Chinook Tarp 12'x9.6' My Opinion

[Randy]

After watching the threads on those Chinook Tarps (no relation to Obama TARP), there was much input and opinions but not much from folks that actually owned one.

Ambient Outdoors was out of stock back when it was cold here(Texas), but last week they had some in. So I went ahead and gambled, the price was right.

This past weekend, I finally had a chance to set it up and use it. I am quite impressed.

The weight in the stuff sack is 1.82 (on my fish scale) Very good for a POUND HAWG.

Yes, it is simalar to the material as the rain flys on some tents, but not at all like those POLY BLUE TARPS.NOT AT ALL.

It has a cat cut, but not very aggressive, the corners have webbing instead of grommets and the size is JUST RIGHT for me. The ridge line ends have grommets and I sewed some webbing on both ends of the ridge ties. I still have to sew some webbing on the bottom grommets.

Here are some pics.




For rain protection I think this is gonna fit the bill for me.
The ends close up wonderfully.



For room under it,,, I had a full size folding chair under the tarp with a Hennessy and plenty of room.



It fits perfectly in size 4 snake skins...

Over all, there are very good traps on the market, but for an inexpensive tarp this seems to be a very good deal.

[UncleMJM]

It sure looked good to me Randy! Thanks for the show and tell.

[Bleemus]

That's a nice looking tarp for the price! Good luck with it!

[Randy]

The for corner tie outs are actually better quality than my H Hex tarps...

[Randy]

I forgot to load this pic,, this is the webbing added to the ridge ends.

[BrianWillan]

That's a great looking tarp there Randy. My certainly does the job. Great shots of the ends closed off. It looks like you didn't have any issues with the one middle grommet being further in from the end then the other one. If I recall right one grommet is 36" from the end and the other was around 50" from the other end on the same side.

Cheers

Brian

[Randy]

That's a great looking tarp there Randy. My certainly does the job. Great shots of the ends closed off. It looks like you didn't have any issues with the one middle grommet being further in from the end then the other one. If I recall right one grommet is 36" from the end and the other was around 50" from the other end on the same side.

Cheers

Brian

The bottom grommets on this one appear to be evenly placed,, I didn't measure them, but they didn't seem to be out of wack.

For the price and the quality, I am gonna order another one to keep as a spare for when company comes along...

[Randy]

That's a great looking tarp there Randy. My certainly does the job. Great shots of the ends closed off. It looks like you didn't have any issues with the one middle grommet being further in from the end then the other one. If I recall right one grommet is 36" from the end and the other was around 50" from the other end on the same side.

Cheers

Brian

You are correct, I finished sewing the webbing on the side tie outs , over the grommets, (bent a needle too). And set it back up.
The off set grommets allow one end to be completely closed off, Inverted, I guess ya call it.

The other end is kinda like a vestibule,,,,, of sorts,,,,,,it can be closed , but it is outward,,, for it to match up.....

BUT I like this thing alot....anyay

[ih8mice]

Great review Randy. Thanks for sharing. I really like your mod to the ridgeline...I'm going to have to add something similar before the inevitable happens and a grommet tears out.

I have the 14x12 Chinook and really like it for a winter fortress. It's heavy but the coverage it provides is well worth the weight trade off. I've been using grip clips to close up my ends, rather than folding the in the corners. It seems to provide more room inside as well as acting as a wedge to split the wind.

[schwieb]

I ordered a couple of these myself and have not tried to pitch it yet. I think I'll add some of that ridge webbing as my first sewing machine project! Thanks for all of the images.