Drop + Dan Durston X-Mid 1P Tent Discussions | Drop

Jul 30, 2018

111333It's tough choosing which stakes to include because there's no stakes that are right for all conditions, but we ended up deciding to including eight 6g titanium shepard hook stakes. I don't have a picture handy, but they're similar to these. https://www.vargooutdoors.com/titanium-tent-stake-fluorescent-orange-head.html
These stakes are nice and light and will work great on firm soils, but users camping on soft soils will want to pick stakes with more holding power (V stakes or Y stakes like the MSR Groundhogs). We decided not to include this type of stakes because they were either going to be heavy (most Y stakes) or if light, users trying to pitch on firm ground would bend them (V stakes). So the ti hooks are good for firm soils for all staking points, and then even on soft soils they'll still be handy for less important stake points.
You want solid stakes for the four corners of the fly since these points bear most of the force, so if you camp on soft soils, pick up 4 titanium V or Y stakes and then just use the included stakes for holding the sides of the doors, peak guylines etc.

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549

Jul 31, 2018

dandurstonWould be nice if maybe USA made grade 5 ti stakes could be included, maybe an upcharge option? Thinking Lawson. I'm not a big fan of shepherd's hooks but of those I've tried over the years the only ones I kept and still use on occasion are the Lawson's. Good way to tie together some great UL people who have contributed a lot to our hobby.

Jul 31, 2018

StepbystepI'd love to partner with Lawson for stakes. Since different folks like different stakes, originally I wasn't going to include any to keep the price low and so folks could go buy whatever they like. But I know that some folks don't have stakes and would be disappointed to receive a tent they can't pitch, hence the inclusion of eight 6g ti shephard hooks.
Indeed Lawson does a great job. Some ti shepards hooks have the curvature wrong, so they can spin around under tension but Lawson's are good. The stakes for this drop were figured out pretty last minute, but in the future I'd like to partner with stake makers such as Lawson to offer various upgrade options. I do wish he offered a lighter V stake but perhaps he'd be open to that.

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549

Jul 31, 2018

dandurstonI bet he would be. Got six months to figure it out. :) And I will say again, great job with this Dan. Just watched your video as well, also great.

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Jul 31, 2018

StepbystepThanks for the kind words. I think Massdrop has already made a decision on the stake vendor for this batch and got that order rolling, but in the future we'll pay more attention to the stake options. For this first batch just perfecting the tent was a big job.

AndyLeed

Jul 31, 2018

dandurstonThe spec still indicates "8 aluminum stakes" are included. Is that correct or are Ti stakes actually going to ship with the tent?

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Jul 31, 2018

AndyLeedWe decided to go with an upgrade to titanium stakes, so that aluminum spec is out of date. I view titanium as a much superior material because it has a little flex/spring to it, so it's easy to tell when you're pushing on the stake too hard before it permanently bends. Whereas aluminum provides little notice and thus it's easy to wreck stakes.

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AndyLeed

Aug 1, 2018

dandurstonThanks. Joined the drop. It's a really elegant design - I'm hoping to see a 2P double wall DCF version!

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