Tarp as a shelter?

[XSrcing]

Could some of your more experienced adventurers post up more pics of your tarp setups? I just moved up to the Pacific Northwest from Texas and I'm used to almost always camping in great weather with no tent or tarp, but I really don't want to have to drop a grip of money for a decent backpacking tent.

 

[Steven Andrews]

My tarps are a sil nylon SilTarp2 by Integral Designs:



And a sil polyester XP10 by Hilleberg:



I use them with a basic cheap waterproof ground sheet, a Thermarest mat and during the colder months a British Army Gore-Tex bivvi bag - to keep the breeze off my sleeping bag.

 

[squishware]

We don't camp in summer (Florida), only day hike. In winter we use a blue/silver tarp and sleeping bags. I'd like to get a hammock but I can't figure out what to do with the dog. I am sure if she was in she would want to be out and out she would want to be in.

 

[mtwarden]

Could some of your more experienced adventurers post up more pics of your tarp setups? I just moved up to the Pacific Northwest from Texas and I'm used to almost always camping in great weather with no tent or tarp, but I really don't want to have to drop a grip of money for a decent backpacking tent.

I posted a thread (w/ pics ) awhile back that shows several common pitches- towards the end of the thread I link another thread w/ a few more pitches

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=752255

 

[Rick Marchand]

Back in my tarp days, it was pretty simple...just made a lean to with the back toward the prevailing wind, and a fire out front. ( http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...=7L6NTIzNKoKosAPa373kBA&sqi=2&ved=0CBYQ9QEwAA ) The wind carries the smoke and sparks away from the shelter, so there was never a risk of burning it down. And, always a second smaller tarp for the ground.

But, that was when I was young. I have outgrown all this sillines. Lived and learned and just carry an ultralight tent these days!

I have often found that my best smoke-free lean-tos have always been set up almost perpendicular to the wind. Make it in a way that the fire is well ventilated and the space in the shelter is fairly still. This clears the shelter of smoke and pretty much eliminates the eddying effect that a backfacing lean-to creates.

Outgrown all the silliness, eh?... Lived and Learned? Folks just tend to fall deeper into the "comfort zone" as their bodies become less tolerant to the challenges that living with the land poses. If looking back on it as "silliness" or stating that you "know better" or have "outgrown" that practice helps validate your current style of camping, then so be it. Perhaps I'm reading too far into your last statement... but I don't see choosing to "tent it" as a milestone to wilderness maturity.

Rick

 

[reconranger]

I have often found that my best smoke-free lean-tos have always been set up almost perpendicular to the wind. Make it in a way that the fire is well ventilated and the space in the shelter is fairly still. This clears the shelter of smoke and pretty much eliminates the eddying effect that a backfacing lean-to creates.

Outgrown all the silliness, eh?... Lived and Learned? Folks just tend to fall deeper into the "comfort zone" as their bodies become less tolerant to the challenges that living with the land poses. If looking back on it as "silliness" or stating that you "know better" or have "outgrown" that practice helps validate your current style of camping, then so be it. Perhaps I'm reading too far into your last statement... but I don't see choosing to "tent it" as a milestone to wilderness maturity.

Rick

The advantge of having tried everything, is learning what works and what makes sense and what doesn't. Others will have to learn the same lessons by trial and error, if they are not willing to take the advice of those who have already been there! But....learning can be part of the fun. A few needlessly cold nights and some mosquito bites, can be a great motivator for a quick learner!

 

[Codger_64]

Outgrown all the silliness, eh?... Lived and Learned? Folks just tend to fall deeper into the "comfort zone" as their bodies become less tolerant to the challenges that living with the land poses. If looking back on it as "silliness" or stating that you "know better" or have "outgrown" that practice helps validate your current style of camping, then so be it. Perhaps I'm reading too far into your last statement... but I don't see choosing to "tent it" as a milestone to wilderness maturity.

Rick

Ontario, Canada

The advantge of having tried everything, is learning what works and what makes sense and what doesn't. Others will have to learn the same lessons by trial and error, if they are not willing to take the advice of those who have already been there! But....learning can be part of the fun. A few needlessly cold nights and some mosquito bites, can be a great motivator for a quick learner!

So. California

I'm sorry, but I had to laugh at this exchange.

Experience is indeed the best teacher, and experience gained at the side of a trusted, knowledgable mentor is generally less painful than experience gained thru trial and error. This is one reason professional outdoor mentors are so in vogue these days. There are simply not that many fathers and grandfathers who posess the "old knowledge" of outdoor travel, living and survival, much less updated knowledge.

That said, what works for me in Arkansas and Tennessee would not work as well in Saskatchewan, Alberta, Brazil or Scotland. In the absence of "da bears", I like to keep my pack in my shelter with me. I couldn't do that in a slingshothammock.

And in my area, insects are king almost year round. Even snakes have only a short period of hibernation (ever wake up at night with a snake in your bed?). Getting protection from things that creep and crawl while using a tarp requires a bivy/mesh nest also.

I prefer a tent.

But a hammock may be best for someone else. Or a tarp. Or a poncho. Or a garbage bag. Like what you want and use what you like! :thumbup:

 

[sasha]

As always the old Codger nailed it again.. Its same as when people argue about the best knife. Its what you are going to use it for and Where you are going to use it. What are your comfort levels. I got a friend that if he goes out with a group no matter what time of the year or where he goes. He gets bitten by every bug out there like there is no tomorrow. I would be next to him and i wont get one bite. Yep he wont use a tarp and he likes a double wall tent. Cant blame him realy. The idea is to learn from each other what works for others and then apply it to ourselves see what works for us.. As for me i didnt use a tent or a tarp for years now started to use a pad only 3-4 years ago at the most. find a nice place lay my bag and go to sleep. Now at the age of 44 i started to use a pad and the BIVI to keep the bag clean.

Sasha

 

[Codger_64]

As for me i didnt use a tent or a tarp for years now started to use a pad only 3-4 years ago at the most. find a nice place lay my bag and go to sleep. Now at the age of 44 i started to use a pad and the BIVI to keep the bag clean.

Sasha

I've tried a lot of different pads over the years, but nothing really modern. Leaves, grass, pine boughs, sand, gravel and closed cell foam. As I also have gotten older, I find I require more padding and insulation from the ground. Last fall a forum member read my complaint and actually sent me a new Big Agnes insulated air core pad. I've only used it a couple of times, but it made a world of difference in my being able to sleep all night. This thing is pure gold to me!

In my younger years, I could sleep on my back, stomach, girlfriend, whatever with no problem. A spinal injury left me with a curvature that only allows sleeping on my side. And I don't have a girlfriend and can't afford to buy one. Perhaps some forum friend will.....

 

[bulgron]

In my younger years, I could sleep on my back, stomach, girlfriend, whatever with no problem. A spinal injury left me with a curvature that only allows sleeping on my side. And I don't have a girlfriend and can't afford to buy one. Perhaps some forum friend will.....

Ah, Codger, I might be willing to buy you a girlfriend. But that would be, you know, illegal.

 

[Codger_64]

Ah, Codger, I might be willing to buy you a girlfriend. But that would be, you know, illegal.

Buy? What happened to rent/loan/give? :thumbup:

There is always Craigslist I suppose. I think I heard a pirate mention that once. I did get a good deal on my canoe there.

 

[numberthree]

Tarp camping is drier in wet and cold conditions than most tents. Much better ventilation and less condensation. Bring a bug net and there's not much a tent offers other than privacy....which of course can be solved by how you pitch (or fly) your tarp...

 

[Quirt]

One 10' x 10' Tarp and so many design choices...what's a person to do?

10' x 10' fire resistant nylon Tarp in Warm Weather Bombproof design. The colder and winder the weather - the lower you move it down to the ground! Gives you amble ingress/egress and you can have a warming fire on the outside reflecting heat inside

Another warm weather design - the Basic Lean To. It also works well if you have a cot

An excellent "Tent" design called the Forester. It works well in inclement weather! You can see a Bombproof design directly behind it and to the left

This design is called the Modified Forester and is a hybrid between the Forester and Bombproof. It works well in warm and colder weather. Again the colder, winder, wetter the weather the lower to the ground you set it up

This is a very flexible design called the Whelan after Col. Townsend Whelan. This is a cold and warm weather design as well

The back side of the Whelan showing the Shears to suspend the back

A Low Profile Whelan like above - only set up at 4,000 feet elevation, in December, @ 5 degrees above Zero. you can't see the reflective fire. This is morning coffee and his reflective fire is dying out. You can tell because he put on a light jacket over the top of his tee shirt. But this person slept quite comfortable with a fire going all night when it reached down to sub zero weather with snow.

Another Whelan only with the sides opened up and the flap raised for summer - no fire

The Hooch Design is popular with the Military using Ponchos. This is a silnylon tarp used during a demostration during a class and it is my son's set up! He did a nice job. The Tarp is very taunt and did repel rain that very night. No sagging or bagging - holding rain. His sleeping bag is enclosed in a green bivi setting outside the Hooch for inspection.

 

[Rick Marchand]

Looks like you froze yer face off, bud

Rick

 

[Merost]

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I use an 8 X 10 tarp when I day hike. I take along a baggy with cordage and other gear.
This is one way I can set it up, and I use this method when the weather is bad. It is enclosed on three sides. The ThermaRest closed foam pad keeps me off the ground, and dry.

Tarps work great when sleeping on a nice manicured lawn.

 

[baldtaco-II]

Tarp in the damp, and at some points flat out wet and soggy. Tents are something I buy cheap and leave behind at festivals - charities come and scoop them up. There's nothing here that can kill me that a tent could protect me from any better than a tarp. If the probability of that changes noticeably I may think again, meantime:

I like the speed and simplicity of pitching, the versatility of where I can pitch, the access, the visibility, the dumping of parts I don't need [tarp poles remind me of what is crap about tent poles, they only do one thing really well], and to some extent the redundancy - something could happen to either my tarp or my bivvy bag and I am still protected. A bare sleeping bag in a tent is nothing like as well defended. Unless of course you use a bivvy bag in a tent, in which case you could probably have shaved of some dead weight and used a tarp instead.

This trip was above and below the trees. Weather ranged from pouring down rain enough for me to gather pints off the roof, through the prevailing mist and moor fog, punctuated by occasional bursts of sun. Simply put; days out in the wet. There was three of us under that lid for days [wet dog surely takes a person size space], and mah woman was using a down sleeping bag. No gear that shouldn't get wet got wet at any point.

Going back to tarps and avoiding wool and and cotton clothing has really paid off time and time again when it comes to staying warm and dry in the sticks.

 

[Don Rearic]

As always the old Codger nailed it again...

Yes, he apparently always has a hammer and a fistful of nails to secure excellent points, ideas and concepts.

 

[mtwarden]

baldtaco- nice pics what size tarp? do you have a portion of the tarp pulled into the doorway on one of the pitches?

 

[baldtaco-II]

mtwarden , thanks amigo.

Tarp sewed up about 10'*10', from 6m of 1.5m off the roll.

Not deliberately. That's just incidental from jamming two spare walking poles in to funnel the rain into a pot

 

[Lawlor69]

I'm loving this thread. Keep it up!