A thought on tarp shape

[Gqgeek81]

WARNING
The following random thought is occurring before my morning coffee. Nonsense my ensue.....

I have a Hammock Gear Winter Palace. It's great. It seems to me, a lot of us use something this shape, or a hex and then put it in porch mode unless it's going to be super windy.

I have been through complete downpours that last all night in porch mode and things work out fine. Really the only reason to ever set the thing up in a traditional A-frame is if you want privacy or the wind is significant. Thinking of Shug, I guess heavy snowfall would be another reason to keep it in A-frame but most of us don't go out in those conditions.

So, if form follows function, and porch mode is the default (an assumption on my part) then it seems like tarp shapes should be designed with porch mode in mind and the option to bring the side down if needed.

What would that shape be? I'm not sure, probably something a bit asymmetric though. It just seems like there should be a shape out there purpose built for porch mode and it would be the shape most people would go for.

[GadgetUK437]

Not so much the shape, but maybe the width.
I think that tarps would be better with one side wider than the other. The windward side should be wide enough to pitch low, to block wind. But the leeward side could be made narrower, to save weight. I have tried this with my 12x10', put temporary tieouts a foot to one side of the ridgeline, giving a 6' side and a 4' side.
What might be nice is using two different widths of silnylon/poly. Say, 58" 1.1 oz Silpoly on the leeward side and 72" 1.1 oz SilpolyXL on the windward side (or 75" Xenon Sil wide and 58" Xenon Sil).

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Gadget

[AsaHanger]

Not so much the shape, but maybe the width.
I think that tarps would be better with one side wider than the other. The windward side should be wide enough to pitch low, to block wind. But the leeward side could be made narrower, to save weight. I have tried this with my 12x10', put temporary tieouts a foot to one side of the ridgeline, giving a 6' side and a 4' side.
What might be nice is using two different widths of silnylon/poly. Say, 58" 1.1 oz Silpoly on the leeward side and 72" 1.1 oz SilpolyXL on the windward side (or 75" Xenon Sil wide and 58" Xenon Sil).

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Gadget

+1 to what Gadget said. That was my first thought as well.

Asa

[OneClick]

I sometimes wondered about a shorter side for the porch, but after using my Mamajamba so often (5' each side) I pretty much settled on that being the perfect size.

If you get any splattering from the rain, you "lose" a few inches. If the wind is blowing, you lose a lot more. Pretty soon, in porch mode, you'll be huddling up with your gear all directly under the hammock. Then the ground may be all wet afterwards.

It seems like there's nowhere for tarps to go, given the basic principles of physics and simply needing to be covered. There's always the lighter materials, though. I'm just wondering how much that can go beyond the current lightweight cuben fabrics.

Regarding different shapes, I can't think of anything that would make more sense than the standard cat cut hex (good coverage and easy to get taut)

[GadgetUK437]

My current fave shape is a semi-hex.
That is, hex cut at one end and hex with doors at the other (ie square cut). This gives you great wind blocking potential at one end and something more open and accessible at the other.
If you were to combine that with 6 foot of width on one side and 5 foot on the other, that would be dandy!
In fact, you could take that further, make the wide side taper from 6' at the door end, to 5' at the hex end; and make the narrow side taper from 5' to 4'. It would need to be reversible too (to account for different winds).

[DiceCaller]

So here is my 2¥. What about a pentagon shaped tarp? It would be a hybrid of a hex or cat-cut hex on the weather side and a diamond (or maybe even asym) on the porch side.

Lots of weather protection, but only one pole. Just like the idea of mixing things up.

[Redoleary]

My tarps are basically a 6' on one side and 4' on the other, pitch the one side to the ground and the other porch mode or hunker down mode if the wx turns. I have the ability to pitch it symmetrically but I never do. Also, my doors are built to be in the lean-to config so hunker down mode is pretty bomb proof. I have considered making a new tarp the same shape but with wider fabrics to get a bit more over hang on the porch side. Some photos in THIS THREAD.

[GadgetUK437]

Some photos in THIS THREAD.

Interesting reading, shame the photo links are broken.

EDIT - problem was at my end, sorry.

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Gadget

[Redoleary]

Interesting reading, shame the photo links are broken.


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Gadget

That's weird, I can see the photos on my end?? Hmmm?

[Redoleary]

@GadgetUK437 can you see these ones? Not to derail this thread but I also put these photos and a few more in the last post on the linked thread.

hammock & tarp (4 of 17).jpg hammock & tarp (5 of 17).jpg hammock & tarp (6 of 17).jpg