Critique my flat tarp setup please

[Matthew / BPL]

I have been enjoying the simplicity of a bivy setup since last summer. It’s so nice to just slip my pad and quilt into breathable bivy and sleep out wherever I want without concern about mosquitos or crawling bugs.

I picked up an 8.5′ x 8.5′ HMG flat tarp thinking it would be interesting to experiment with a flat tarp and figured it could provide shelter for my son and I on some planned summer trips in the Sierra. This weekend we encountered heavy winds forecast at a sustained 30mph with 55mph gusts. The tarp held well with very little flapping but I was not thrilled about the amount of interior space and headroom. I’d appreciate any tips or advice about how to better set up this tarp when encountering heavy winds. I’ll append several images here in the following posts…

[Matthew / BPL]

[Matthew / BPL]

[Matthew / BPL]

[Matthew / BPL]

[Matthew / BPL]

Problems:

1) Very little room at the foot end. Should I raise the whole foot end or just the ridgeline at the foot end? I moved the ridgeline stake far away thinking I could get an eyebrow shape but that didn’t work well.

2) More headroom at the head end. I’m having trouble understanding the geometry going on here. I loosened guys along both sides of the tarp and loosened the lineloc at the head end ridgeline to raise it up but that didn’t seem effective. I feel stupid writing this and I know that more backyard experimentation will likely yield benefits in the field next time I camp in high winds with this setup…

[Thomas E]

This should work; also by using the second pole outside in the back (although it will give less headroom than having it inside).

[Jeff McWilliams]

I envy you guys who successfully camp in a tarp with a big opening like Thomas E posted above.

I live in Michigan.  During inclement weather, expecting the wind (and rain) to NOT shift directions is like expecting to see a unicorn.  Even Ray Jardine’s tarp design shows that he eventually recognized this same fact, and outfitted his tarps with “bat wing” doors.

The continued spread of deer ticks carrying Lyme Disease and other diseases is another matter.  Every group of outdoors people I’ve recently interacted with contains at least one person who has a friend or family member who has struggled with Lyme.  So, we either tuck ourselves away in one (or two for couples) bug bivies or a 2-person bug nest, or give up and resort back to a fully enclosed single wall or double wall shelter.

 

 

[Matthew / BPL]

Thomas, I hadn’t considered a second pole inside. Thanks for that idea.

Jeff, I hear you 100%. Winds shift in the west as well. They did on Saturday night although I placed the tarp well and we never got it blowing into the opening.

[Jerry Adams]

I’ve been in that situation with raised edge tarp

I moved to pyramid tent which is sort of a tarp warped to have all edges near ground and more room inside

like Duomid or Oware or …

the headroom allows me to sit on sleeping bag and do stuff if there’s prolonged rain.  Leave door open if weather allows it.  I can cook in that opening

50 MPH winds are tough though.  30 MPH winds are a lot for most tents.  You need one of Roger’s tunnel tents at 50 MPH

[JCH]

Matt, during my tarp phase I fashioned a vestibule of sorts for both ends…first out of polycro, then cuben …something like the HMG Echo beak.  This worked very well, was an interesting MYOG exercise and was only about 3 oz total IIRC.  Ultimately, the Duplex won me over and the tarp was sold on.

[Bob Moulder]

I’m thinking that the 2-pole setup with Cuben will be more of a challenge because it doesn’t stretch.

Maybe the flying diamond config, although 8.5ft square is actually a bit small for 2 people. But with any tarp setup if the wind starts blowing at 30mph into the open end you’ve got a problem.

 

[Robert Alexander]

• @matthewkphx: based upon the winds you described experiencing I think you probably had “the” preferred set up. For 55mph gusts why risk it? For less extreme conditions you could put a minimal pole in the rear and make a sharper A frame angle. I’d be interested in hearing more from other experienced users.

[Dylan Atkinson]

Your pitch is spot on for heavy wind – I don’t think there is a way to maintain wind resistance yet have more head room. If you were in a more sheltered spot with natural windbreaks you could alter the pitch for more height, but out in the open, you are quite limited. From your pictures, looks like there are plenty of trees around, use ’em to your advantage. You could set up the open end of the tarp facing a tree to act as a windbreak, supplementing the open end with a rain jacket, or pack. This doesn’t really help you in terms of increased space though. I concur that 8.5 x 8.5 is small for two people in this scenario. I have a 8.5 x 10 HMG tarp and that’s the smallest I would go.

[Matthew / BPL]

Ok. Well to focus on the positives it sounds like I had it set up pretty well and we did feel pretty secure all night.

Good point about using the trees although I decided not to do that because the ground slopes up around them which would have made the interior even tighter.

We chose to camp high that night which may have not been the best decision. We could have dropped down into the canyon below but the canyon ran north-south and the wind was from the south so we were concerned it would become a wind tunnel.

I’ve also been thinking about maybe going back to a Duplex or trying a mid.

[Nick Gatel]

In my opinion your tarp is too small for two people.

For years I used a 5 X 7 solo tarp, which required a bivy to stay dry in poor weather — meaning I didn’t have the right set up — the bivy was a bandaid for too small a shelter. I switched to a Cuben 8 x 10 that didn’t require a bivy to stay dry and weighed less than my previous set up. In wind you need lots of tie-outs and real stakes… think Easton 9″ and/or something like MSR ground hogs. I use Easton at the corners and ground hogs for the rest.

A mid works great compared to a flat tarp. For two people you can’t beat a Trailstar, and it is palatial for one and its wind handling properties are better than any kind of tarp shelter. The more I use mine the more I like it.

[Bob Moulder]

This is the reason that our friends across the pond who backpack in relentlessly wind-ravaged ‘Heathcliff country’ have developed a preference for the Trailstar.

The problem for a lot of areas in the Northeast USA is the huge footprint of the Trailstar.

The Duomid utilizes available space quite efficiently.

For my trips without the pooch and thus without the need for the Duplex, I’ve been tweaking a Hex solo with storm flaps and a bivy (Zpacks Splash clone made by a good friend!) and I am really starting to like it a lot. I’ve used it only 3 nights, one with a lot of wind and one with significant rain (but no wind) and it looks quite promising.

[Bob Shuff]

Hi Dan,

If you bought that HMG square tarp here, you just beat me to the punch.  In addition to some hammock tarps, I have a grommeted Campmor 8×10 tarp that has been used only once or twice (to cover a picnic table), but I pulled it out this weekend as we are planning a trip that will involve some beach camping, and my son is going to give it a try with hiking poles.  The A frame works of course, as would the pitch you showed.  Those might be the extremes of roomy/breezy and battening down the hatches.

I could not figure out the pitch I see in a lot of photos, where the front corners close in like doors left ajar.  This is as close as we got:

Hi liked that, but I wanted the front to close in more.  Maybe the pole had to go higher?  A second pole inside helped this with more room in the back.

We also found a pitch that is a little more wind worthy than a straight A frame:

You could maybe rig a door with a pack cover.  I think with the many tie-outs on your HMG tarp that these would work even better.  You can see I folded the corner under on this one.  I found with many of my pitches similar to the one you posted that one side (back) was flat against the ground and the other side (back) was elevated with a taut pitch to the front pole.  I am an engineer, but I couldn’t figure out how to fix that in the time I had.

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