
Silex 1p xl
OVERVIEW:
Silex - A 13,628 foot peak in the San Juan Range of mountains in Southwest Colorado.
The Silex is a large single person trekking pole tent that pitches easily with four primary stakes and has two doors and two vestibules. Sized to be large for one person with a lot of gear, you can squeeze two into the Silex sleeping on the offset instead of diagonal. With two people a nest cannot be used.
The Silex pitches very tight due to subtle catenary cuts hidden in the seams and this gives it very good performance in high winds. We recommend stout and sturdy stakes for the four corners, and if you expect rough weather pegging the additional four stake loops is a good idea.
One of our Zipperless Tents, the Silex solves some pain points associated with zippers in ultralight tents - zippers leak, zippers are heavy, and zippers wear out. Ditching the zipper improves performance in all these areas.
The Silex fills the niche of backpacking tarp, tarp tent, trekking pole tent, and lightweight hunting tent.
We believe the Silex is an easy to pitch, easy to use, and very stormworthy shelter at a tempting weight.
Handmade in Grand Junction, CO.
https://gearjunkie.com/outdoor/hunt-fish/minimalist-tent-seek-outside-silex
Section Hiker Silex Zipperless Tent Review
FEATURES:
- Pitches with two trekking poles (not included)
- Ultralight trekking pole tent with excellent storm coverage
- Add optional nest to provide total bug and weather protection
- Zipperless Doors
- Fabric - 30D Cordura spec ripstop double coated silnylon. Hydrostatic head rating 3000-4000 mm.
- Solo sleeping centering the poles, sleeping on a diagonal. Two person sleeping arrangement offsets the poles.
- When used as a hot tent, you can't use the nest and a stove at the same time.
- D-rings on both peaks for additional guyout points, or to pitch with a ridgeline between trees.
ORDERING:
- Fabrics - fabric is a 30D Cordura spec silnylon. Sage is a lighter color and allows more light to pass through. Read more - Tent Fabrics - A Comparison Of Fabric Types
- Nest - Inner nest is large with a waterproof bathtub floor material, mosquito netting sides, and DWR solid top. This nest offers good ground protection, good bug protection, good ventilation, and excellent condensation protection.
- Seam Sealing - the shelter needs to be seam sealed. It is simple to do yourself, or you can pay us to do it.
- Carbon Pole Option - for users who do not take trekking poles, or for users who don't want to sacrifice both poles to the shelter. Pole weighs 3.8 oz. If you want one or two poles click the link - Carbon Pole for Trekking Pole Tents
COMES WITH:
- Shelter canopy
- 6 Stakes
- Stuff Sack
- Seam Sealer (If you don't have us seam seal it.)
- Does not come with poles. This shelter is intended to pitch with two 120 to 140 cm trekking poles.
SPECIFICATIONS:
- Average Weights:
- Canopy - 17 oz / 1 lb 1 oz
- Canopy, stakes, stuff sacks, & cordage - 21 oz / 1 lb 5 oz
- Nest - 16 oz
- Dimensions:
- Height - 50"
- 7' W X 7' L, slight diamond shape - one diagonal is 6" shorter than the other.
- 49 sq ft
- Large percentage of usable space. Sitting height above 36" is close to 18 sqft.
- Fabric - 30D Cordura spec ripstop double coated silnylon. Hydrostatic head rating 3000-4000 mm.
Nest Dimensions:
- 46" wide X 112" long
- 17.9 sqft floor area
- Tensions with linelocs at head and toe, ties to poles at sides.
- Can be pitched separate from canopy with extra cordage and stakes.
PITCHING:

Pitching the Canopy
The Silex is a rough square with a slight diamond shape due to catenary cuts in the central seams. This makes it very easy to pitch by eye.
The canopy requires a minimum 4 stakes and has an additional 4 stake loops for a total of 8 that can can be used in rough conditions. Guyout loops are provided for optional guylines.
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Make sure you have slack in the stakeline cordage.
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Stake one of the triple seam corners.
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Pull the other triple seam corner out taut. Use the first guyout point up from the corner as a setback point. Mark that location and insert a stake there. Place the cordage loop for the triple seam corner on that stake.
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Pull out the two doors and stake, making sure you don't pull the centerline off center (this is easy to do when staking the first door).
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Insert the poles (make sure to use the pole handle keepers)
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Check tension and adjust stakes as necessary.
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Drive the stakes home and tension the stakeline cordage as necessary.
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Stake out the guyouts and guyline if needed.
Tips:
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The Silex can be pitched with as few as four stakes. If you expect rough weather, use beefy, sturdy stakes for these four (such as our Twisted Stakes), and fill in the other stake loops as needed.
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In high winds you can dedicate the downwind door for entry and exit and stake out the upwind door.
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You can double stake the primary stake positions easily by using a short piece of cordage with loops on both ends. Run this cordage through the stakeline loop, then stake both loops. The stakeline will look like a “Y” if you do this correctly.
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A Tautline Hitch tied on the ends of the vestibule guylines isn’t necessary, but handy to add tension. The same goes for guylines on the sides. Read “Knots You Should Know” on our website to learn this and other useful knots.
Pitching the Nest
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The nest attaches with linelocs and cordage at the head and foot.
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The middle has toggle and loops at the top and keepers at the bottom that can be connected to the bottom of the poles.
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To pitch the nest and canopy as one, leave the head and foot and top of the middle connected, but with some slack in the lines. Pitch the canopy first, then tension the nest and tie out the middle.
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The nest can be pitched without the canopy. Stake the head and foot and middle bottom, then use cordage and extra stakes to pull the top middle up with your trekking poles.
SEAM SEALING:
For best results we recommend seam sealing your tent. You can do it at home or have us do it for you (adds up to one week)(if we seal the shelter it will be shipped without extra tubes of sealant):
- We send our shelters with enough seam sealer to seal the entire shelter.
- Pitch the shelter normally and seal the outside seams.
- The easy way to seal is to run a thin bead of sealant along the seam, then press it in with a finger, wiping the excess on a paper towel.
- Alternatively, you can use an acid brush from a hardware store to spread the sealant.
VIDEOS:
FAQ:
A. The Eolus is better for sleeping two people. The Eolus has more built in ventilation and can handle condensation slightly better (though the Silex does outstanding when pitched with taller 140 cm poles). The Silex door opens taller due to its' geometry. The Silex pitches tighter to the ground, and the Silex will work better as a hot tent due to less draft and the angle of the door panel.
Q. Why are there D rings on top of the pole pockets?
A. Because you can pitch the Silex with a tarp ridgeline between two trees instead of with trekking poles. The ridgelines weigh around an ounce, so this can save weight. (Click to check out a Single Line Tarp Ridgeline)
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Product Reviews (15)
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Are there any d rings or loops built on the inside of canopy? Specifically that would allow the tie off of a Bivy sack. Inside loops opposite of the outer storm tie downs should work in my mind. Thanks for any feedback.
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Hello, is it possible to use the D rings on the silex and tie them straight out without using poles? Almost like a ridge line for a tarp. Curious if you guys or anyone else had tried this
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What size paracord is used on the Silex doors? Thanks for the great products! Timmy
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Hi, so does the Silex come in Dynemma cubin fiber with a stove jack option?
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Is there any drawback to purchasing the tent with a stove jack, and not using it with a stove? Stove purchase in the future, but concerned about wind infiltration, moisture etc. Should I be worried?
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is this tent made in the USA?
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More of a comment than a question but I really love this shelter. I love the fact that you have eliminated zippers because I have had them fail on other shelters and that's no fun in the bush. Are you guys planning on making a larger shelter with the same setup? maybe a 9x9 or something like that? I would be the first one to order it if you did. Thanks for making great gear guys. You are killing it.
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Would there be enough room for a 6'1" man, pack, and cub stove to be comfortable in the Silex?
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Can you include a photo of the cub stove installed? Also, is there any risk of the stove damaging the trek pole or is there sufficient space between the pole and the stove?
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Where is the stovejack located (when equipped)?
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1. Would you consider making an inner tent "nest" of ripstop with netting in the top 1/4 of the inner tent? I don't want an all netting nest B/C spindrift snow can enter too easily. 2. Would making at least one peak vent (say at the rear peak) in the same manner as Tarptent uses raise the cost more than $30.?
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What length stove pipe would you recommend?
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Would love to see a dimension layout image as your other tents have. Seeing the numerical values fixed to a graphic is really helpful. Thanks!
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What stove would you recommend for the silex?
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Will you please post photographs of this tent with the single person nest in use?
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