DRASH tents - any experience??

[Billy Goat]

I've seen a couple of these advertised online, but I have no experience with them.

typical product:
http://www.reevesems.com/Products/Shelters/MSeries.aspx

2 minute video on assembly/setup:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIz0bf8NVcU

deployment is crazy fast (compared to our "normal" elk tents), so I'm curious if anyone has experience with one of these on the mountain.

key concerns:

• being so light is it prone to wind problems?
• snow load/durability

thanks in advance for any feedback.

shane

 

[cnelk]

No experience, but I did watch a YouTube about them.
Do you have a platoon of guys along to help set it up??

 

[Billy Goat]

not a full platoon, thankfully....

add says it takes 4-6.  I usually have 4 on day 1 for setup. 


our normal tent deployment process takes about 60-90 minutes per tent, and we deploy 3 of them.  two for sleeping quarters, and the third for the kitchen. 


one of these would MORE THAN cover all our sleeping needs for our camp of 8-12 men. 

 

[cohunter14]

What tents are you using that take 60-90 minutes each Shane?


This one certainly looks interesting. Any idea on the cost of it? I didn't find that anywhere. I'm guessing it would hold up to the weather just fine, but my main concern would be how tall it is. Trying to heat that thing and keep it warm with ceilings that high would sure take a lot of time and effort in my opinion.

 

[Billy Goat]

two of our tents are "portable carports". 


one is 10x17 from Harbor Freight
one is 10x20 from Tractor Supply


the third is a 16x16 expandable frame (army) tent.  it rocks.


all are heavy and slow to deploy, mostly from the "figure it out while you argue what goes where" process that may only occur in my camp.......  :agg:


one of these big mothers that deploys easily would allow us to ditch the two expandable carports.

 

[cohunter14]

What's the cost, any idea?

 

[Billy Goat]

no clue what they go for new.  I found one used for a grand. 


I haven't made a purchase yet, as I was hoping to find someone with experience to comment first.


I spend money pretty slowly.....  ;-)

 

[cohunter14]

no clue what they go for new.  I found one used for a grand. 


I haven't made a purchase yet, as I was hoping to find someone with experience to comment first.


I spend money pretty slowly.....  ;-)

Yeah, the reason I was asking is if they are pricey you could just buy two wall tents and call it good. Get similar square footage, but they should also be much easier to heat. We have two wall tents, one with two doors on it, and we just abut them to each other to make one big tent basically. And with four guys we can probably have those up in five minutes each and staked down in another five minutes.

 

[Billy Goat]

your crew is clearly more practiced than mine in tent assembly! 

 

[cohunter14]

your crew is clearly more practiced than mine in tent assembly! 

Those interior frame setups make things pretty darn easy!

 

[Bowhunter1]

your crew is clearly more practiced than mine in tent assembly! 

Those interior frame setups make things pretty darn easy!

I built an internal frame for my 12x14 wall tent. I can now put it up myself in 15-20 minutes. The peak us 7.5 feet. Without the internal frame I could not even complete the task by myself or it would take much much longer.