Scarp 2 first impressions

This post is not a review of the Tarptent Scarp 2 it is just my first impressions. To do a review i need to take it on the hill and that won’t be happening for 2 weeks due to other commitments.
First of all what has it cost us.
Tent cost    £242.39
Shipping to UK    £29.06
Vat and handling by UK Parcelforce    £33.47
Total cost   £304.92p


What does it weigh.
The Tent which includes the solid interior, bag, single arch pole and 6 pegs with bag. 1.737kg. So not much difference between this and my Vaude Odyssee Winter tent.

If you don’t need to use the cross over 4 season poles, 22 grams can be deducted from the above weight as the pole straps can be removed from the fly.
The 2 cross over poles weigh  479 gr.

Reading the instructions i found out that i had to seal all the seams prior to use. I admit to not being very impressed with this and thought i might make a mess of it. I also had to go and buy a tube of Silicon and some white spirit.
In retrospect, now that i have done it, and i have only done the outside, it wasn’t that important an issue as it’s not that obvious, but while i was doing it, i hated it and cursed Tarptent for not doing the job professionally.
Tarptent say to apply the sealant with a foam pad but i found it easier and quicker just to use my finger.
It took a couple of hours in total, due to the fact that i couldn’t put the tent up outside because of the rain and high winds so it had to be done in the house with the windows open for ventilation.
Eventually i have now managed to put the new Scarp 2 up in the garden.

The first and in some ways one of the most important things is the time it takes to put up. It took me about a minute and a half, and then another minute just making adjustments.
I was amazed at just how easy it was to erect. 1 pole and 6 x 200mm Easton pegs.
The corner posts and the vent posts, 10 in total, remain fixed into the tent and once it’s pegged out it’s just a matter of adjusting the pole positions and line tensions.

The flysheet does go down to the ground unlike it’s predecessor and funnily enough the green tinge to the material that i liked indoors has now changed to silver outdoors. Quite bizarre.
Opening one of the 2 doors gives access to a small porch area and the same can be found on the opposite side. Good to have 2 doors and porches and will also aid ventilation.

The floor area measures 218 cm long x 132 cm wide. 2.9 sq, metres in total. The height is 114cm and it is adequate. There is plenty of room for 2 tall people plus all your gear. No need to have your rucksack stored in the porch if you don’t want to, there’s enough room inside.

Photo above shows Sheila sat down on the groundsheet, showing plenty of headroom space.

And below the space sideways and partially lengthways.

Ventilation has been included with a roof vent on either side of the ridge which has internal elasticated clips that maintain the opening of the vent. Also zip vents at either end of the lower wall.

The first thing i don’t like are the zips on the lower vents. They do not lock and when you put tension on the corners of the tent the zips undo. A zip closure like the ones on the main doors would help maintain material tension or just better zips.
The outer doors are held open by velcro and the inner doors by elastic. Why there are 2 different methods of retention i know not, but i will be changing the elastic tie to velcro.

On the inside, sadly there is no storage apart from 2 very small pockets which are a bit pointless i think. I would have liked a mesh pocket on either side or at the top and bottom.

Above the internal door zips on both sides there is a D ring. I presume that these are for a cord to be fixed between the two for hanging wet gear on, but thats just a guess as there is nothing in the instructions to explain any different. If anyone has a better idea then i would be pleased to know.

 And also under the groundsheet on both sides, adjacent to the door are 2 ribbon loops. I am at a loss to explain these at the moment. You could attach cords to them and peg down the groundsheet maybe?

Note added 26.12.2011. The loops are shown on a video below at 0.55 seconds.

Thanks to Aushiker for the Information. 

On the inner ridge there is a clip for a light.

The groundsheet is good quality Silicon/Nylon, it looks the same material as the fly but black and thankfully there are no seams in it. The bathtub sides are 100mm+ high. It’s quite slippery material and the instructions suggest that it would be a good idea to apply some silicon beads to prevent the sleeping mat from moving. I havn’t done this as yet. 

On the day of pitching it was breezy and it was very noticeable that the outer touched the inner quite a bit. There is quite an expanse of unsupported material on the S2. That means when it’s a blustery day it is going to need some additional support.

Without using the 4 season poles (which are in the picture below) i suggest the walking pole method of support, would be a necessity. We don’t use walking poles so for this we will have to come up with another similar idea. Or buy walking poles God forbid!

Packing up the tent was a bit awkward i found, due to the attached poles. Getting a neat package was difficult and it will take a bit of getting used to especially if it’s wet. I might try removing the inner and giving it a go that way.

Overall we are pleased with it. It’s bigger in reality than we expected and we look forward to giving it a try in a couple of weeks. A review will follow. 

Thanks to Robin Evans AKA blogpackinglight and Martin Rye AKA Summit and Valley for their mods listing which i have taken note off, cheers guys.