ok, so I am cheap, like insanely cheap, like buy a down pillow from overstock.com for $35 to get 20oz of 800 fp down and build my first karo step top quilt (I do still have quite a bit left if someone needs 5 oz to finish up theirs ) I find myself fighting the tarp thing. I have a gg 12x12 tarp and it is fine in most cases, plenty big in fact I usually get 2 of us under it. I love my ridge-line (a-la Opie). But it is just so huge, so much more than I need most of the time. When I do take it I often set it up as a camp dining fly because it is enormous. And I am trying to go lighter so I am looking to cut down my weight wherever I can.

I am trying to figure out why I shouldn't be using walmart 9x12 .7 mil drop cloths for a tarp. They weigh 5.5oz each (only one oz heavier than Sgt. Rock's cuben, almost twice as large, and a little cheaper) and at $1.47 I can buy 100 of them cheaper than a WB Big MamaJamba (and again, bigger and half the weight of Spin...)

Granted I have only gotten 7 nights out of one, so on a through hike for a month I can see some advantage to something more durable. I do use some of the 12-15 ft of duck tape that I take on every trip keeping it "nice", but I have yet to have a rip that I couldn't fix in a few seconds and I can carry 3 of them to bail out my compatriots who didn't bring their stuff (they are only $1.23 ea. if you buy them in the three pack.). They are tiny when folded up, and when my son sticks a hot stick through it I have no desire to kill him (unless he reaches the blackbird... on another note, Brandon how easy is it for you to replace my bug netting on my WBBB to fix the hole now burned in it????)

I know that can't get them drum tight, but they keep me very dry. The yard I end up carving off comes in handy for all kinds of things around camp, and...I digress.

So before I do something crazy, and spend money on a pack to save 2lbs instead of a "good" tarp, please someone cure me of my irrational thought process.

Sincerely,
Phat, Cheap, and Happy.