I used a mountain Laurel Designs Patrol Shelter made of .75 oz/sq yard Cuben Fiber @ 6.8 ounces for 100 nights and 2,180 miles on the Appalachian trail.
The Patrol is a shaped tarp that sets up with two trekking poles (or sticks or tent poles) and 9 stakes.
I chose to pair my MLD Patrol shelter with a Bear Paw Wilderness Designs Bug Bivy @ 8 ounces.
The bathtub floor of the bear paw minimalist one bivy is sil-nylon while the top half is nano-see-um mesh. The bivy comes with two attached hooks and cord locks that allow it to be suspended away from your face and hips making it a cozy bug free nest large enough for me and my pack to lay in and sleep or read.
Weights:
The Titanium stakes were from MLD 9 stakes @ .27 oz each =2.4 ounces
A lite line kit(guy line for tarp) was .7 ounces
So the total weight of my shelter system was 17.9 ounces.
My trekking poles which i used to support the tarp weigh 15 ounces.
There is no groundsheet because i used the bug bivies silnylon floor exclusively whether inside it or simply on top of it.
Cost:
The MLD Patrol Shelter in Green Cuben was $300
The Bear Paw Wilderness Designs Minimalist 1 Bivy was $85
Stakes and line were $38
Total cost for shelter system was 423.00
Pictures in action: I found the Patrol Shelter used with the minmalist bivy to be the most effective wet weather shelter i have ever used.
Being able to set up the Patrol Tarp as my "roof" in the rain before disgorging the contents of my pack and thereby keeping my bivy dry made a world of difference for me.
It really takes the pressure off of waking up to a rainy dawn when you can leisurely pack everything into you pack and make it water tight before the final act of simply dropping the tarp and stuffing it into the external pocket.
Separating my floor from my roof kept the floor (bivy) almost completely dry even after 9 straight days of rain. (Most of New York, the greater amount of Massachusetts, and all of Vermont were spent in rain... Oh yea.. it rained the whole time I was in Connecticut too.)
The amazing charactersistic of the Cuben fiber is that it does not absorb moisture or stretch at all. The only time i ever needed to tighten the tarp was when a stake loosened in the muddy ground. The built in line locks of the patrol meant i could re-tension or even raise and lower the tarp from underneath meaning i did not need to get wet.
As for the design; it is cut in such a way that it can be set up wide or narrow with all panels remaining taut.
Un-even ground was never an obsatcle with the Patrol. in fact i often sought out slopes and mounded dirt to set up on to prevent "ponding" in the ever present downpours.
The other interesting aspect of using a Cuben fiber shelter is the translucent nature of the material. During the numerous lightning storms i could actually make out individual bolts of lightning and the shilouettes of trees through the tarp. I could also see the moon and stars on the rare (RARE!) clear nights, right through the walls of the tarp. While looking from the outside, however, i could not see in during daylight and dusk.
Durability:
My Cuben fiber Patrol still looks new. It never leaked a drop of water. It never got a single puncture even when hit by flying debris during micro burst winds during thunderstorms. Though I always stuffed it into the stuff sack in a random fashion the wrinkles always dissappear after it has been set up taut for a few hours. The tarp never flapped even once in the wind.
Space:
This is where your intended application may vary.
I used my Patrol shelter as a place to eat, change clothes, read a guide book page, but above all, sleep. There was adequate room for me to sit up near the beak if the tarp was set a few inches of the ground. When pitched directly on the ground, such as during heavy storms, I would be hunched over or laying down.
This type of shelter is purpose built. It is a stout, wind and weather resistant, ultralight design best used for those who want a quick setup shelter for simple tasks but mostly just sleep inside. This is not intended to be a base camp. It is a specialist tool and a mighty effective one in that capacity.
Variations:
I used my GoLite trekking umbrella as a "door" by wedging it under the open beak of the patrol shelter. This allowed me to leave the tarp set up high for greater ventilation and room while still being able to shunt wind and mist from heavy fog when neccesary. It was quite a simple matter of climbing under my patrol and nestling into my bug bivy and simply popping the umbrella open under the beak. In the morning i would collapse the umbrella and enjoy breakfast while watching the rain before setting off for the day.
The umbrella was not strictly neccesary but it provided a bit of extra space under the beak and I admit, gave me a psychological feeling of safety sometimes.
The other variation i used was to just use the Bear paw Wilderness designs minimalist bug bivy by itself. I would stick my trekking poles into the dirt 6 feet apart and string up the peak and foot lines to the grips of the poles. This gave me a freestanding mesh tent on those rare clear nights and i would not wake up to millipedes and slugs crawling on me.
Some quick differences between the Sierra and Appalachian mountains:
Appalachia has dirt and leaves deep enough to stick trekking poles in.
It rains a LOT back east. It rains a LOT back east.. It rains a LOT back east.
There are a lot of bugs and slugs on the A.T.
It rains a LOT back east.
Well I spent a lot of money on this shelter system.
If you were going to a strange place with a wet climateto hike 2,180 miles over a period of months you might also.
Happily the Mountain Laurel Designs Patrol Shelter and Bear Paw Wilderness Designs Minimalist 1 bug bivy were a smashing success together. I have no doubt they will serve my needs for years to come.