best solo backpacking tent Six Moon Designs Lunar Solo Tent, Gray

Unlike traditional tents, the Lunar Solo’s canopy is designed to “float” off the ground to increase ventilation. Also, the floor is not rigidly fixed but floats. A floor under tension is more likely to rip or get punctured by sharp objects.

These facts may make the Lunar Solo seem a bit more difficult to set up for first time users. Have no fear, we've included a number of features to help you get set up correctly.

Lost your instructions? Download the pdf here.

Since your tent canopy floats, you can vary the height of your trekking pole depending upon conditions.  Higher will provide more ventilation and lower in stormy weather. The front of the tent should always be off the ground. This is to ensure that you have adequate ventilation. The optimum height of your trekking pole should be 49 inches or 124 centimeters.

Setting the stakes in the proper order is one of the key elements in getting the perfect pitch. Look at the guide layout guide below to know where and in what order to set your stakes.

• Don’t try to raise the perimeter of the tent by using long stakes and terminating the guy-lines several inches off the ground. This is somewhat counter-intuitive to normal logic. When you set up the tent this way, instead of the canopy and sidewall rising, they will tend to collapse instead. This will cause the corners to dip, resulting in reduced headroom and ventilation.

The canopy of the Lunar Solo floats and so does the floor. If your bathtub floor is flat, it likely has to do with your corner guy outs. Make sure the webbing guy lines on the corners are fully extended with no tension. If you need to make adjustments to tension your shelter, make them by moving your stake. Once you’ve achieved the proper tension, you can use the guy lines to make minor adjustments and re-tension the shelter should you need to after it has been pitched for a while. Another common mistake is that the shelters are pulled too far to the rear, not creating enough separation of the rear canopy from the ground and creating too much slack in the front vestibule. To correct this bring closer the rear three stakes and move further the front, the main stake. Be sure to reduce tension on the vent corners by unclipping the door or concurrently sliding the Prussik loop. The supporting pole should be at a slight angle with the tip inserted into the pole pocket at the apex.

One of the most common mistakes we see on pitches is that people pitch their Lunar Solos with their trekking pole handle pointing up. This places the handle inside of the apex/vent area of the Lunar Solo. While the Lunar Solo can be pitched this way, it was not designed for this sort of set up and a few problems occur. When the main guy line is tensioned, a lot of extra stress gets put on the vents and seams of the apex of your shelter. It also puts stress on the vestibule zipper, potentially causing problems with closing your vestibule. To avoid this stress, pitch the Lunar Solo with the tip-up. There is a Hypalon (rubber-like material) sleeve that can be found at the apex of the shelter that the trekking pole tip goes into. Pitching tip up into the sleeve allows for a proper pitch while preventing the trekking pole tip from puncturing the canopy. We designed the Lunar Solo this way for a couple of reasons:

• Using a sleeve allows for both trekking pole use and collapsible pole use.
• By placing your handle down, your pole is less likely to sink into the ground if your campsite is in a location with soft or wet ground.

The Lunar Solo, with its single pole and raised canopy, creates an incredibly light and airy shelter. Unlike other tents with fixed points of setup, the floating canopy and floor design does take a little more patience to master. Still, the Lunar Solo’s weight savings make it well worth the effort.