I've been torture testing my Hemlock Mountain Outdoors Coyote System for 1 1/2 years. Rain, wind, snow and ice. I've spent a lot of nights pushing this system until I felt comfortable making it available. During that time I didn't have a single failure of the gear... a few brain failures but that's about it. My original burnt orange Coyote 10' has been through a lot, here's a little taste.
Heavy Wind & Rain in the Allegheny National Forest
I had planned to spend a week kayak camping along the Allegheny Reservoir. Unfortunately, the weather had other plans. On the second day I headed out in the kayak to explore the reservoir and got about 2 miles from camp when I got caught in the heaviest rain I've seen in a very long time. I pulled up on the shore to wait out the heaviest of the wind and expected to get back to camp to a shredded tarp. Even though one of the temporary clips I had attached as a tie out for "porch mode" had popped off the tarp was in tact and more importantly the hammock, bug net and quilts were all dry as a bone.
Surprise Ice Storm in the Delaware State Forest
I was out for an overnight test of the 11x9 Diamond Fly in mid February, the weather was expecting some wind and I wanted to see how the smaller size would protect me from it. Just before sunrise I woke up to the sound of precipitation on the fly and figured it must be snowing a little. When I got out of the hammock I found the fly coated in ice and later found that highways in the area got shut down due to the storm. That 11x9 Diamond Fly not only kept the wind out, but the ice as well.
