Nice - I'm a big fan of tarp camping. That tent fly looks pretty good - you could pitch the sides out wider with some short guylines to increase the space underneath and sleep diagonally, and unless it's really wet and windy you should be ok. Walking poles seem like a good idea, and they're adjustable so you can tweak the height of the pitch.
You need to sleep out under it tonight.
Hows the tent/tarp for misting through in heavy rain? That was the only problem I found with my small tarp tent, and will probably use a bivvy bag with it next time the rain is bad.
Well, it's been up for over 24 hours and there's been some mixed rain, wind and cloud. Not a constant downpour by any standard, but still pretty wet. The good news is that the 'tarp' did it's job very well, the top of my Czech cover feels bone dry as does the sleeping bag. However, the story's not so good when it comes to the bottom of the mat, the Czech cover didn't keep it's end up and has let quite a bit of water through to the underside of my sleeping mat. Both now drying out in my garage.
Quote from: Gareth on May 10, 2015, 08:15:21 PMWell, it's been up for over 24 hours and there's been some mixed rain, wind and cloud. Not a constant downpour by any standard, but still pretty wet. The good news is that the 'tarp' did it's job very well, the top of my Czech cover feels bone dry as does the sleeping bag. However, the story's not so good when it comes to the bottom of the mat, the Czech cover didn't keep it's end up and has let quite a bit of water through to the underside of my sleeping mat. Both now drying out in my garage. I saw your vid and was too thinking it was promising, do you think the water soak through the side or do the moisture permeated the 'waterproof' layer? I have seen some ultra light hikers use high tech material, like Tyvek or Cuben Fiber Material as ground sheet, but they probably are quite expensive.
Quote from: comis on May 11, 2015, 01:28:55 PMQuote from: Gareth on May 10, 2015, 08:15:21 PMWell, it's been up for over 24 hours and there's been some mixed rain, wind and cloud. Not a constant downpour by any standard, but still pretty wet. The good news is that the 'tarp' did it's job very well, the top of my Czech cover feels bone dry as does the sleeping bag. However, the story's not so good when it comes to the bottom of the mat, the Czech cover didn't keep it's end up and has let quite a bit of water through to the underside of my sleeping mat. Both now drying out in my garage. I saw your vid and was too thinking it was promising, do you think the water soak through the side or do the moisture permeated the 'waterproof' layer? I have seen some ultra light hikers use high tech material, like Tyvek or Cuben Fiber Material as ground sheet, but they probably are quite expensive.To be totally clear, that's not my video, just one showing the same product (I think you know that, but I wanted to be sure ). To answer the question; it was definitely the bottom 'waterproof' layer that leaked. The soaking was far too even for me to think anything else. To be fair though it is second hand and I've not idea how well it's been looked after. I'll be getting some waterproofing spray and treating it before trying it again.
When I was active in the Boy Scouts, we used Bundeswehr (German Army) Ponchos as Rain gear and Ground sheath. Not the lightest product on earth, but big enough that you can sleep on it. I don´t know if this is common knowledge, but many german scouts use tents inspired by the northern Kotta, called Kote up til today. Its a tent built from 4 black cotton parts and we used to cover the ground with Ponchos and have the cooking fire in the middle.You can build nice improvised tents with only one or 2 of the tent planes (Is taht a word?!) and construct bigger tents with more parts.Back to the Poncho: It has eyelets on the corners and halfway on the sides and pushbuttons so you can button the sides up in the rain or make a bivy bag. Only downside is the hood is made to be worn over a helmet, so you usually don´t see anything when wearing it...I can grab you one in a Surplus store if you want to test it.
I am not sure how I missed this thread! I love using tarps for camping and swore off tents years ago. Best part about tarps is you can use them with a good fire and keep really toasty and dry when it is cold or wet. I made a rip stop nylon tarp then sealed it with silicon. Works great and is light as a feather and packs up nicely. Nice job using the poles for 'trees' Gareth. I tend to use sticks along with my hiking staff if I take it with me. Also some configurations will let you have flaps for the front of you tarp.Great thread Gareth! Thanks for sharing.NateThat's us mobile
Got out for a quick wild camp on the bike last night in the Elan Valley. Took the tarp and bivvy bag and slept out at 500m to avoid the midges.