if it isn't necessary it'd be good to do without the extra gear and weight.
The only other thing I've bought is some Tyvek to use as a groundsheet, you can buy this from TarpTent already cut to size or track down a scrap and cut it yourself. Probably not strictly necessary unless you're camping on very sharp rocks or thorny bushes etc, but also helps to keep the tent clean.
Only costs $12 for a piece cut to size, probably worth it just to have on hand depending on the terrain. I assume that I'll mainly be camping on grass, beach/river sand and leafy forest floor.