Amen, brother. The disciples of site selection say they can find landscape features that minimize the wind and obviate the need for doors to mitigate blowing precipitation. I guess those folks never camp in designated campsites; I don't often (pretty much never) find that I can choose my campsite based on its wind-mitigating features. And the whole concept of site selection is based on non-shifting winds. I'm out in the woods to relax, not to be an amateur meteorologist.
Thumbs up to doors!
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." Ralph Waldo Emerson
I love having the option of doors.
my first go at a beak followed the experience (driven by need) using a poncho to cover the end of the tarp. GrizzBeak version 0
Grizz
(alias ProfessorHammock on youtube)
I have been caught in some serious surprise storms and stayed plenty dry using a tarp without doors. Silvrsurfr is right, those of us who are adept at site selection typically do not stay at designated campsites. Most of these are in the open and require significant additional tarp coverage. Deeper into the woods mitigates much wind without even trying. I also do not spend any significant time searching for the site or analyzing weather. It is possible that much of my site selection is now done at the subconcious level.
I am a door man myself. I have the winter palace and use it year round. I would not hesitate in picking up the door kit for your tadpole
"I love not man the less, but Nature more."
Byron
Doors big time
Nothing like hearing rain start hitting your tarp at 3 AM and KNOWING no rain is going to get in...if THAT doesn't put you back to sleep, nothing will.
I'll disagree slightly... for me, there's nothing like watching the rain from your hammock and knowing you'll stay dry while everything around you is most definitely not. When I went to a hex tarp I had the McCat Std and still pitched it porch mode and would only very occasionally have some windblown mist getting in. Since having my Tox, I have never been close to not being dry during rain.
Doors can help, though, and I find that with my doors on the Tox I will still pitch in porch mode utilizing only the 2 doors on one side, one side blocked, one side open to see out. Wind does swirl, but it seems like the hex tarp pitched without doors can act as a bit of a wind tunnel for whatever little wind is out there, making a very slight breeze something more significant. So, having one side open doesn't seem to be an issue with doors employed on the other side making it more like a 3-sided shelter, and less like a wind tunnel.
"I wonder if anyone else has an ear so tuned and sharpened as I have, to detect the music, not of the spheres, but of earth, subtleties of major and minor chord that the wind strikes upon the tree branches. Have you ever heard the earth breathe... ?"
- Kate Chopin
I have a Superfly. The only time I regretted having doors was when it was super windy and the doors were tied underneath the tarp and the wind still caught them like sails. Tarp flapping around was noisy. No rain was in sight, so I put the tarp back in the snake skins and slept under the stars. Was a neat hang. The night before there was a chance of rain so I deployed the doors and slept sound. Really helps keep the wind off you and keeps you warmer. So on this trip I didn't think I'd need doors at all but wanted it one night, and the other night it was an annoyance.
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