For christmas I ordered a Hennessy Ultralight Backpacker A-sym with free scout, and upgraded the Ultralight's tarp to the regular Hex-fly, at no additional cost. I had planned on buying another mfg's Poncho/tarp to bring as my rain gear/rain fly on an upcoming section hike of the A.T. this spring, so figured it would make more sense to get the bigger fly option to have around for regular camping/car camping where pack weight isn't a concern.

Anyway, the fly they sent me had some material flaws, a run of slight tears about 3-4mm in length, and some pin-holes in it, that I discovered upon initial inspection. I called them up at Hennessy, and sent a quick couple pictures, and they said it was no big deal, they'd get a fresh one sent out, and that I could just keep the damaged tarp since, it was damaged, and therefore useless to them.

Now, these little rips arent that big of a deal and seem like I could probably repair or patch them somehow, and that would be a free 25 oz, 132" x 122" hex tarp. Whats the best procedure for patching or repairing 70D Sil-nylon?




Second, I am going to be hiking this spring with 3 other people using hammocks, and we wanted to bring some sort of shelter or tarp that the four of us could set up in if there was enough driving rain that our hammocks might not stay dry, or it got really cold & we wanted to go to ground (we have sleeping bags, not under-quilts), plus it would be something to cook under that we could hang with the bear-bag after dinner, to keep food scent off our hammocks, tarps & rest of our gear. We were looking at the Kifaru 4 or 6 man Tipi, and my grandma bought me a Sierra Designs Origami 4 UL for christmas to check out, (though its still on backorder, and I might cancel it for some other equipment).

Since I now have these 2 Hennessy hex tarps, we were thinking about just bringing one or both of them for that use. Has anybody used a tarp like this , or one of similar size/setup, without using the hammock, like you would a tent? how many people did you sleep under 1? I've also seen a few different mfg make tarp "Beaks"/end-caps, can anybody recommend one to use in conjunction with them?