Tarps Are Worthless

Wandering Daisy · Post by **Wandering Daisy** » Wed Jul 02, 2014 8:59 am

Perhaps we need a separate forum "Laugh for the Day", so if humor is intended, those of us who interpreted the subject as serious (yet presented with a little humor), would not waste our time replying. I suggest that next time you intend humor put in a few of those smilies with winks, smiles, and blinking eyes so we can all be on the same page.

Bluewater · Post by **Bluewater** » Wed Jul 02, 2014 12:04 pm

Longri mentioned wanting to see some photos of tarp shelters in bad weather.

This one was taken near Lake Marjorie after a thunderstorm had passed:

And after a storm near Lake 12,280 in Ionian Basin:

If you're interested this video shows the actual conditions during the storm at Lake Marjorie. Things really opened up at 1:15. Pardon my brief use of impolite language.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=A9BObykKiFI" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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DoyleWDonehoo · Post by **DoyleWDonehoo** » Wed Jul 02, 2014 12:20 pm

Wandering Daisy wrote:About five years later the ultra light tents arrive. For 2 pounds I now can have the comfort of a tent with a weight not much more than a bivy. Not free-standing, but that is fine with me. I do miss star gazing at night. And I am a bit frustrated with the size of the tent location that I need.

For the last ~10 years I have been using a Nomad tent: two hiking poles, three stakes-outs (2 in a pinch), good head room, proof against bugs, easy to set up. The company went out of business long ago, and the last few years the tent has picked up too many holes, so I needed a new one.
Fortunately, LightHeart makes tents very similar to the Nomad, only they greatly improved the design. (See: http://www.lightheartgear.com/index.php ... t/view/5/3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;). I just got a LightHeart Solo-Custom tent to replace my Nomad. It packs only slightly larger than my Nomad and is slightly heavier, but that is because of some greatly needed reinforcement in the design, and should suffer less from condensation with their new additional fly. Still, it is a very small packed tent that weighs very little. WD, you would like the fact that the flys can be tied off making the shelter basically a bug screen enclosure that you can see the stars through.
I could probably do a pictorial review of the LightHeard tent if there is interest.

longri · Post by **longri** » Wed Jul 02, 2014 12:42 pm

Bluewater, you must be joking, right?

That first photo looks so calm and serene. The second one is a little wintery but no storm happening. And isn't that a pyramid tent instead of a tarp? I think there's a distinction.

The youtube video was hilarious. The hail was so slight that the narrator had to ask if we could even see it. And there was virtually no wind. What I want to see is a video of a driving rainstorm, with big gusty winds, and some guy under a flat tarp, sans bivy sack, who is warm and dry and smiling.

Fly Guy Dave · Post by **Fly Guy Dave** » Wed Jul 02, 2014 1:02 pm

longri wrote:What I want to see is a video of a driving rainstorm, with big gusty winds, and some guy under a flat tarp, sans bivy sack, who is warm and dry and smiling.

I think that what has been provided (three pictures and one video) is enough, don't you? Most folks are wisely hunkered down in their shelter when weather is coming through, not out in it filming or taking pictures. What is the point of the shelter if you're not going to use it when it is needed the most? I think aftermath photos are fine.

--F.G. Dave

longri · Post by **longri** » Wed Jul 02, 2014 2:08 pm

Fly Guy Dave wrote:I think that what has been provided (three pictures and one video) is enough, don't you?

No, I don't think so. I've been in much worse weather than those photos suggested or the video showed. At Marjorie Lake, in fact. I've wondered in those circumstances, while inside a tent, how someone in a simple tarp stayed dry. How did they keep the windblown rain away? I'm honestly curious how expert tarp campers do it because I don't know how I'd do it. I'd want a bivy sack in addition to the tarp and would expect things to get a little wet.

sparky · Post by **sparky** » Wed Jul 02, 2014 2:10 pm

Ive wondered this myself longri, and as attractive as a poncho tarp is this has whats kept me from purchasing one.

Bluewater · Post by **Bluewater** » Wed Jul 02, 2014 2:42 pm

As F.G. Dave suggested, I have not taken pictures of a tarp setup from outside during a storm. During these storms I was hunkered down either inside the shaped tarp during the snow storm or under my flat tarp snoozing inside my bivy during the storms. The bivy was made with a waterproof bathtub floor with 10" sides and a water resistant/breathable top. This combination has shed rain spray successfully for me. While I appreciate that this style of shelter is not for everyone I have grown to prefer it.

During the snow storm in Ionian Basin the snow was blowing across the lake as I was setting up, not a good time to take out a camera:). There is a YouTube vid of a guy inside a Hexamid during a blowing hail/thunder storm, I think he offers to help out his buddy after his shelter collapsed.

http://youtu.be/LUgaFCvF2KM" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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Rockchucker · Post by **Rockchucker** » Wed Jul 02, 2014 5:48 pm

longri wrote:
Fly Guy Dave wrote:I think that what has been provided (three pictures and one video) is enough, don't you?
No, I don't think so. I've been in much worse weather than those photos suggested or the video showed. At Marjorie Lake, in fact. I've wondered in those circumstances, while inside a tent, how someone in a simple tarp stayed dry. How did they keep the windblown rain away? I'm honestly curious how expert tarp campers do it because I don't know how I'd do it. I'd want a bivy sack in addition to the tarp and would expect things to get a little wet.

Two things, one I button the tarp down tight to the ground on the wind side and two I use a light weight bivy that keeps anything else off my bag. I've been in both snow and heavy rain and survived just fine, no wet bag. A few time before I got my bivy I weather out 3 days of heavy rain without a problem. I did cover the foot of my bag with my rain coat to protect it from anything blowing in.

Post by **rlown** » Wed Jul 02, 2014 6:51 pm

longri,

you are way over-thinking the situations. If you choose to take a flat tarp, you know the limitations, and benefits of it before you go. I didn't get wet in my setup, and i had other options to build a lean-to on a log (yes, i carried 6 nails as well).

If we have to be under the tarp, we do that as well. never got wet, other than when during the night i pushed my fleece pants out of the side of the "burrito" and they were frozen. Otherwise, really comfortable in a down bag in a snowstorm under a tarp. And no pics for that after the setup, as the snow got stronger and we slid in.

You won't get any pics of during the storm smiling. We are in our shelter as FG Dave said.

This thread is pretty dead unless someone dances around outside their shelter in the middle of a storm.

Russ

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