[pct-l] Tarp vs Tarp Tent

[Jim Marco]

There are a lot of good things about a tarp. 

Usually it is a bit cooler with better ventilation at night. An enclosed tent is often slightly warmer.

Bugs can get bad. Make sure you have enough DEET to cover you face, neck and arms. This is only for a short time in spring, normally. I like to be out two to four weeks in spring (Blackfly season in the ADKs.) Usually it's very good fishing. 

You can usually cover anyplace you can find to sleep. No constraints on shape with a flat tarp. Find a slightly raised piece of ground, cover it. 

Unless you go with a cuben tent, a larger 8x10 tarp is usually lighter than a tent...mine is under a pound including line and stakes. The tarp is usually set up with my trekking pole.

I do not usually use a ground cloth. My pads are "just" big enough to sleep on. On wet ground, I can often roll some of the tarp under me. If you aren't careful with the edges, they can catch water and let you sleep in a puddle, though.

They can let other critters in. My partner woke up to a 'coon, one time. She makes me bring a 3# tent, now days...

Basically a tent and a tarp both serve as a roof over you against sun, wind and rain. Tarps are a lot more flexible in where and how they are set up. Usually less than 5 minutes and it's up, often needing only 4 stakes. My Warmlite needs three stakes for the body and four for the windows. Depending on the weather conditions, tarps can be more weather proof. A tight, low pitch will shed wind very well. They generally have a little better durability because any damage is at the edge, easily fixed with a little stone and some line. The condensation is usually less with a tarp, but under extreme conditions, you cannot avoid it. Tarps are NOT easy to use. You do need to study the various pitches to understand what you are doing. Tents are usually pre-thought out.

There is a document on tarps I found at another site: http://www.equipped.org/tarp-shelters.htm
This is older, but has NOT lost a single thing due to age. Suggest you get some square stickies and try them out.

I prefer light 50# braided fishing line for tarp lines. He recommends 6mm rope. I don't use a center supporting line, rather, when I put my tarps together, I double seam the center as reinforcement (2 rolls of fabric instead of one.) Tarps vary in weight between 1.3 and 1.5 ounce per yard using 1.1ounce ripstop nylon after coating. Older coatings were thicker and weighed 1.5-1.6oz. I would suggest thinning mineral spirits/silicone caulk about 20:1 and coating the tarp, and seam sealing it, before heading out on the PCT. The new stuff does NOT have the durability of the old stuff and could start leaking after a while.

	My thoughts only . . .
		jdm