Hello to all, can you help with advice about fire under a tarp?

[Motorhead Jim]

Hello,

I'm Jim, I'm new to the forum. I'm involved with our local Scout Group and trying to get my boy away from his phone/nintendo/playstation so I'm trying to do a bit more outdoor stuff. I'm still a complete noob so please be gentle if I ask stupid questions.

My son and I are going away at the weekend, nothing too exciting, just a tent in the woods at our scout campsite. But we will be cooking over the fire all weekend and using it to keep us warm in the evening. The weather looks like it might be wet so my question is about how to keep the fire going all weekend. Can I put it under a tarpaulin, I'm worried it will burn. Sorry if this is sounds daft........

 

[Wayne]

Nylon has a low melting point so if the tarp is too low then there is a chance sparks will melt holes into your tarp. If the fire is too large there's a chance for damage to your tarp.

I have small cooking fires under tarps and shelters all the time. I'm just careful with the fuel I use and the size of the fire.

 

[gonzo_the_great]

As mentioned, light weight PU nylon tarps, can be damaged. I have lots of patches on my DD tarp, because of this.
But if you are car camping and using just a household tarp or similar, then small sparks probably won't be an issue.

Choose the orientation of the tarp carefully. If you have a breeze going across the shelter (rather than coming from behind or into the front), any smoke will be carried away, and not blown/circulated into your shelter. You can always close in sides of the shelter, towards the back, if the wind is too much for you.

To keep a small fire going (small enough to be safe under a tarp), you will need to attend to it regularly. So you would be better to plan to just have the fire burning whilst you are needing it.
That also saves you having to worry about the fire whilst you are away in your tent, reduce the amount of wood you need to prepare and gives your son some practice at lighting the fire.

If you pull log ends away from the seat of the fire, starving it of fuel, the remaining ashes will burn down reasonably quickly. And those chared and bone dry ends, kept dry under the tarp, should make it easy to get the fire going again in the morning. Also, if you put some of the smaller firewood, near the fire later in the evening, it should be nicely dried out and get it going quicker.
You may even find some glowing embers in the ashes, that you can blow into flame again, with some added kindling.

 

[Janne]

Choose well dried hardwood wood, less sparks.

Maybe a stupid idea, but could you get a piece of metal to create a small roof over the fire? Corrugated roof sheating or similar.
Nothing is more irritating than waking up in the morning and your fireplace is sodden and unusable!

I like to keep some thin branches, tinder and logs under shelter to keep dry.

 

[crosslandkelly]

Hi Jim, welcome and enjoy. I second all the good advice above.

 

[Rabid]

If unsure at all keep the fire outside its not worth the risk burning nylon sticks.

 

[John Fenna]

I have nylon/polyester tarps up to 17 years old that are regularly used over fires - admittedly they have tiny pin holes in a couple of places but are still fit for purpose...
I like the tarp at least 6' above the fire.

 

[Motorhead Jim]

Marvellous, thank you all:You_Rock_

 

[Jaeger]

Aye Up,

Keep the fire area and height relatively small and build a dead-fall type teepee over the fire with an opening on the relevant side for access.

I do this periodically, primarily as a smoke defus-er and find that it often acts a bit like a chimney and draws smoke away from the opening of my tarp.

I was out in torrential rain yesterday and did something similar for a BRS wood stove. The one in the image was a rush job and as sparse as the cover was, it did the job of keeping heavy rain and the subsequent after-storm drips from overhead foliage off.

For an over-nighter I would have made a much tighter structure.

No tarps to worry about then.

 

[richardhomer]

Hi mate,
All good advice has already been give.

I would like to add,

Take a small gas stove or a trangia stove with you. You can used these as back ups just in case you have very very heavy rain and your fire place is a washout. Also you can use these first thing on a morning to get a hot drink on the go while getting your fire going.

Good luck and I hope you and your lad enjoy your weekend.

 

[Greg]

I have nylon/polyester tarps up to 17 years old that are regularly used over fires - admittedly they have tiny pin holes in a couple of places but are still fit for purpose...
I like the tarp at least 6' above the fire.

or a bit higher if Greg is cooking

 

[richprideaux]

Another one to say that you SHOULD be fine if you keep it high and be careful with your selection of firewood. I have a couple of DD tarps that are 10yrs+ in age and they are both doing well with no spark damage. My friend cannot say the same about his sleeping bag however...

 

[Motorhead Jim]

Sorry it took so long but a quick update......... we had such a good time, thanks for your advice. Friday night we got there a bit late and struggled a little with the fire as most of the wood was damp and it was getting a bit late to be splitting stuff with the axe. But we still managed to get a small one going. Saturday and sunday was a different story, once we could see what we were doing, we got a great fire going. Small enough not to burn the tarp but hot enough to cook all our dinners on. It rained all weekend but with your advice we kept the fire going all day saturday and restarted it on the sunday morning fine. We can't wait to go again.

 

[Tony]

, glad that you had a great time, one of my favourite things is to be camping under a tarp when it's raining It's good to struggle now and then as well, it teaches you a lot about how to do things and what works and doesn't work.

Thanks for the update