SilTarps and Fires

Mike Fitz

Mike Fitz

Joined
Jun 18, 2008
Messages
1,223
Here's a question I've been pondering for a bit. SilTarps seem to be a great shelter option for a kit, but I keep thinking, especially as the weather gets cold, how good they are when you have a fire going outside the shelter for warmth.

I have a feeling that as the wind shifts and swirls there's going to lots of sparks and blowing burning bits coming to rest on the tarp causing lots of small and maybe some large holes. Anyone experience this, and if so, what have you used for emergency repairs, especially while it's dark and possibly raining?
 
Unfortunately I'm unable to fully disclose the details here...but it can be successfully done - I do it all the time even in sub zero temps and in windy blizzard conditions. The keys are the distance you build the fire from the tarp, your wood choices, the set up of the tarp and MOST IMPORTANT how you lay out tarp/fire relative to the wind.
 
That's true about setting up in relation to the wind, but the wind changes direction, swirls and doesn't usually cooperate when you need it to. I'm thinking if your nice, dry and cozy in your shelter when a shower of sparks lands on the tarp, what's the best way of dealing with it? Any effective repair techniques you can do from the inside without crawling out and getting soaked and cold, attempting to patch it?
 
Hey Mike,

Duct tape should work, at least temporarily. I'm looking at siltarps myself, so maybe I'll be able to give you some first hand experience soon (because I'm sure as hell, likely to burn holes in it :rolleyes:)

Doc
 
You and me both Brother- Murphy's law still rules....

I bought an Integral Designs poncho/tarp and a groundsheet to match, I'm sure it will be full of little holes after the first use, which is why I didn't spring for something more expensive. I have a nice MSR Hubba Hubba tent, but I don't carry it in my daypack.
 
IMO if you use your gear, at some point it will look like you used your gear. (It is not a bad thing) This includes little burn holes in your once pristine gore tex pants and your sil-nylon tarp. I'm hopeful a bicycle patch will work, as I recently acquired a few holes myself.
 
Believe me, I'm not worried about how it looks if I need to use it in a survival situation, I'm more worried about getting cold and wet when it's necessary to stay warm and dry to stay alive. A bunch of little holes your shelter might be a big problem in a case like that. I'm looking for a good way to patch those holes if needed, preferably from the inside of the shelter. Duct tape might be a way, but I'm sure there are other sealers/patches that might be better.
 
Sil-nylon has the reputation of being highly flamable, hit it with a flame and it's gone. However I don't know about just small sparks. Just be careful where you position your fire in regards to the tatrp and wind direction and youll be fine.

Myself if I'm traveling with just a tarp I use an integral designs 8 x 10 sil-tatrp 2's.
 
Anything nylon will burn really well. Imagine waking in the middle of the night staring up at the stars inside your MSR tent thinking, "HUNHHH!". If that wasn't weird enough I couldn't sit up. It was as though I was Gulliver and the Liliputians had tied me to the ground. All I could think at the time was this is one of the weirdest dreams I've ever had. After going through the cognitive dissonance process I found that the threads that tied me down were strings of melted nylon from the tent fire caused by the campfire coming back to life in the middle of the night. The water soaked log used to block the wind had dried out and was burning brightly on the opposite side of the firepit. So we guessed when the log rolled over it sent up the right amount sparks/cinders to catch the tent on fire. The tent was at least ten feet away from the fire. The temp outside the tent had been about 5 degrees F, inside the tent about 15, but now it was the same.
 
Well, I can't give anyone any statistics, but my personal experience is this: I make a fire pretty much any time I camp. And I only camp with a silnylon tarp. And BC is chock-full of pitchy, snappy, poppy softwoods and absolutely nothing else. Ad yet so far, I have not had a problem. I have a couple of very tiny black dots from sparks on the tarp, but no holes and no fires.

I have often set up the tarp within about 6 feet of a medium sized fire, too.

But I am not by any stretch claiming that this is a representative sample of fires and silnylon. It is entirely possible that I have just been lucky. But if that's the case, I've been lucky about fifty times in a row.

One last thing: my tarp is the 7x10 (or thereabouts) scout silnylon tarp from MEC. I love it! It was about sixty bucks and I would buy it again in a second. I don't think anyone is likely to find a substantially better deal than that one. It's also in a relatively unobtrusive mustard colour, which is kind of nice as well.
 
misanthropist said:
One last thing: my tarp is the 7x10 (or thereabouts) scout silnylon tarp from MEC. I love it! It was about sixty bucks and I would buy it again in a second. I don't think anyone is likely to find a substantially better deal than that one. It's also in a relatively unobtrusive mustard colour, which is kind of nice as well.
Click to expand...

I have two:D I can second the MEC Scout tarp...excellent deal for a small kit.

ROCK6
 
I know you do! That is part of why I recommend it...I figure if you are buying them, there must not be a better bang-for-buck tarp around because you own a lot of good gear, you are knowledgeable and trained, and it's not like you just walked down to your local MEC and bought one. For us Canadians it's a local store, but in your case, you must have found it worthwhile to order them down. I therefore conclude that it is unlikely anyone will find a much better deal on a good siltarp!

MEC Scout: ROCK6 tested, Misanthropist approved!
 
The only time I "had" to use my tarp, because of lack of a compass, I dug a indian fire pit. The indian fire pit, is a pyramid hole, with a vent shaft off to one side. Make sure that the vent hole runs paralell to the tarp, and just dig it a little deeper, with a fresh cut pine branch over the vent holes. This will help keep the sparks from swirling around, and also can act to control the height of the flames depending on the density. This also aids in fire starting for a windy, cold, wet, envorinment If you use green branches over the flames, you can roast wild game or fish before the branches burn through.
 
I've not put any holes in silnylon yet but if I were to I'd just use a bit of tape to keep it going. I'm not convinced a tredder patch would be much good as it is only rubber solution glue. Admittedly I've not tried it but I suspect it would be in the same family of fails as the 'stick' bit of a bit of stick-n-sew velcro I used to attach something. It just turned to a gummy slime. I know you can get proper glue for silnylon, but if I were doing a proper mend I'd use a silnylon patch either side and complete the seal with some silicon bath sealant. That's the stuff I use for sealing the seams when I make tarps up, and no leaks yet.
 
Rock6 and Misanthropist: Got any pictures of your regular setups? How do your normally pitch the tarp in relation to the fire? Misanthropist gave some distances, I'm just trying to get a visual of what it all looks like.
 
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