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I Don’t Mean to Brag, I Don’t Mean to Boast..


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Home Forums Gear Forums Gear (General) I Don’t Mean to Brag, I Don’t Mean to Boast..

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 15 total)
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  • #3750506
    dirtbag
    BPL Member

    @dirtbaghiker

     

    https://youtu.be/-hPYh9KpPRU

    But I do ❤️ Love my Borah Gear solo silpoly tarp 5.8×9 THE MOST!!

    In all truth there is not much to say about this tarp, or any tarp for that matter. Such a simple design/idea for a light-weight/ no bulk/pack space shelter which provides ample coverage in most conditions. With some practice anyone can master pitching it quickly and brainlessly on a whim, in the rain, wind even some light snow. In the trees or without the trees.. beautiful views or tucked away in the forest the tarp will never disappoint. Protection from sun, rain and even light snow fall, it will always satisfy your soul when you are spending time with mother nature..

    Go larger if you want, or smaller if you dare..I am so comfortable carrying this 5.8×9 tarp for most of my trips. That video I posted is cut from my last trip for anyone interested in seeing the Borah Gear tarp paired with a Mountain Laurel Designs Superlight Solo Bivy. Like I said, there is not much to say about it, they both work well and there are many different tarps and bivies you could go with, these just happen to be the ones I have settled on after many years of camping using tarps and bivies..

    #3750507
    Ratatosk
    Spectator

    @ratatosk

    …but i’m intercontinental when I eat french toast.

    I’ll tall enough that an 8×10 is about the minimum I like, but a good tarp is one of those pieces of gear that just makes me happy to use. I’ve never used their tarps, but have a bivy from Borah, and their gear is great bang for your buck. My etowah sil-nylon is still going strong after a good number of years, but maybe I’ll try silpoly when the time comes to replace it. One of the things I like most about having a tarp/ridgeline setup is that you’ve got 25′ or 30′ of cordagethat can be put to other uses, which is great. I hang all my sleeping gear over it in the morning, to air it all out.

    To tarps!

    #3750509
    Matthew / BPL
    Moderator

    @matthewkphx

    Yeah, that’s The Move…

    Except when it isn’t. YMMV, but I have been in conditions above treeline where a small flat tarp would have meant I was getting wet by freezing wind-blown rain. I like the coverage a shaped tarp provides. Currently that’s a YMG Cirriform Min for me which opens up really nicely in better weather.

    On a short trip at lower elevation or where I know I’ll have trees coverage, I do have a 5.5×8 from Simply Light Designs which packs down wonderfully small. I like it’s simplicity with a splash bivy.

    #3750515
    bradmacmt
    BPL Member

    @bradmacmt

    Locale: montana

    I want more protection, be it biting bugs, driving wind, rain and snow, especially above timberline.  A tarp is fine for quite specific conditions, but is not a generalist shelter IME.

    #3750516
    dirtbag
    BPL Member

    @dirtbaghiker

    I have used it in rain, and light snow (paired with eVent bivy) and there was no suffering or agony or even regrets.. That particular trip in video above, of you happen to watch the full trip video, the bugs were horrible and I wore my bug headnet while setting up and breaking down camp. I was even regretting not bringing my serrenity net tent instead of the that bivy and tarp!! You will even hear me swearing and cussing ready to abort that spot and go home!! Lol. But truth be told, after i set everything up between the wonderful breeze blowing across the rock top and a smoking fire, the bugs were non existent.  Also as evening settled in and the temperature dropped they were a non factor, completely gone, breeze or not, smoking fire or not..

    But yes.. certain conditions and situations I would NOT be happy or safe with that set up, no doubt.. but for 95% of 3 season backpacking and camping trips here in the Northeast,  NY /NJ/PA areas.. you cant beat it!!! In fact, most of the time the tarp wouldn’t even be necessary.. the only reason I actually bothered to pitch it there was for slight shade from the beaming sun! Otherwise there was no need for any tarp at all… even though i spent most of the day at that spot,  all of my time there I was sitting outside enjoying nature, walking around exploring that area, napping in my chair on the ledge or laying on my sleeping pad relaxing… no way I would have wanted to be confined inside a tent or even a mid…

    #3750519
    R L
    Spectator

    @slip-knot

    Locale: SF Bay Area, East Bay

    I concur.  Rolling with a 7×9 and a side entry net tent

    #3750520
    dirtbag
    BPL Member

    @dirtbaghiker

    Side entry net?? Which??

    #3750521
    R L
    Spectator

    @slip-knot

    Locale: SF Bay Area, East Bay

    I’ve been liking the Minimalist 1, Full Slope, from BPWD.  He folds the corners of the bathtub like a hospital corner on a bed sheet.  Then its sewed to the netting.  No vertical sewed seam(s) on the bathtub.   The older I get the more I appreciate side entry.  When it’s not buggy, I sleep on top.  I also have an inner from a LanShan 1.  ~RL

    #3750524
    Dan
    BPL Member

    @dan-s

    Locale: Colorado

    I would definitely be trying a tarp if I could trust my dogs not to wander off and get in trouble during the night.

    #3750527
    bradmacmt
    BPL Member

    @bradmacmt

    Locale: montana

    I have used it in rain, and light snow (paired with eVent bivy)

    Ah, but now you’re in tent weight category. :)

    For shelter, I carried only a tarp on my 1977 AT walk (didn’t do the whole thing as I just had a HS summer break – I turned 16yo on the GA/NC border). Most of my backpacking back then was in the Berkshires, Green Mountains, ADK, and White Mountains. I took a tarp some, but was generally happier with a tent. If I could sleep out under the stars on a groundcloth I did, with the tent set up nearby if the weather turned. I totally get the desire to be tentless, but here in the North Central Rockies it’s mostly a bad idea in the mountains as the weather here can turn on a dime, and the bugs can be quite a thing. Not as bad as Maine in June, but still bad. And a breeze isn’t always something to be relied on for sure.

    But yeah, a fitted tarp has some appeal, but I don’t do trekking poles so I’m always going to pay a weight penalty for poles.

    #3750554
    Hopearotie
    BPL Member

    @hopearotieyahoo-com

    Amen Dirtbag 👍🏻 I use a MLD monk tarp (Silnylon) and a Katabatic gear Bristlecone Bivy. Super light weight, but more importantly it’s super compact. I live in the Rockies and for what I do this is perfect most of the time. I don’t worry too much about pack weight but I enjoy the creativity of a tarp setup. I also enjoy that it’s takes a little more skill to set up. When you’re the one in the group with a tarp…you get the BA (bad A$$) award lol

    #3750558
    Sam Farrington
    BPL Member

    @scfhome

    Locale: Chocorua NH, USA

    ” … but I have been in conditions above treeline where a small flat tarp would have meant I was getting wet by freezing wind-blown rain.”

    “I want more protection, be it biting bugs, driving wind, rain and snow, especially above timberline.”

    ” no way I would have wanted to be confined inside a tent or even a mid…”

    ” … bad idea in the mountains as the weather here can turn on a dime, and the bugs can be quite a thing. Not as bad as Maine in June …”

    “I also enjoy that [the tarp] takes a little more skill to set up.

    A while back, a friend and I each decided to try the tarp/bivy approach to lighten our packs.  At that time, tents ran heavier than they do today.  We would be out for over a week on the Cohos Trail in northern NH, each in our individual tarp/bivy set up.  The first night, we were in a nice large and flat clearing on a mountainside.

    While the weather had been great, the sky soon opened up.  It was a real downpour, but we had good bivies to protect from the rain which was both blowing and pooling everywhere.  And our tarps were pitched much lower to the ground than the one on the OP’s above photos.  But having seen the power of what strong winds can do, I was worried that the wind might get under our tarps, causing ‘ballooning’, and blow them open.

    We could not speak to each other due to the roar of the downpour, even though our shelters were separated by no more than 20-30 feet. It was an all night rain, and was glad we had time to set up before the deluge arrived.  Don’t remember what we ate, but there was no cooking, nor any socializing of course.  Fortunately, the stakes held and we remained covered.

    But worse was the claustrophobic isolation.  Mine was an 8×10 foot tarp; do not remember hers.  For the reasons expressed by some of the other posters above, we did not continue the experiment on our next trip.  Instead, I brought my compact solo tent, and she the lightest solo tent made by REI at the time.  As luck would have it, we got blasted again by a storm in another open area on the side of another mountain.   My tent held, but the REI tent did not, and my companion and all her gear were soaked.  The next day we hiked a few miles to an open shelter, set up clothes lines for drying, and enjoyed a day or rest and relaxation.

    After that I resolved not to go out again without a tent that was spacious enough to prepare and eat meals; and gifted my friend with an MSR Hubba, modified with a much lighter fly and carbon poles that cut the tent’s weight by about half.  The first edition Hubbas were more spacious, and she was short, so had plenty of room.  Whereas I would have felt confined by the narrow floor.  So I modified an Aussie bug tent with a lighter floor and carbon poles.  It was huge inside. providing plenty of space for dogs, cooking, etc.:

    This tent was the most comfortable, and was protected by breathable but water repellent splash covers substituted for the lower portion of the inside net walls.  It did weigh around 3 pounds as modified, but that was long before the current era of ultralight fabrics.  It’s best feature was the ability to sit in it on a  camp chair and have dinner while storms raged outside (it had loops for guyouts on all four sides).

    Since then, using even lighter carbon poles and fabrics, a not quite so spacious Aussie tent was similarly modified down to around 2.5 pounds without DCF, and am working on yet another with a goal of 1.5 pounds without DCF, plenty of headroom and over 24 sq. feet of floor space, and 4-way guyout capability like the modified bug dome and the second Aussie tent.

    The current tents are light enough to approach DCF weights for tents with similar space, pitch taut in no time (a blessing in storms), and provide both comfort and protection from bugs and storms close to timberline.  They also have double walls, so everything stays dry.  But we did give tarp/bivies a shot.

    My friend has since left backpacking and sold the modified Hubba, but do enjoy the company of a pair of sheepdogs, a Sheltie and an Aussie, in the wild.

    #3750562
    R L
    Spectator

    @slip-knot

    Locale: SF Bay Area, East Bay

    At least you gave it a shot.  I worry more about having adequate shade than pending deluges.  Hike your own hike, as they say.  ~RL

    #3750567
    W I S N E R !
    Spectator

    @xnomanx

    I will no longer carry a tarp smaller than the Seek Outside DST (10×10 and outfitted for a center pole structure) and I’m pretty much over bivies. I’ve tried the tiny tarp + bivy combo pretty extensively (Oware CatTarp 1.1 + TiGoat bivy) and have had a few wet-out disasters with condensation, blowing spray, etc.  Did I survive? Sure. Is it doable? Sure. But it just plain stinks to cower under a tiny, low shelter with no room to live, cook or read (save for on your back), even if it’s only for an hour or two.

    In my experience this is where ultralight is not always ultrasmart; for a minimal amount of additional weight, livability goes up exponentially. I cowboy camp every single chance I get…but if there is any chance of weather, I always have a shelter I can actually function in.

    #3750587
    R L
    Spectator

    @slip-knot

    Locale: SF Bay Area, East Bay

    I don’t consider the weight of an UL tent or a tarp/bivy an issue.  It’s all taken into consideration of when and where I go.  I have both.  I’m neutral on the matter.  Hike your own hike.  ~RL

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