HMG Echo II Tarp Insight

Perfect Pitch? Dyneema/cuben doesn’t stretch. Soo, it seems every time it gets pitched it will vary a bit. Coupled with a cat-cut, this is a problem.

I like a little more height, 43-45″ is pretty good for me. 41″ doesn’t really make it for me. Anyway, splashback can be a problem if pitched any higher. The Cat-cut actually interferes a bit. Most pitches except the one they recommend and show will be a bit looser in some areas with no real way to pull it any tighter…the fabric doesn’t stretch. The angle of the roof with a cat-cut tarp becomes fixed due to the cat-curves. Stretching it out, or closing it up will cause some fabric slack, somewhere. This isn’t a big deal unless you are in some bad winds (30mph+.) Then, you start getting some flapping of loose fabric/wind hammer. I am not a big fan of cat cuts. It is actually very limiting/unforgiving on uneven ground when done with Dyneema/cuben.

Nylon/poly have a fair amount of stretch and cover over this easily. It is rare to find a site that does NOT induce some twist in the tarp. Ideally, you can just adjust this out, but in rain, I like to keep things fairly tight…soo, a twist is expected. This is a failing common to tunnels, but domes usually avoid this problem. Anyway, Like I said, the Echo is a good dry roof. But, you need to adjust the heights to the roof angle and not the ground. Kind’of strange when one corner is 12″ and the opposite diagonal is 2″. But that is the only real way to pitch a cat-cut properly.