Who uses a tarp in addition to the one over your hammock?

[FLRider]

It's amazing how close this post is to what I would have posted. I like your style FLRider.

Thank you, thank you. I'm here all week...and remember to tip your servers!

[PineMartyn]

So, for you experienced kitchen roof guys, are sparks an issue? Will they damage silnylon? Spinnaker fabric? Cuben? I MIGHT be interested in carrying my 4 oz spinn tarp, but I'd hate to do something stupid(er than normal).

Sparks are an issue for any synthetic tarp and as nothermark already mentioned, building your fire directly under your tarp will just lead to smoke getting trapped beneath it. Unless your tarp's strung very high, you'll get smoked out. When it's raining, I usually lower my tarp so as to prevent wind-driven rain wetting stuff under the tarp near the edges.

For these reasons I invariably build my fires just outside the coverage of the tarp so that rising or thrown embers don't land on the tarp. I haven't burned a hole in a tarp yet, (but it's sure to happen eventually). It helps if one builds only small cooking fires and avoids using resinous softwoods when that's possible because those resinous woods are the ones that crack, pop and spit the most embers. When there's a downpour, I usually just forget about the fire entirely and cook on my little Trangia burner or my battery-powered, fan-assisted twig stove (the Vital Stove).

Hope this helps,
- Martin

[Brute1100]

i live in "non bear" territory, and not really any other predators to speak of, so yeah i usually do cook close to my hammock sometimes sitting in it, usually with the stove off to the side of the hammock and me sitting in... in my trip to bear country coming up i don't think i will go by my standard protocol... I will be taking a chair and cooking away from my sleeping area just in case, and sleeping with a glock

[Bodie61lb]

I always have either a tarp or a 10 x 10 piece of heavy duty plastic. For safety reasons you need to be able to cook away from your sleep area and it's nice to be able to sit somewhere other than in your tent or hammock when it's raining.

[SilvrSurfr]

Well there's "cooking" and then there's "cooking."
At one extreme, there's frying bacon on an open fire, at the other extreme there's boiling water over an alky stove to pour into your freezer bag.

Being a backpacker, I am trying to minimize my weight and volume which means freezer bag cooking with a tiny alcohol stove. Therefore, I'm not worried about odors or sparks getting into my hammock & tarp. So one generous sized tarp over my hammock is the way I roll.

Granted, this works due to my cooking methods. I still have to be careful not to spill food in my hammock and I bear bag my food at night, far away from my hammock.

I'm with you, boiling water and putting it in a bag is not cooking. I boil water under my hammock tarp, pour it in the bag and wait for rehydration.

When eating time comes in bear country, I move away from my campsite in case of spillage. There is no way I'm bringing a separate tarp on backpacking trips for five or ten minutes of eating.

[DuctTape]

Most trips I don't. If it is a canoeing trip with another person I sometimes will but it is rare. Like others, I do have my poncho to use in that capacity if needed. Oddly enough, I never have used it in that capacity. Not that the opportunity never arose, I just chose not to.

[sturgeon]

I hate smoke smell on my gear. Smells good when camping, bad in my closet, bad for resale.

Canoe camping? 2 tarps. Sacrifice 1 for fire. Number 2 over hammock far far away from fire and smoke.

Backpacking? 1 tarp only to cover hammock while sleeping. Cook breakfast and dinner on the trail anyway at a nice spot during a break in rain, using alcohol stove. Camp is just for sleeping. No wood fires.


If I had a garage to store my gear in, this would change. I'd let all my gear get smoky.

[Chard]

Here are two instances when we rigged tarps directly over the fire. In both cases the peak was a good 8+ feet above the fire.

The first featured 3 tarp walls and a roof. The smoke gathered up pretty well in here, but it was as close to a hot tent that I've rigged.



The second is from the EGL Fall Hang 2012 at Little Trout Lake. Worked great and smoke wasn't an issue. Granted the rain came straight down and there was very little wind.

[olddog]

The hike & hang season coincides with our dry season down in Florida. Therefore in the 12 or so trips over a 2 year period I can recall only once that we had a light sprinkle. Had never considered carrying a second tarp though I do carry a poncho for that rare possibility of rain.

[halfastronomical]

I use a golite poncho tarp for that purpose. I do not always use it, but it sure comes in handy when I need it.