Tarp set ups

[Elines]

Been playing around again (but don't tell the wife!!!) - based on the last effort:

but with the addition of a 3 x 3 tarp to close off one end:

The idea was to have the big tarp ridge angle at a right angle so that the 3 x 3 tarp would completely fill the triangular open end - but because the ridge line wasn't taut enough it lowered and so wasn't a right angle at the ridge. I am hoping it will work ok when strung between two trees.

Even as it is, there is plenty of head room when sitting in a chair, and adequate protection from squally weather.

The 3 x 3 tarp is held in place by a prussik loop

and Clingons

I see this as a possible/likely night time/bad weather set up. But it gives plenty of view out of the open end (imagine the hedge wasn't there)

During the day, in good/not horrible weather, the 3 x 3 tarp would be set up as a working/seating/day-dreaming area. For example as follows but could be independently set up nearby

I will be testing this out for real next time I am in a wood - but that won't be for a few weeks (as I am off to Italy to practice my Italiano- hooray!!!)

I am hoping I am about there as regards a set up that will best suit me. Main problem I foresee is condensation - the first time I set it up - with the bed left in it overnight (see earlier postings) the bed was damp from dripping condensation. As I use a bivvy bag on the camp bed this is not a major issue - but may be an irritation if it drips on my face in the night and wakes me up. Anybody got any solutions???


Incidentally... when I want to sit out the back and it is raining I use a 3 x 3 tarp set up like this

the wind tends to blow towards the house and I find the V shape helpful in deflecting the wind and keeping the rain off

 

[Ivanhoe]

 

[Elines]

mmmm - maybe, just maybe your view in pics 1 and 2 is better than mine

(bring back Space 1999 I say)

 

[PeterH]

Main problem I foresee is condensation - the first time I set it up - with the bed left in it overnight (see earlier postings) the bed was damp from dripping condensation. As I use a bivvy bag on the camp bed this is not a major issue - but may be an irritation if it drips on my face in the night and wakes me up. Anybody got any solutions???

I appreciate you want to stay close to the ground for winter/inclement weather, would raising the lee edge so that you have six inches above the vegetation help? I find that with wet ground, especially grass, you inevitably get condensation. Were the drips uniform or did they correspond with the lifters I.e. where the internal slope changed so did not run down to edge?

 

[Elines]

I appreciate you want to stay close to the ground for winter/inclement weather, would raising the lee edge so that you have six inches above the vegetation help? I find that with wet ground, especially grass, you inevitably get condensation. Were the drips uniform or did they correspond with the lifters I.e. where the internal slope changed so did not run down to edge?

Thanks for the suggestion - will give it a try.

Difficult to say regarding location of drips as happened a few weeks ago but you may well be right re change of internal slope - and the change in internal slope is needed to give extra space inside the tarp (as change in slope arises where the tarp side is pulled out by a guy line)

 

[ged]

... Main problem I foresee is condensation - the first time I set it up - with the bed left in it overnight (see earlier postings) the bed was damp from dripping condensation. As I use a bivvy bag on the camp bed this is not a major issue - but may be an irritation if it drips on my face in the night and wakes me up. Anybody got any solutions???

Er, soap solution? Sorry for the pun.

Seriously, we motor-cyclists use washing-up liquid to coat spectacles and the insides of visors. The idea is that droplets of water don't form, but instead you get a thin, continuous film of water coating the surface. You only need the tiniest bit of surfactant to do the job. I think if you just wiped the area of the tarp that's above your head it ought to do the trick.

Of course it will eventually wash off and need re-applying.

 

[TurboGirl]

Just stumbled across this thread, chris, I'm in the process of constructing a new, bigger and better tarp for this inclement weather.... oh, and delegating the acid green to fine spring/summer use, an essential move forward, methinks! So thanks for an interesting thread... although I'm sure HWMBO will think I've truly lost it and become an origamist when I have the A4 and scissors out

 

[kiltedpict]

Spam reported

 

[hogstable]

Some great ideas here can't wait to practice them.

Ivanhoe very pretty scenary, were those pictures taken 'at work' so to speak?

 

[Shewie]

I love that splinter camo, I've got the goretex trews for canoeing but a tarp would be very cool. Are they easy to get over there Ivanhoe?

 

[Ivanhoe]

Ivanhoe very pretty scenary, were those pictures taken 'at work' so to speak?

Nope, that's just me up on a small hill, enjoying a summer's day. The first two pic's
are about 100 meters above the Bråviken bay, close to Norrköping on the Swedish east
cost. I can actually see this place from my livingroom, if I use binos.
I spend many many nights outdoor in that area.

The two last pics are on the Gotland island in the Batic sea. It's hard to see on just two
pics, but the trees and vegitation is much more barren out there.

I love that splinter camo, I've got the goretex trews for canoeing but a tarp would be very cool.
Are they easy to get over there Ivanhoe?

This is a tarp I've made myself from a roll of splinter camoed waterproof fabric.
I've made it rather large - 3.20 m - and I've put a lot of fastening points on it;
22 along the edges and 13 on the upper side of the tarp, which gives many many
different ways to put the tarp up.

I've sat just like you guys do, playing with a piece of paper and figuring out
exactly how I wanted it to be. There are more attachment points in the "front"
of the tarp, and to tell which side is which some of them are black instead of
green.

I can even use the tarp as an outer tent on a budget 10 £ single man tent,
making it much better in hard weather...


There are some tarps with the m/90 splinter camouflage that you can buy
here, but they are extremely expensive, not genuine issue and (if I dare
say) not as good as the one I've made. (I've made several.)

 

[jeffz]

This is my ultralight setup using a poncho-tarp that I picked up in Stanfords (the map shop in Long Acre, London):

 

[jeffz]

Here's a setup using a surplus desert DPM tarp for a hide:

And here's the same tarp being used by me and my youngest son:

 

[jeffz]

Here's a German military flektarn poncho-tarp in use. I like this one. It's big, but packs smaller and lighter than the surplus tarp:

And again, using bamboo walking-poles as supports:

Can you tell that I like tarps?