Review and Improving the Oztrail Mozzie Dome

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Review and Improving the Oztrail Mozzie Dome

Postby jaz » Wed 11 May, 2016 11:54 am

I'm not sure where to put this so it goes into equipment. However it includes
-a basic review (might add pictures later)
-modifications to make it substantially lighter

Me and the wife live in Darwin, and love going out bush, mostly in the Kakadu area. Up here tents are a bad idea - too enclosed and hence steamy when hot, and not actually sufficient to keep you dry when it's properly raining. You pretty much have to have a tarp, both for shade and tropical downpours. There can also be a lot of mozzies so it's important to have protected space in which to relax.

So I've bought a Oztrail Mozzie Dome IV (4). Out of the box it ticks multiple boxes:
-All mesh. This helps with airflow, but not as much as you'd think. No-see-um mesh is real tight and blocks light breezes quite effectively. I'm considering making a powered fan solution to assist. Note that this is unlikely to be much of an issue outside the tropics.
-It's HUGE inside for a carry-while-walking shelter. 2.4M long - this helps as I tend to sleep with my arm up under the pillow and in more normal shelters (~2.1m long) the back of my hand tended to get mozzie bitten over night through the material. No more! But that's only half the story. The poles basically cross over and then back, creating an internal shape with VERTICAL end-walls, and only slightly off-vertical side walls. I haven't calculated it yet but would not be surprised if it has 1.5-1.7x the internal volume of a dome tent with a similar floor area, and it's all useable. You basically have un-obstructed headroom almost no matter where you sit, and I can almost kneel throughout the middle area (am 174cm tall)
-Sub $100 price, or even less if you look hard enough. Snowys has it, tho I bought from our local shop.
-small pack size
-relatively light weight for the price/performance, at 2.5kg

As far as negatives,
-As the thing is fairly large, it can be harder to find a large-enough pitching site along Kakadu stone-country creeks (and other tight areas) compared to a more conventional tent.
-The floor doesn't feel very strong.
-It doesn't come with a fly. A fly is available separately (tho it ain't cheap). I don't need it (see tarp notes above) but feel free to comment if you have some experience.
-Because of the design, this thing has very long poles. Each of the 2 poles is 5.2m long. And the poles supplied are heavy, cheap, 9-9.5mm (limits of measuring equipment) Fibreglass poles. Out of the 2.5kg total weight, the poles account for 1.5kg! They also have large, cheap, quick-rusting steel ferrules that stick out quite a lot. This has 2 deterimental effects. Firstly, they snag like the proverbial on the continuous sleeves used in the middle third of the tent, making erection and takedown much slower and more frustrating than desirable. Secondly, the large ferrules make the packed size of the poles quite a bit larger than would be possible otherwise. However, see below.

So to turn this diamond-in-the-rough shiny, what can we do? Why, replace the poles!
I ordered some 8.5mm aluminium poles off Ebay - there are heaps on there from various vendors. Had to calculate the sizes to make sure I would get sufficient length, and did so (just) successfully. Delivered cost about $45 - you can go less if willing to wait longer. Then basically re-assembled them into 2 poles of sufficient length, and trimmed 1 section each to get it precise. A couple cm longer doesn't hurt, i'm not sure effect of slightly shorter. The Alu poles weigh half what the Fibreglass ones do, so the pole weight has gone down to 750g and the total weight down to 1.75kg, compared to our previous Oztrail dome tent which was about 3.15kg. Which in by book, puts this in the ultralight glamping category 8) Additionally, because no ferrules stick out, there is no snagging while setting up and pulling down, and the poles pack down a fair bit smaller.

I also note that these also come in 1 and 2 person versions. Which I haven't used, but the design is and I imagine the construction to be fairly similar, except I could not comment on the diameter of the poles, and hence their weight component and gains reachable by pole replacement.

I couldn't find much information online about replacing fibreglass with Aluminum poles to improve cheapie tents. Hopefully this gets picked up by Google and encourages a few folks!
jaz
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Re: Review and Improving the Oztrail Mozzie Dome

Postby Moondog55 » Thu 12 May, 2016 12:38 am

Looking forward to the report on the Chinese wands, I have ended to be sceptical because none of the sellers I have contacted have been willing or able to tell me what the alloy and the temper is
Ve are too soon old und too late schmart
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Re: Review and Improving the Oztrail Mozzie Dome

Postby stry » Thu 12 May, 2016 7:57 am

Moondog55 wrote:Looking forward to the report on the Chinese wands, I have ended to be sceptical because none of the sellers I have contacted have been willing or able to tell me what the alloy and the temper is


And if they were willing or able, could their reply be trusted ? :(
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Re: Review and Improving the Oztrail Mozzie Dome

Postby jaz » Thu 12 May, 2016 8:45 am

Moondog55 wrote:Looking forward to the report on the Chinese wands, I have ended to be sceptical because none of the sellers I have contacted have been willing or able to tell me what the alloy and the temper is

If you're going to the windy mountains, it may matter. You probably wouldn't be using this shelter tho!
Also, easily resolved with application of wallet - TAANSTAFL.
I've found it very rare to encounter any retail assistance human who knows as much about the products they are retailing as the internet enthusiast.
jaz
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Re: Review and Improving the Oztrail Mozzie Dome

Postby Moondog55 » Thu 12 May, 2016 10:52 am

Usually true of most of them jaz.
Ve are too soon old und too late schmart
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Re: Review and Improving the Oztrail Mozzie Dome

Postby paul_gee » Thu 12 May, 2016 2:51 pm

Great review, Jaz. I especially like your little pole hack. It's amazinnngggg how much weight can be saved by replacing poles and pegs.

And thanks for your little plug of Snowys. ;)
Crazy keen tramper / trekker / hiker. Former South Australian. Now, exploring the tracks around Melbourne and Victoria.
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Re: Review and Improving the Oztrail Mozzie Dome

Postby jaz » Mon 02 Jul, 2018 12:30 pm

An update 2+ years later:
-mozzie dome & cheap Al poles still holding up well, used most long weekends of the year
-large enough for 2 adults and 7-month old baby for off-track camping and does well as a playpen
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Re: Review and Improving the Oztrail Mozzie Dome

Postby Moondog55 » Wed 04 Jul, 2018 11:24 am

What sized poles did you end up with?
The other problem with FG wands is they are so totally non recyclable
Ve are too soon old und too late schmart
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