[pct-l] Re: PCT-L digest, Vol 1 #119 - 11 msgs

[agrestis9@hotmail.com (Richard Winterstein)]

>Hi everyone,
>
>   A couple questions:
>
>    I'm still not sure about a sleep set-up w/ a tarp (sorry-still 
>learning).
>   If it rains, will a tarp keep all water out?

It'll depend on factors like how you set up the tarp, what size of tarp you 
use, and how gusty the wind is.  In severe storms, with a howling wind and 
driving rain, keeping yourself dry will require sound mooring and pitching 
the tarp close to the ground at a very low angle to reduce aerodynamic 
forces.  In such weather you may wish you had a tent... In less severe 
storms and gentle showers, however, a tarp is wonderful and you will 
certainly appreciate the better ventilation over a tent.  One more thing -- 
if your tarp has a seam running down the middle of it, you should apply seam 
seal to it so water can't seep through.

>What about water running
>along the ground?  Don't I need at least need some sort of ground tarp or
>basic, waterproof sleepingbag sac or bivy(my sleeping bag is not
>waterproof)?

Yes, you will, although here tarp-camping has some advantages over using a 
tent.  Your ground cloth need only be the size of your sleeping bag, unlike 
the ground cloth of a tent, which has to be the size of the tent's 
footprint.  Since the area of your ground cloth will never extend beyond the 
margins of your tarp, you don't need to worry about water running down the 
sides and being channeled under your sleeping area.

The other nice thing about camping with a tarp in the rain is that the 
set-up is more logical than when erecting a tent.  With a tarp, first you 
put up the tarp; then, when you've established your living quarters, you 
bring out your ground cloth and sleeping bag (and perhaps bivy sack), which 
remain completely dry in the process.  On the other hand, with a tent, 
usually you first have to spread out the ground cloth (which gets wet), then 
you set up the tent (which gets wet), and only after you've finished all 
that do you finally get the rain fly in position.

Hope this helps.  I'll admit that I don't use a tarp so much anymore, but 
that's only because I've become sentimentally attached to my cheap little 
one-man tent.

>TIA, Michael G.
What's TIA mean?  I haven't seen that abbreviaiton before.
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