Poles for TreeHugger 1P tent

I have come up with a design for a tent, and tentatively given it the name "TreeHugger 1P". The "tree hugger" name will become apparent as the construction progresses. The "1P" means one person.

If you look back through my blog posts, under category "light", you will see some tents/tarps that I purchased that are held up by a pole. A single-pole tent may use either a trekking-pole or a carbon fibre pole -- I have a couple of the latter.

With a single pole holding it up, the inside walls and floor are going to be a triangle shape. At the top will be a ridge, and if you sit up inside the tent, the tent walls will be pressing both sides of your head.

My Six Moons carbon fibre pole is 117cm long, so if that is holding up the outer skin, the fly, of the tent, then the inner mesh tent will be lower. Not a good experience if you want to sit up.

Here is a photo of the inner mesh tent, single-pole design (not counting the short foot-pole), taken on a hike earlier this year:

...you can see the very constricted head room! The experience is worse than might be determined from looking at the photo.

Blog post about that hike, February 2021, experimenting with my Daylight lumbar pack:

https://bkhome.org/news/202102/waist-pack-hiking-test-2021.html

Tents that have two trekking poles have much more head room, for example the Dan Durston X-Mid, that I posted about recently:

https://bkhome.org/news/202104/the-best-double-wall-trekking-pole-tent.html

My TreeHugger is planned to stay with the single-pole design, except I will design it to tie up to a branch rather than sit on a pole. Though, I will make it optional, the 117cm carbon-fibre pole or tie to a branch.

So, I am going to have that problem of very squashed head-room. To alleviate this, the tent is going to have a "spreader", a 25cm long carbon fibre pole, held horizontally just above the head. I purchased these poles, 24.8cm long, 6cm OD, 4cm ID glossy:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33056914311.html

...however, looked online today, and that item is no longer sold. That is, I have them, purchased before they were withdrawn. If anyone wants to reproduce my tent design, there are other vendors, but they sell in 50cm lengths, for example:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002265467955.html

I don't know what this stuff is like to cut, presume that a hacksaw would do it.

As the tent is going to be draped over the horizontal spreader-pole, I also purchased plastic end caps, to help protect from tearing the tent, 6mm black:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33027991367.html

The weight of each 24.8cm pole is 5.5g, with the end caps, 6g. I plan to use two of these, one as a head-spreader, the other at the foot-end. At the foot-end, the pole will be vertical. Total weight added to tent: 12g. Having to count these grams very carefully, as one major goal is extreme light weight -- targeting putting this tent into my Mountainsmith Daylight lumbar pack. Photo with end caps attached:

And that is also why I wanted poles no longer than 25cm. The tent will roll up and fit into a stuff sack and lie flat inside the lumbar pack. same for any backpack, it will be short enough to lay horizontal.  

TreeHugger 1P, "th1p" for short, is a new project, and I plan to post as each step is completed. My sewing skills are minimal, but, we shall see. Also, having no prior tent-design experience, there is an element of uncertainty how the ideas in my head will turn out in the final product. How does that saying go? "...where angels fear to tread".

EDIT 2021-05-12:
I also purchased alternative end-caps. These are silicone, 5.7mm ID (inside diameter), black:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001609758449.html

They are more substantial, likely to stand up better to usage. Photo, showing the other type alongside:

These silicone end caps are probably the better choice for the vertical foot pole. Hmmm, probably for both poles. 

EDIT 2021-05-18:
Found a vendor on Aliexpress that sells the carbon fibre tube in 25cm lengths:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002341116771.html   

Tags: light