Superfly vs Kelly Noah 12

[ZakBait]

I got my 12 x 12 Noah's tarp on sale for about 30$. Can't beat it for the price. Very versatile. But other more expensive tarps will be better, although I can't say from experience.

[kc0qnx]

I have a Kelty Noah's 12 & it's done a good job in hard rain. I got that tarp for the versitility, as it's a "big un" and has a million tie outs on it. I like the idea of closing the ends too so it serves as a winter tarp if you need it to.
I just picked up a Tadpole & suspect this will be my go to most of the time although when mc camping.....the Kelty makes sense. Can't block hail & such off me and the Electraglide with a small tarp. But then I have all the room in the world to carry extra gear too. I do like that tadpole...sweet little tarp. I use a WBBB and also a Eureka Mountain Breeze.

[ninjahamockman]

I don't own either but it all depends on what you will be doing. If you are a car camper then kelty will do just fine. But if your a backpacker that appreciates less oz and grams the superfly is your best bet.

[OutandBack]

Don't forget to order some seal sealer for the SF. The pullouts are not sealed.
We had a fell drive all the way from Iowa to the Colorado summer hang and he did not seal the pullouts.
After the first days rain his hammock and quilts got soaked.

[ibgary]

I've done a lot of MC camping over the yrs. My current ride is a Sportster. Not much room on a Sportster or a KLR.
Don't cut corners on your sleeping gear. A couple of bad night's can and have sent me home early.
Dry, warm & comfy trump, having a stove and cook ware. I can't have everything I want but I can have what's most important. When I want it all, i take the kayak. Y R M V

[Law Dawg (ret)]

Well... I have a KLR 650.... Yep I'm cheap but...

I ride a BMW (and a Suzuki DR 650) but never drank the BMW snob koolaid.

Looks like compressible low bulk stuff will be big for you, gotta wonder what the compressed size of the WBSF tarp is compared to others? Most of the cold weather gear that folk here use (like bigger tarps with doors etc) is going to be limited for us as we don't, normally, ride in really bad weather like snow and ice and a good set up with a smaller tarp covers. When I switched from the Kelty 12x12 to the AHE Toxaway it made a huge difference in my side cases (especially the Shangri La).

While weight is an issue, bulk is huge for me as well since I use mostly side cases and tank bag for kit. No top case or bulky dry bags on the seat for the bum knees to fight on mount/dismount. Instead of grams we tent to count bulk.

[macinnisl]

Hey Law Dawg, I think I've seen you on another forum good to see your a hanger too

I agree with the compress small to pack stuff. Nothing worst then overloading my KLR with lots of bulk I really try to keep that down. The problem I find with a lot of this gear is that you always get the weight and the deployed size but rarely you find the packed size.

What I do have on my bike now for a test is I bolted and strapped down one of those rubbermaid action packers to the rear rack of my bike. My idea is I am going to put all the camping stuff in there and try to keep it light weight. I have no idea how that's going to perform offroad yet and I'm going to have to try it out since I am traveling the dempster highway to the arctic. So while I agree we would normally only ever camp in nicer weather on a bike this trip will be different. It will be through the north including alaska for a month so I might need something able to handle some adverse weather for this one trip. (not subzero temps mind you but it can get pretty cold at night and the bugs are quite bad)

Anyways that's the trouble is finding the right piece of gear. My gear now is more focused on this trip although I can see exchanging some of it after I vow never to do another trip like the arctic on a motorcycle ever again LOL!

Looks like this guy needs to do a little more research.

[Law Dawg (ret)]

A Dempster hanging run will require a bunch of pics and HF report! Like your planning to keep the weight reduced and carried low on the bike, makes for much more fun in the soft stuff (like gooey Dempster mud). Have you checked into the possible challenges for hanging the hammock/tarp on that run?

Oh and have you looked into a mesh tarp tubes to keep your wet tarp outside the camp box. That's the way I have mine set up now and it makes for very easy set up.

[breyman]

Looks like compressible low bulk stuff will be big for you, gotta wonder what the compressed size of the WBSF tarp is compared to others?

The superfly definitely packs smaller than the Kelty. I have a Kelty 9 and the Superfly is smaller than it when packed. I'd say it's about the same as most other similar-sized sil-nylon tarps. With guylines attached, mine fills up a nalgene-ish sized stuff sack. To go smaller you'd need a tarp with less coverage (which I wouldn't recommend in this case) or go way up in price to something like a HammockGear Cuben Fiber tarp.

[macinnisl]

A Dempster hanging run will require a bunch of pics and HF report! Like your planning to keep the weight reduced and carried low on the bike, makes for much more fun in the soft stuff (like gooey Dempster mud). Have you checked into the possible challenges for hanging the hammock/tarp on that run?

Oh and have you looked into a mesh tarp tubes to keep your wet tarp outside the camp box. That's the way I have mine set up now and it makes for very easy set up.

Law Dawg I had not seen those before or even heard of them. Very glad you turned me on to these cause otherwise I was looking at snake skins but this is a far superior option. For anyone who doesn't know about them here is the link I found:

http://www.outdoortrailgear.com/cott...orage-sleeves/

I'll be picking those up for sure!

As for the challenges of hammocking up north yes... I actually have been fighting with myself over hanging up north or buying a good tent because of the challenges. I just really want to take a hammock but how it will work well... not sure. What I can say is with my occupation I worked in Inuvik (end of the dempster) highway for a few years. So what I do know is the trees are far smaller up there because it's the end of the tree line, the bugs are vicious and the nights can occasionally get cool even in the summertime.

So here's what I'm thinking for my setup a Dangerbird Hammock for warmth and bug protection needs. The Superfly cause it's fairly small and lightweight... but I am really thinking about a even smaller tarp cause the DB already has the overcover so the superfly may be a little redundant. So I am still considering options there.

Next is the harder part of the challenge, because I don't know if I will always have proper trees to hang from and I'm committed to camping the trip I need to bring things to go to ground. So I am looking at a thermarest blowup pad (although I would have much rathered go with a underquilt) I need something if I have to go to ground. This also means I need to take some sort of ground tarp. One option I was exploring was using a synthetic underquilt that's made from IX and is waterproof although my question as to if that would actually work hasn't yet been answered. (currently posted in the underquilt section: http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/s...ad.php?t=65310)

For my top quilt I am looking at acquiring a ~20 degree F TQ possibly made by UGH but I am still looking into it, I like their prices but the shipping to Canada is kind of expensive. I figure something around 20-30 degrees will provide me enough warmth but not so much on the warmer nights I will be overdoing it and should compress down pretty well.

How am I doing so far? and yes once I aquire the knowledge I plan on making a full trip report here on Hammock Forums on just how I was or wasn't able to hang up by the treeline as well as making a trip report on how my bike faired out on KLR650.net with the farkles I did and how it worked out. I'm basically looking for quality products, practical and at a good price. Biggest mistake so far I think was when I first got the bike buying cheap saddle bags instead of something that probably would have taken all my gear such as wolfman saddle bags.

I am getting a little off topic here for hammock gear so I will stop. But what does everyone think of my hammock gear setup ideas so far? Currently I have nothing BTW; I will be ordering soon.