Six Moon Design Gatewood Cape

[Jagger]

Has anyone used the Six Moon Design Gatewood Cape? I am thinking about it to use for rain gear, pack cover and emergency shelter. How useabel is it for rain gear, I'm afraid it's too billowy in the wind. Maybe a shock cord belt might help?

[Just Bill]

Generally speaking, something that does everything does everything okay, nothing particularly well, and some things horribly. You can make it work, poncho tarps are nice (sorta) for quickie UL weekends or good weather backups. Much more than a week- not so much. Used one for a while (not that model). Shock cord belt is a must but often still fits funny over anything bigger than a tiny pack.

[Mags]

Some people love poncho tarps. Cam Honan (Swami) used on his triple crown hike.
http://www.thehikinglife.com/gear/shelter/

I never did like ponchos myself. They seem to work better for taller people than me. (I'm 5'6"). YMMV.

[MuddyWaters]

The issue I see with the concept, is that it really isnt all that great.

Because you are wearing your shelter, you will get wet when you set it up.
You will also want at least a wind jacket with DWR in case you need to go outside to re-set a stake, tighten the pitch, pee, etc.

Your arms are also going to get wet, if thats important to you.

So, depending on your choices, seam sealed its 12oz. A windshirt is about 3-5. So you have 15-17oz.

You can get a larger cuben shelter like the Haven for 10oz, and a rainjacket for 4-6.

There really isnt anything to be gained, except that its relatively cheap because its silnylon. I would hazard a guess that sales have plumetted as cuben shelters and lighter raingear have come around. It used to be more attractive. I think a common complaint is that it is quite cramped for some people, difficult to avoid contacting the tarp, which is covered in condensation .

[BrianLe]

Discussion of the Gatewood cape is found in past threads, here and/or other forums (BPL certainly at least).

It makes a nice floorless tent for the weight, and if you plan on sleeping in shelters a lot, a light backup shelter is a fine option, at least when bugs are low. Add in the net tent made for the GC, however, and you end up with something close to the weight of a normal tent but with a really confining area to sleep in. For that reason, I don't use my GC in buggy times. The other downside of the GC as a shelter is that if you're very tall at all and/or sleep in a fairly high inflatable mattress, it can be hard to keep the end of your sleeping bag from touching the tent wall (and thus getting wet from condensation).

I like the GC a lot for shoulder season trips (i.e., few or no bugs) when a lot of rain isn't anticipated. I also like it for day hikes where I don't anticipate a lot of rain --- nice to have both a credible rain shelter and rain gear in one light package for that.
The other issue with it for extended use is that it's not IMO a great poncho. It's acceptable, but I personally don't like the way it vents as well as a normal poncho. I particularly wouldn't want this as my rain gear on the AT at times when it's "warm but wet".

My preference instead generally now is a very light rain jacket (I have a size large OR Helium II jacket that weighs 6.5 oz) along with a very light solo tent.

One final comment on the GC: I started my AT thru-hike in late Feb 2010 with my GC, no net tent needed at that time. But 2010 was a relatively big snow year for the south and there were lots of blowdowns that trail clubs hadn't gotten to yet. A hiking partner pointed out that on wet days I was constantly at risk of ripping my only rain shelter (and rain wear) going under, over, around, and through various stuff with this somewhat loose raingear item. So I swapped out for something else by mail. To be fair, I don't think this is any sort of normal issue on the AT !