Battle of the tarps

[William Zila]

What type of tarp do you prefer and why? I am trying to decide between a hexamid twin and a mld monk. The extra protection of the heximid is appealing but for some reason I love a simple half pyramid when pitched right it's got good coverage and space. Then you have your cat cut tarps I love the taunt A frame pitch of my echo 1 but it's lacking in wind protection since I can't pitch it completly flush to the ground. That and the fact that I can only pitch it A frame makes it much less appealing. Then you have all your mids awesome protection spacious but you lose that open airy tarp feeling that I love so much. So look in those gear closets whats your tarp of choice?

[Steven McAllister]

I personally think of my Monk as a summer, fair weather or emeggency shelter. It is very confining when pitched in storm mode and may require re-pitching when the wind direction changes.

Since the Twin has more coverage, there is less hassle dealing with re-pitching. It can be very airy and open as well.

[David Ure]

I can't find the link, but Steven has some great pics of Monk Tarp pitches. He is quite familiar with the tarp.

I have one as well – just got it – and in my opinion, it is the most versatile 5×9' tarp I have ever used. 10 tie-outs including the two centre ones.

[Steven McAllister]

Click here:
Thread that has the pix

[David Olsen]

A customer sent me a link to his web page with lots of photos of a similar small
rectangular tarp. 6×8'

oware-6×8-tarp-setups

[Steven McAllister]

It's amazing how much more room a 6' wide tarp creates compared to the 5' width of the Monk tarp.

Some of those pix really demonstrate the advantages of a flat tarp over a cat tarp.

I do dig my cat tarp, but I keep rethinking how well the flat tarps can adapt to different situations better.

[William Zila]

I was thinking the same thing Steven I am most likely to go with a 6×9 cuben by zpacks slightly lighter then the monk and more coverage

[David Ure]

Coverage? Barely. Only 9" more width.

[William Zila]

The cuben monk is 4.3 wide as states by mld's specs. Why it is a different size then the sil version I am clueless

[billy goat]

I happen to have a 7' x 9' handmade, Cuben tarp available for sale. It is a true rectangular cut tarp without cat cuts; intended to be pitched in "monk tarp" / half-pyramid configuration, but it can also be pitched in a traditional A-frame configuration. The ridge line is bonded, edges are sewn to keep them neat, and it has eight reinforced tieouts. Also has a cuben stuff sack that is about the size of a 16 oz bottle. The tarp weighs 5.4 ounces and the stuff sack won't register on my scale. Brand new, made by yours truly. Email me if you're interested in buying. I also have enough cuben in stock right now to make a custom tarp from scratch to your specifications.

[Steven McAllister]

Th Monk in my pictures is a Spinnaker Monk. If I remember correctly it is 4' 10".
If the Oware 6×8 is truly 6' wide, then that would explain why it looks like there is so much more coverage.

[William Zila]

Pm sent billy goat would you be able to add the tieout points where the monk has The ones in the middle of each half ?

[Steven McAllister]

Hey William,

I agree about the tie-out placement of the Monk and the Oware.
I find the location very useful at times. Especially for foul weather pitches.

[David Ure]

mmm. That is strange. My silnylon version is just over 5 feet.

[Joe L]

Cuben fabric is 54" wide from the factory. Putting in a seam to gain a foot or less of width is not practical from a time is money view. Thus the Cuben tarps are smaller than an otherwise identical silnylon or spinn tarp.

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