UV-Protection for your tent down under

[oetzi]

For my website I am currently writing about UV protection in Australia/Newzealand.
Somewhere I have read that the local hiker use canvas tarps to cover their Nylon/Polyester tents. Unfortunately I have found nothing with Google, but maybe I am using the wrong words in my search.
Does anyone here maybe have some hints for me regarding this subject?
Thank you!

 

[John Fenna]

I used Nikwax uv protector on the tents I took on exped - they are still doing well with no accellerated degredation that I can see.
Polyester tents seem more UV resistant than nylon but some companies (IIRC) would supply UV resistant flies for tents to be used in places that get a lot of UV.
Cotton is a lot more UV resistant than most synthetics.

 

[johnboy]

For my website I am currently writing about UV protection in Australia/Newzealand.Somewhere I have read that the local hiker use canvas tarps to cover their Nylon/Polyester tents. Unfortunately I have found nothing with Google, but maybe I am using the wrong words in my search.Does anyone here maybe have some hints for me regarding this subject?Thank you!

Ive not seen anyone here in NZ camping with a tarp over the tent..A lot of larger family style camping tents here are made from canvas as we have a couple of local manufacturers who use this material. But there are an equal amount of nylons tents in use also... For tramping, tents are less common a lot of folk use a 'fly' which is a Kiwi word for tarp, again in nylon... I've never seen anyone tramping with a tent that uses a fly over the tent for uv protection....CheersJohn

 

[blacktimberwolf]

I spray my 32 year old fly sheet ( & ground sheet) with Nikwax Tent And Gear Solarproof once a year.........it works but Maybe the Australian sun is a little more fiercer than what we have in Europe



The fact that you haven't found any info on the subject is prehaps because it's not that common to do so.

 

[oetzi]

Thank you!

 

[AussieVic]

I haven't seen anyone use a canvas tarp for UV protection in Australia, and I do a bit of travel: North, South, East, West and Centre of the continent.

There are larger "family" tents, some of which are canvas, but there are more large "nylon" tents about.
Anyone who hikes, will opt for light weight (of course) so they all tend to be "nylon" and I don't think I've ever seen a hiker with a tarp !
(I say "nylon" but I refer to the usual range of lightweight synthetics, including silnylon etc - which is starting to appear etc etc)

When some folk establish a large, long term camp, it is not uncommon to put up a large tarp to cover a "living area" to provide shade (or shelter from rain), and sometimes folk will put their tent under there too.
The tarps are usually nylon, because they are cheapest and considerably less bulky and lighter than a canvas equivalent.

My only thought is that up in the tropics some "resorts" have permanent (or semi-permanent) tents set up, which are used like hotel rooms, some can be very fancy and expensive, others are more "backpacker" style and cost. These resort type places do sometimes put a sacrificial tarp over the top, to preserve the tents, and provide enhanced protection and shade.

But its not common for "normal" hikers to use canvas anything.

 

[Aussiepom]

The only arrangement I can think of which bears any resemblance to what you've mentioned, (and therefore may have caused the confusion), is when people erect a tarp as sun/rain protection for use during the day and then unroll their swag underneath it to sleep in. Come daybreak the swag is rolled up again out of the way, to give more living area. If someone hadn't bothered to roll their swag back up then it's possible, though very doubtful, that a passerby may have confused the tarp as UV protection for the swag. Even this situation though is opposite to what you are talking about - the tarp will usually be synthetic and the swag is canvas.

As AussieVic mentioned, hikers are unlikely to be carrying canvas gear, it's just too heavy.