It has been several years since I last had this tent out of it’s sack. I wondered what I would find, given its age. I’m still shaking my head as I write this, but I guess my closet must apparently have been traveling at light speed, since, this tent has not aged a day in 5 years. Actually it almost hasn’t aged a day since I bought it on clearance in 1998 at MEC in Ottawa. I have always heard of the legendary quality and longevity of the Moss tent fabrics, that’s why I bought it, but who could have guessed a tent could remain in such excellent condition for so long. The polyurethane is, really, like new. Flexible, fully adhered and intact, but not dried nor sticky. The fabrics are in perfect shape. And it is still the beautiful, brilliant, crazy strong tent I remember. Whoever gets this one, is getting a rare treasure. I bought the tent when I was helping with an annual gathering at Grandfather William Commanda’s in Maniwaki Quebec. I used it for three years there, and probably on only one or two other trips since I’ve had it. EVERYONE loved this tent, and I always had visitors. It’s magical inside: laying on one’s back and looking up you see a red 4-lobed star, or flower effect, with a screened window in the center. It has two doors and one window taking up an entire side. All mesh can be covered up with nylon zipped coverings, making this one snug 4 season tent. The tent body is set up with 4 identical Easton poles, and there are a total of 12 pole crossings. The benefit of this showed up one day when it was pitched on a hill above the lake, and a thunderstorm came off the lake with winds gusting to better than 70 miles per hour. A bunch of us watched, captivated, as the wind gusts literally FLATTENED every tent but one. This tent was sort of shivering, in winds that had all others flat on the ground. It has a strong, full-coverage fly with a hooped vestibule. I used to feel when sleeping inside that if the world ended outside, I might not wake up. It would make an amazing base camp tent. For those who are not too familiar with Moss tents, the fabric is mainly what makes them special. They’re made of several different weights and types of nylon, but are unusual because the waterproof coating on the fly and floor is thicker than normal, is on the outside of the fly instead of inside, and is impregnated with sunscreen to protect the fabric. Also the designs and construction are among the very best ever made anywhere. This tent was made in Seattle, one of the last years that Moss tents were still made with the great old fabrics in the USA. MSR acquired Edgeworks in 2000 or 2001 I think, and they changed the fabrics to polyester and had the tents made in China. Condition-wise, as mentioned, the fabrics are amazingly still excellent and ready for your next trip. The only sign of age I could find is some tarnishing on the brass grommets. In a few places on the tent fabric, there are little brown rings where it was in contact with grommets. Those are faint and none of the rings showed up well in the pics I took, but they’re there, just a few of them and faint. Two of the black zipper pulls came off over the years and and while those can easily be replaced, I just replaced them with a loop of cord: see the photo of them. The original guylines were repurposed and have disappeared but this comes with some high quality replacements that I THINK! Or, you can use the original Moss aluminum guy tensioners that do come with (I always used rolling hitches instead of tensioners that tend to loosen). Given that this tent un-guyed stood up to hurricane force winds with almost no deflection, I can’t imagine what it could withstand if fully guyed. The dimensions in the spec sheet are a little inflated. The floor is listed as 7′ 6″ x 7′ 6″, but I find it’s just a hair over 7 feet when set up. The floor is a bathtub style with the peripheral seams held a few inches above the ground. So, the floor of the tent is a 7-foot square, with chamfered corners. Between the angled corners, the longest edge on the periphery is 64 inches. In other words, a 64″x84″ rectangle could fit on the floor either front-to-back or side-to-side, with almost a foot on either side. Or put another way, a 72″ square could fit inside with about 6″ all around it. Peak height is between 43-44 measured at the peak pole crossings. The top of the triangular side window (the mid-level pole crossings) is 3 feet. The hooped vestibule is about 14 sq ft. Weight of tent, fly, poles, stakes and all sacks is 12.8 lbs. I found the original stakes to be too soft to bother with – they easily bent. I replaced them with four Black Diamond/Chouinard T-skates made of 7075-T6 aluminum (heat-treated alloy, those are ridiculously bomber) and 9 groundhog-style aircraft aluminum alloy stakes that are quite strong and light. I’m including an MSR Little Dipper ground sheet with this. That is a later, made-in-China groundsheet, made of polyurethane coated polyester fabric. The seam tape is dried, cracked and coming off in a few places. And it has some dark stains. But it’s the perfect size for the tent, is still perfectly usable, and you could seam seal it if desired. It weighs 1 lb 1.1 oz. 4 main tent poles, little peak pole, vestibule hoop pole. 4 Black Diamond/Chouinard T-stakes and 9 aircraft aluminum stakes. Original aluminum guy tensioners, replacement guy cords, original pole repair sleeve. Original tent sack, pole sack and stake sack. EXTRA PICS: I have some other good pics I will send you if you message me through this listing. Couldn’t find an easy way to add them here. MOSS VISTAWING ALSO AVAILABLE: Please see my other auctions, I have a nearly new Moss Vistawing catenary cut tarp available also. It is designed to be used by itself or to drape over the hooped vestibule of the Little Dipper. I used it exactly once for two days, so it’s in great shape also. Thank you so much. Thank you for your interest. Good luck in getting a very special tent! The item “Moss Tent Little Dipper Stunning 3-person, 4-season, Excellent Condition” is in sale since Sunday, December 12, 2021. This item is in the category “Sporting Goods\Camping & Hiking\Tents & Canopies\Tents”. The seller is “sb5walker” and is located in Vancouver, Washington. This item can be shipped to United States.
- Features: Detachable Groundsheet
- Number of Seasons: 4 Season
- Number of Doors: 2
- Material: Nylon
- Shape: Dome
- Brand: Moss
- Capacity: 3 Person
- Type: Freestanding Tent
