Mountain Hardwear Batray 4

While preparing for a weeklong backpacking at Isle Royal I decided it was time for a lighter shelter. I needed a three person, plus gear, backpacking shelter that would handle mosquitoes, rain, and hot weather. And not just handle mosquitoes, rain, and heat but handle them all at the same time. I started looking for a three or four person mosquito proof enclosure to place under a silicon tarp. Since this would be used backpacking weight was definitely a factor.

There were several two person size possibilities. However, room for three people and weight constraints drastically narrowed the choices.

I read a review of the Batray 4 in Backpacker magazine. There was no dealer in my area that carried a Batray so I was unable to examine one in the store. The next step was to look for reviews on the internet and I found only two. Both reviews seemed balanced evaluations of the advantages and disadvantages of this type of shelter. The reviews did not contain enough detailed information however. I hope this review will help the next mail order shopper.

Back Yard Test

The tarp material is 2.5 ounce coated nylon. It appears more durable than the usual backpacking tent fabric. It is not as heavy as fabric in the Walrus Trekker Tarp or as found on heavy duty tent floors, but it seems suitable for this purpose. The tarp covers a substantial area and the fabric used is probably the lightest possible for a tarp this size.

All four sides of the tarp have a band of black mosquito mesh. The black color of the mesh is best for visual transparency.

The clear plastic rear window is a new experience for me. It is very flexible and does not interfere with stuffing the tarp. It is double stitched and sealed with tape over the stitching. The workmanship appears sturdy. If only the window material will last. Only time will tell. Windows have been in use for years and I hope they have lived up to expectations. I just don't have enough experience to know. Unfortunately I have memories of old convertibles with yellowing cracked plastic rear windows. Mountain Hardware, I'm counting on you.

The sidewalls are sewn together to ground level in all four corners and there is a stake loop in each corner. The sidewalls are 12 inches high at the front corners and taper down to 6 inches high at the back corners. On the entire circumference of the tarp the roof overhangs the walls half an inch. Only 30 percent of the side wall area is mesh. The bottom three quarters is solid fabric, which does not gather debris like mesh would. When it is hot, dry, and buggy I would like the sidewalls to be 90 percent mesh. When it is cool breezy and buggy I would like the sidewalls to be 90 percent solid. I don't know how Mountain Hardware arrived at the 30 percent mesh ratio for the sides but it seems like a reasonable compromise. While I never intend to use this shelter in cold weather, northern Minnesota has cold snaps even in summer.

The front of the tent is 75 percent mesh. This is where most of the ventilation takes place. Over half the total mesh area is the front wall. The front wall is so wide, ten feet, that I sewed a stake loop to each side. I also sewed stake loops to the bottom center of both sidewalls. The apex of the shelter overhangs the bottom front by a foot so that when the pole is vertical the bottom is about one foot outside the bottom of the front wall. We quickly noted that it was easier to enter and exit if one side of the front wall was securely anchored to the ground. This made opening the zipper a one handed operation.

Around the back side of the tarp the mesh is only about an inch and a half high. This is the aspect of the tarp that will be placed into a blowing rain so I believe the mesh could have been skipped in this area making the back of the tarp more weather worthy.

Set up in an optimal manner, with the sidewalls just touching the ground all around, the front peak height is sixty inches and the rear height is adjustable but about thirty inches. You can stoop down and walk into the front of the shelter. The interior floor space is roughly triangle shaped. Usable space is about ten feet deep, nine feet wide in front, and about five feet wide under the hoop. The footprint covers about seventy square feet. There is headroom to sit up in about half the shelter..

In some illustrations it appears there might be a small floor on the back part of the tarp. However, there is no floor under any part of the tarp. Without a floor there needs to be a restraint to keep the rear hoop pole in a bent position. This is accomplished with a sturdy line that spans the space between the pole ends. The line has an adjuster on it to vary width and height of the back of the tarp.

All the important seams were taped. There were no instructions to seal the seams in the manual which I took as a sign of trust in their workmanship.

Included were ten aluminum stakes with a 'Y' cross section. The ten of them in the bag weigh about six ounces. They are fairly sturdy and light.

The footprint weighs twenty ounces and brings the total carry weight up to six pounds four ounces. The footprint is roughly triangle shaped and fits well. The tarp, stakes, poles, and footprint easily fit into the tarp bag. The footprint had five long stake loops that could share a stake with one holding down the sidewalls at the front two corners and back three angles. There is a strip of bare ground between the front of the footprint and the front wall eight to ten inches deep. A good spot for storing dirty boots. Any ground cloth could be used but the irregular shape of the batray makes a rectangular groundcloth a poor fit.

Three bags are included with the Batray. A small bag for the stakes, a bag for the poles, and a bag that holds everything. The flexible poles are a couple inches too long for the pole bag. Once everything is packed away in the bags the poles still extend out the main bag. The cinch cord on the main bag was also about three inches too short to open the mouth of the bag fully and had to be replaced. Who ever the bag person is at Mountain Hardware, they get failing marks.

Field Test

The first day we set up the shelter in mid afternoon. It was dry, warm, and buggy. We spread out the footprint as a guide for setting up the shelter. We were not diligent enough in insuring that the sidewalls touched the ground all around the circumference of the shelter. The mosquitoes enjoyed our mistake all night long.

The second night we hastily set up the shelter on an exposed ridge as darkness fell. We were much more diligent in insuring the sidewalls met the ground. The stake loops I had added worked poorly. I had provided a two inch loop, which let the side wall rise an inch or more above the stake. The loop should have been almost flush with the sidewall. We learned to close gaps with stuff sacks of gear. The next morning the wind came up strong and gusty. The shelter held up. It started to rain and distant thunder could be heard. It was time to abandon the ridgeline. Striking camp in the rain is a 'test event' for a shelter. The batray worked well in the wind and rain.

Setup for night three took place in the rain at a 'prepared camp site' (translation: a level pit of mud). Setting up in the rain is also a test of a shelter. The circumstance were difficult for any shelter but the lack of a sewn-in, waterproof floor made this by far the most difficult of circumstances for this type of shelter. We learned to place half-inch diameter sticks under the edges of the footprint to keep water from flowing over the top of it. The four-inch gap around the footprint and still under the shelter was a source of worry. It was easy for gear to roll into the mud. There wasn't really room for three people and gear on the dry area of the footprint. That night we remained mostly dry. However it was too easy for the foot of a sleeping bag to wander off the footprint into the wet. That night condensation was a problem and the underside of the shelter became soaked. I am sure this was true of every shelter in the campground. We also found two leaks. The worst of these was at the top of the hooped section at the back of the shelter. The fabric was almost flat at this point and the tension of a supporting line may have opened a seam. Application of duct tape to the outside and easing tension in the line stopped the leak. The second leak was just an annoyance. It occurred at the centerline toward the front of the shelter. The next morning we slipped back into our wet clothes and broke camp in the rain. At this point all surfaces of the shelter were wet.

Midmorning while traversing a rocky wind swept area the sun came out. We unpacked and set everything out to dry. Within an hour the shelter, footprint, and everything, except our boots, was dry. The setup for night four went well. We were catching on. Part of the process was now collecting little sticks for placement under the footprint perimeter. Care was made to insure continuous contact between the sidewalls and ground. A light rain fell during the night but is was no problem. We learned to scatter the sticks that defined the outline of the footprint when striking camp the next morning.

Night five was cloudless, cool, and dry. Temperatures dropped into the forties. The shelter did shelter us nicely though. It was noticeably cooler when stepping out of the warmth of the shelter. This was the ideal night. The cool dry wind dried off even our boots. We had learned how to best use the shelter. There was no condensation. We had learned how to beat the mosquitoes. The shelter was in its best element.

Conclusion

I think one of the general rules of backpacking is: The more comfortable something is on your back, the less comfortable it is when in use. And visa-versa. The batray could be lighter. But I doubt it could realistically be lighter and as durable. It survived strong gusting winds with aplomb. The ultra-light backpacking crowd will certainly opt for a 1.1 ounce silicon-nylon tarp at a fraction of the weight. The $265 price for shelter and footprint seemed a little much, I would have happily paid less, but there was really no competition for a shelter of this size.

I now know the tricks for using this shelter in buggy and wet weather. I seam sealed the centerline seam and hope the two leaks are a thing of the past. I will collect little sticks for the footprint perimeter. The stake loops are all modified to better seal the sidewalls to the ground. In fair weather the batray 4 is a good three-person shelter, but in the rain only two people with gear can fit confidently on the footprint. Creating a mosquito free sleeping area is a major imperative in Minnesota this summer and requires special attention. This is not an ideal shelter for the soggy northwest or for bug infested areas. It is a good lightweight shelter for two or three people in moderate conditions and with some care can shelter three people in rain and winds.