I finished up my second tarp this weekend and figured I'd post some pictures. The first tarp I made is the one in which I am laying under. It is about 8 ft. 5 in. x 5ft. 6 in. The second one which I made for a friend is the same width but slightly longer; ~ 9ft.

I have some pictures of it set up in the half pyramid shape and another one where I took the second tarp and made a sort of awning - creating, in effect, a 3 person shelter. I put my windshirt over the trekking pole tip to keep it from rubbing the tarp overhead. It was pretty windy yesterday so I saw very quickly that the tarps were wind-worthy.

Future plans: sewing a slit-style hood into it to make a 9-10 ounce piece of equipment which will double as my shelter and rain gear/pack cover most of the year. I'm going to sew some chaps and/or a skirt for the other half of the rain gear.

Really like the looks of the one in the lower left of all the pics. Plain, simple and side access. Only thing I would want is some form of awning. What is the approximate footprint of that tarp and its weight.

Great job, by the way !!

'Slogger

been using mostly tarps for 17 years now. you did great work here! very nice.
geek

Great Tarps and that's one beautiful Dog too :)

okay you have inspired me to get started on my tarp I wanted to make.
Never thought about putting two tarps together like that...very cool.

The double tarps are an intersting idea. It makes me wonder if you can to that permentently and design them together. By making a sleeve, you can turn the poles around and use the handles to connect to the tarps. Hey... You live about 7 miles away from me... small world.
TB

The double tarps are an intersting idea. It makes me wonder if you can to that permentently and design them together. By making a sleeve, you can turn the poles around and use the handles to connect to the tarps. Hey... You live about 7 miles away from me... small world.
TB

Cool...you'll have to let me know if you want to get up and do a weekend trip or something. I'm really busy with law school but may be able to fit a trip in sometime.

Very nice work Drew. I noticed you finished the edges…here is an alternative method you may want to check out just for fun. I have used it on a couple tarps that have held up nicely… http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=14374

Your double tarp looks very cool.

Very nice. I enlarged them to look at the workmanship - you did an excellent job. Did you make the awning tarp usable as a poncho as you considered earlier?

Very nice. I enlarged them to look at the workmanship - you did an excellent job. Did you make the awning tarp usable as a poncho as you considered earlier?

The awning is basically the same tarp as the pyramid under it. Neither have hoods yet because I'm scared of cutting into them. I'll practice on some Wal-Mart material first before I put the hood in.

The awning you see is one that I sewed for a friend. The pyramid is mine which is a bit shorter. I will probably give that one to my wife and make mine closer to 9 ft. long instead of 8.5 ft.

Nice work. Please drop off some photos for us when you get the slit hoods in. I'll bet if you made a rain skirt you could figure out a snazzy way to attach it to the tarp for a little awning or vestibule...
-Mark

I'll bet if you made a rain skirt you could figure out a snazzy way to attach it to the tarp for a little awning or vestibule...
-Mark

Hey! That's a good idea...I'll see what I can come up with. It may be a while though. The hood will have to go in first and of course studying takes precedence over that.

Time will tell...

You could probably use some Grip Clips to shingle the two tarps together. I haven't actually tried grip clips out, but they seem pretty cool. I may get some soon to try a similiar idea. Nice tarps!

Hey
the tarps look amazing. But i was wondering what you do when it rains? Ya it wont fall on you, but it will ru right under the tarp and onto the ground you are laying on. Is this just one of the disadvantages of tarptents?
Thanks

Well, first, let me distinguish between tarps and tarptents. Tarps are what you see in the picture. They are just a single (usually silnylon or nylon) rectangular or square shaped sheet that sheds rain and wind. If using a tarp, you will need a groundcloth for when it rains. I use the ones sold at Gossamer Gear and they work fine for rain. This prevents the situation you mentioned where rain runs underneath you.

Tarptents, or at least my definition of them, usually either have a floor and/or bug protection. The true "Tarptents" are the types sold at Tarptent.com. Others, like Six Moon Designs, have made their own versions and I classify them as tarptents, too. In my opinion, the floored tarptents don't really have any disadvantages to speak of. True, they can't be used in heavy snow or in Everest-like conditions, but they aren't designed for that so it's not really a disadvantage.

I own a Tarptent Rainshadow and it does everything that any of my previously owned double wall tents did. The tarps I made do not. First, they don't offer bug protection and second, you need a separate ground cloth. That said, bug protection is easily made or bought in the form of a bugnet and the same goes for the ground cloth.

Hey
the tarps look amazing. But i was wondering what you do when it rains? Ya it wont fall on you, but it will ru right under the tarp and onto the ground you are laying on. Is this just one of the disadvantages of tarptents?
Thanks



Yes, this is one of the disadvantages of a tarp. You have to choose your campsite carefully, so that heavy rains won't run under your tarp. Just setting up in a packed-down heavily used campsite is usually a bad idea. Tarp camping takes some thought.

Sorry to put this here, but did not know where else to. Tarptents, what is their advantage over normal tents? they seem alot more smaller and sleeker but wondering if there wans anyhing else?

They're usually less than half the weight of even lightweight backpacking tents. I've seen Drew's tarps and they look great. Can't wait till he helps me knock one out.

Another question ............. what type of material did you use? and where did you get it? I am not finding any silnylon locally, but a trip to RDU area would be easy from Elm City, NC {between Wilson & Rocky Mount}

Outdoor Wilderness Fabrics: http://www.owfinc.com

Those are nice, I was looking at where you posted these pics on practicalbackpacking the other day. Great job