I want to get the smallest (bulk when packed) tarp I can get to fit a nano 7.
Keep in mind less expensive is better..
I want to get the smallest (bulk when packed) tarp I can get to fit a nano 7.
Keep in mind less expensive is better..
Not sure if it's the smallest, but the Wilderness Logics Tadpole packs down about the size of softball or a little less and is pretty reasonable pricewise. One of my favorite pieces of gear.
Cheers
Zpacks has a cuben asym diamond for $175
-Jon-
Zpacks A-Sym has already been mentioned.
How about the Mountain Laurel Designs.
http://www.mountainlaureldesigns.com...roducts_id=149
I prefer silnylon flys because they stretch and neither cuben fiber or spinntex stretch. A cat cut, A-Sym silnylon fly is a pleasure to use.
I do not know of any commercially available since Warbonnet stopped making them.
It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.
- Mark Twain
Countless times I've been out, days of sunshine, then a storm rolls in, and if I hadn't had the doors of my superfly, I would've been soaked. The winds were blowing in every direction, driving rain in from everywhere. A full sized tarp with doors is not that heavy or bulky, and completely worth every ounce to me. (food for thought....)
Loaded question, too many variables....where, when, how do you camp? Do you need rain, wind, snow protection or just protection from Dew? My thoughts are carry as much tarp as I can justify, not the least amount. Nothing ruins a trip like a wet hammock and quilts. In the wrong conditions it can be life threatening. I find myself carrying the Superfly in many situations where my Tadpole would have been adequate, but there is a peace of mind factor as well as an Oh S*** factor for a cpl ounces.
For the least amount of tarp, I would imagine it would look like one of those police outlines of a body laying on the floor, but suspended above you in Cuben Fiber, not quite enough coverage for me...
I'm a door fan too. Blowing rain can ruin a trip. My HG Winter Palace is expensive at $395, but light (8.5 oz) and very compressible. I'd buy a Superfly if I couldn't afford Cuben.Originally Posted by fallkniven
If you decide to go the postage stamp tarp route, be prepared to come up with some way of stopping blowing rain, like using a rain poncho on one end, or some kind of weather shield/undercover underneath you (more bulk and weight).
Some folks just hang their tarp as low as possible and seem to get by. Others think that they can mitigate the effects of blowing rain by setting up the tarp to block the prevailing winds. However, my experience is that winds shift in the Northeast so I haven't had any luck with that philosophy, which is why I have doors.
Honestly.... You would be very hard pressed to beat a tadpole..
We would be one step closer to world peace, if everyone slept in a hammock..
I guess it depends on how you learned to tarp a hammock.
I see several posts about blowing rain soaking the hammock, which does amuse me a little. I spent a full year hanging in Florida with nothing more than the tiny little aysm fly that came with the Hennessy Hammocks. Nothing, and I mean nothing extra on those things. They cover the hammock and the occupant, but nothing more.
Did I ever get wet?
Sure.
Did I learn how to prevent it?
Bet your butt!
What is really amazing is, I wasn't even close to being alone. Back then, the options were very limited and larger tarps were really a luxury. Heck, there were no Dutch Clips, no winter tarps, barely any underquilts, no bridge hammocks, no this, no that....
It isn't as much about the configuring of the tarp, hanging a poncho, using doors, etc as it is about site selection. All a hanger has to do is pay attention to the landscape and make good decisions on site selection by using what Mama Nature gave us. Sure it makes picking a site more complicated, but I can count on one hand the number of times my gear has gotten wet once setup. Every time save one (dumb day on the AT), happened early in my hammock learnings.
Like anything else, it's based on how you gained your skills. I started very small, not by choice, and went bigger for convenience. I didn't go big because of need. All these years later, my tarp collection is pretty robust, but my selections generally lean on the smaller side. In winter, I carry winter tarps. In warmer months, I carry tarps that are half the size.
The tiny ones will work, if you'll put in the effort. Not all of us hang to increase our workload though. I like the larger tarps, but have no problems with the small ones.
Agreed! We'll have to meet up one of these days so I can show you a shadow project that was abandoned. Me likey!
Trust nobody!
I'd like to learn more about how site selection can mitigate shifting winds. This concept seems to imply that prevailing winds will not shift, or that the landscape could be utilized to mitigate against shifting winds.
Here in the Northeast we have storms come up the coast called Nor'easters, which usually rotate in a counter-clockwise fashion. When you crawl in your hammock the winds may well have been coming from the Northeast, but it's going to change during the course of the night, often.
I don't see how site selection can mitigate that. However, from the little research I've done, there are places in America (and even in NJ) where the prevailing winds come from the same direction 80% of the time, so one could possibly use landscape features like hanging in a hollow in places like that.
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