UGQ Winter Dream 13' Tarp Review
10/1/2016
After notification, my new Syl/nylon tarp was received in less than three days.
Excellent packing, excellent stitch work.
Well thought-out design, on the double interior pole-mod. My super fly tarp is dwarfed by this thing.
The winter dream looked like your typical A shape, until PioneerPatti helped me slip the 11' mod poles into the little corner sockets, and connect the stretch / secure cords.
Selected two trees, fifteen feet apart.
I made the mistake of setting the CRL line up around 7 or 8 feet high. This didn't seem bad, until the two long poles were connected. Then it became a hip-high parasail looking arrangement. Woopsie! Let's bring that thing down to earth a bit... 'Bout head high.
Now it stakes down, a bit easier, as well. Hahaha.
Paul had communicated with me about NOT doing custom Velcro on the doors. He said the Velcro usually picks up a lot of dirt and debris. He told me there were snaps on the doors. I'm thinking he meant one, maybe two big ugly metal snaps at the bottom. Nope. He had fitted each end with 6 or 8 tidy looking small black click snaps. These work fantastically, and give you various options concerning where the hammock lines lead inside, as well as insuring privacy, and sealing out all the high winds, which on this day, tended to blow things about.
As I mentioned, the tarp has now taken on an entirely new look... The two interior poles have created a rather rotund barrel shape, in the center of the erected tarp. It looks nothing like the old boy-scout-A-shaped tent, from days gone by. Instead, this large rounded olive creature has invaded my yard. This gave me pause, for a moment, until I turned my attention to the new interior.
One word is appropriate, at this point: WOW !
You can almost swing a baseball bat inside here!
I asked PioneerPatti to help me move the Ridgerunner into the Winterdream. She asked, "what for?"
"I want to see if it fits."
"You wanna see if it fits?!?
Your whole other TARP will fit inside... You could probably fit a car inside, if you tried! I have baking to do... I'm going back in the house, now".
Undaunted by my helpmate's lack of enthusiasm, I went about switching things, on my own.
I set a plastic chair inside to hold things off the ground, while I moved the whole hammock from the old home to the new. Wow, there's even room for the chair to stay!" I thought to myself. Why, even Shug might indulge a covetous thought, with THIS one...
The proof is in the sleeping, I suppose.
All night long, there was moderate rainfall, right until 7 AM. What a great sleep! The rain resonated beautifully, on the taut fabric. All snaps held, securely, and my camp chair was still dry, inside, along with the rest of me.
With no ridge line as part of my bridge hammock, I had actually considered asking Paul to sew a couple grosgrain ceiling loops, inside, for hanging a Luci Light, but now, that wasn't necessary. Turns out, the two mod pole hoops hug the ceiling in just the right spots to suspend a reading light, or even a light gear pouch from. Hmm... This paints a few new possibilities, I suppose.
The one bit of custom work I did request was to have triple tie-outs, on the bottom edges for each side, instead of just two bottom tie-outs.
This may be a benefit with higher winds, and the longer length fabric. Time will tell.
All in all, I give the UGQ tarp some pretty high marks. Thank you Paul and Missy. The attention to detail did not go unnoticed.
The stitch work, all around, is top notch. The snaps seemed very sturdy.
It just swallowed up my Ridgerunner hammock in one bite...
and the pole mod was much easier to understand, once the tarp was staked in front of me.
(Somehow, Paul's little drawn illustration wasn't easily understood, until I stared at 20 or 30 actual photos, trying to discern the pole placement...)
In addition, my Mrs. really likes the roomy privacy it affords. It wouldn't surprise me to see it on her Christmas wish list, possibly in the bright blue she prefers.
One other thing I might need to confess, is that I asked her for her opinion when I was looking at colors...
I really liked the camos; especially the Marpat pattern.
I said "Honey. Would you rather be looking at a camo fabric, or a solid color, when we hike together?"
Her response was "a solid color".
That's why the dark olive fabric.
Happy wife - Happy life.
Ted. (winterbeard)
Mahwedge...
A bwessed awangement...
A dweam within a dweam...
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Originally Posted by DaddyDaddy
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