NFT

The NFT is designed for the experienced ultralight minimalist across a variety of activities. A simple rectangle of fabric is about as minimalist as it gets, and that’s the beauty of it. It’s most at home when it’s ultralight backpacking. There’s nothing more luxurious than having room to spread out all your gear and slurp some spicy ramen while watching the rain fall from under a tarp. If you want as much covered area as possible for minimum weight and are excited to practice some “tarpitecture”, look no further. The setup configurations are limited only by your imagination. The NFT is also a game-changer for group trips in rainy weather as a cooking and hangout zone. It’s also a great emergency shelter for backcountry winter travel- string it up between your skis or a couple trees to get out of the snow while you snarf some cheese sticks.

There’s no “best” way, and that’s the fun of it! If you’re new to flat tarps we suggest starting with the A-frame pitch, which is about as “standard” as it gets with flat tarps. It’s a good balance of easy setup, weather coverage, and interior space. However, since the NFT doesn’t have a catenary cut ridgeline seam, there really is no limit to the creative pitches you can make with the NFT.

The outer edges of the NFT are not straight, but are subtly curved inwards in the middle. Fabric stretches when pulled diagonally, like when staking out the bottom corners of a tarp in an A-frame configuration. This leads to slack in the bottom edge, and you end up with a flappy tarp. Nobody likes a flappy tarp. Catenary curves fix this issue by removing the material that would be loose. Simply put, the NFT makes it easier to get a nice taut pitch in more configurations than a standard rectangular flat tarp. A Non Flappy Tarp, if you will.

"Sil/sil” means the fabric is coated with silicone on both sides. Silicone-coated fabrics are functionally superior to traditional PU coated fabrics in pretty much every way. They are stronger for the weight, more durable, more UV-resistant, more resistant to mold, absorb less water, pack down smaller, dry out faster, and don’t smell or get sticky over time. They also don’t require DWR treatments. To learn more about fabric coatings and why our flysheets are all sil/sil, click here. Since seam tape doesn’t stick to silicone, some silicone coated flysheets should be sealed before use in very wet conditions, depending on the construction methods, tent design, and fabric itself.

The NFT does not need seam sealing under most conditions. As long as it’s not set up in a way that allows water to pool on the top seam, you can get by without sealing it. If you’re planning on setting it up flat as a canopy a lot, at an angle where water won’t run off quickly, you may want to seal it for extra peace of mind. If you do decide to do some seam sealing, you’ll need a silicone-compatible sealant like Gear Aid Seam Grip+SIL.

Yes! We are passionate about keeping our tents in the field as long as possible and have spare pole sections, repair fabric, and repair adhesive available on our website. Even if a specific part isn’t listed on our spare parts page we can almost always find the part you need. Just reach out to us and we’ll get you sorted out. Depending on inventory levels we are often able to sell individual components of the tent if you manage to wear something out or damage it beyond repair.