Speer Cat vs Black Cat

[Just Jeff]

As everyone says above, I think the Speer would give better end protection, especially from windblown rain coming from the sides. And it'll probably be more flexible if you have to go to ground with it.

If you're not using grosgrain trim, the mild cat cut might be easier to sew the rolled him, but that's not much of an advantage. Plus you have to sew on another tie-out...so I'd guess it's not really easier to make, just different.

[slowhike]

yep, the new speer would require 6 stakes. and i can't seem to find a picture of dave's tarp w/ the ends closed at hot springs. maybe someone else can locate one.
dave told me the only thing he didn't like about having the ends closed was that it made it so small & close inside.
at times like sat morn this past week end, the conditions are right for every thing to be wet w/ condensation... including the inside of the tarp. so every time i went to & from the hammock i had to be extra careful not to rub against the inside of the tarp or i would have a wet shirt.
after dave made mention of that, i began to think that a set of "pull outs" like i have on my tarp would go a long way in solving that problem, because i do like the simplicity of being able to close the ends just by having that extra tie out in the middle.

[blackbishop351]

As everyone says above, I think the Speer would give better end protection, especially from windblown rain coming from the sides. And it'll probably be more flexible if you have to go to ground with it.

If you're not using grosgrain trim, the mild cat cut might be easier to sew the rolled him, but that's not much of an advantage. Plus you have to sew on another tie-out...so I'd guess it's not really easier to make, just different.

I haven't really seen any lack of ground flexibility with my BlackCat...it's a lot more versatile than I originally expected - honestly more so than a few of the tarps I used when I was still on the ground.

A shallower cat cut is definitely easier to sew. The more curvature you have, the smaller the "bites" you have to take in order to keep things straight. Definitely takes longer. Adding grosgrain trim also exacerbates this; the grosgrain is kind of stiff and so doesn't like to conform to the curve.