Poncho Tarp?

[skylark]

I am wondering if a poncho tarp makes an adequate shelter for section hiking in temps above about 40F.

Here are two examples:
https://www.campmor.com/c/ultralite-...-tarp-20275ste
https://www.campmor.com/c/sea-to-sum...oncho-83075gre

One is 57"x103" and 13 ounces, the other 58"x104" and 9.5 ounces.

This would be on the North Country Trail in MI. I currently use an 8x10 silnylon tarp with a homemade full length bug net and a tyvek floor. It is large and lavish and I enjoy the luxury of a big tarp. However, a poncho tarp would allow me to ditch a raincoat and drop my pack weight and volume substantially.

I am wondering if anyone has any experience with a poncho tarp as a shelter and what they thought of it? In which configuration did you pitch it?

I am wondering if it can be pitched in this configuration: http://www.zpacks.com/images/shelter...x-laying_l.jpg

My concerns are where do I put my pack and shoes, and how do I hang a bugnet? Is there a lot of side-spray?

[Patchy]

Flyin' Brian Robinson hike the AT, PCT and CDT in one calendar year - slept under a poncho tarp.

[nsherry61]

Yes. I use my poncho regularly as my rain-gear and only shelter. In fact, my poncho is my primary rain-gear and primary shelter on almost all my trips where I am not sharing my shelter with someone else, at which point, it is still my go-to rain-gear and supplemental shelter.

It works great for me in 3-season conditions where, if there is rain, it is not continuous, and if there is wind, it is mostly from one general direction and/or I can find a camp spot where it is well enough protected wind direction is a minimum issue.

You will get damp or wet from heavy continuous splatter if the rain is particularly heavy and/or of long duration.

No, these ponchos are not long enough to pitch like a duplex. I generally pitch in one of several modification of a lean-to design.

If weather is bad, I use my pack as an additional weather barrier and my shoes as a bed railing(s) to keep me from accidentally rolling out into the splatter while I'm sleeping.

There are many tricks to help minimize exposure to wet when camping in the rain.
- I'm tall, and at times want extra protection for the foot of my sleeping bag, so I might stick the foot end of my bag into my pack liner to keep it drier.
- I will often wrap the end of my ground sheet up over the outside edge of my bag facing the open edge of my poncho to reduce splatter contact with my bag if it is raining hard and/or blowing the wrong direction. And, I will lean my pack up against me to hold the ground sheet in place and increase protection a bit further.
- Pitching the poncho in a good configuration in an appropriately protected space is, of course, also pretty key. It takes some practice, which I think is fun.
- I pitch my silnylon poncho with rubber bands as guy-line shock aborbers to keep the pitch tight, even as the poncho stretches and gets blown around in the wet and wind. Saggy ponchos give you less dry space and make more flappy noises while you're trying to sleep.
- Most of the time, I use my poncho as more of insurance against a minor rainstorm in the night, and I frequently get drizzled upon for a couple hours or dumped upon for a few minutes without issue. Dumped upon for hours gets old.

[Time Zone]

I am wondering if a poncho tarp makes an adequate shelter for section hiking in temps above about 40F.

Here are two examples:
https://www.campmor.com/c/ultralite-...-tarp-20275ste
https://www.campmor.com/c/sea-to-sum...oncho-83075gre

One is 57"x103" and 13 ounces, the other 58"x104" and 9.5 ounces.

Friendly warning: I purchased the S2S poncho tarp recently from another retailer, one that provided the exact same specs as you listed. The poncho tarp I received was labeled (by S2S) as being 100" x 54", which is 8% smaller by area - not trivial for the tarp part of the function. It was also labeled as 14 oz, not 13.

Before returning it, I am going to check out the Teton Sports poncho tarp sold through Amazon. It is larger (about the size of what the S2S was expected to be); it doesn't have snaps (which may be just as well), but it does have webbing loops. Reputation for a tight hood, so we'll see if it fits my noggin. They claimed it would when I called customer service but reviews leave me some doubt.

As for bugnets, you can buy a bug inner from various places (MLD?) and connect it to the webbing tie out loops in the middle of the short side, if you're hanging the tarp as an A-frame. You could also hang the tarp by a ridgeline and just connect the bugnet underneath it (use driplines). Or use a bivy. Or just use a headnet.

You'd probably need to bring a thick trash bag for your pack and shoes. Twist the top shut, tuck underneath/turn it over.

[Cheyou]

https://www.sixmoondesigns.com/colle.../gatewood-cape

thom

[Time Zone]

https://www.sixmoondesigns.com/colle.../gatewood-cape

thom

Excellent idea - provided the OP isn't too tall. IIRC the general sense here on WB is that the GC is not adequately large for those over 6' tall.

[Smooth & Wasabi]

I have an old Golite poncho tarp that is quite good. However I only tend to take it on fair weather overnights. Even with my breathable bivy it would be very difficult and not much fun to stay dry in a heavy rain. The extra weight and bulk of a light jacket and a mid or a bigger tarp is well spent for me.

[skylark]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzlyUC2IKz0

[Traillium]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzlyUC2IKz0

Ahh — I finally 'get' tarps as shelters. Thanks!

I sleep very well in my hammock and use a large hex tarp. When our ground thaws — 6 more weeks says Wiarton Willy … — I'll experiment with those tarp variations using my hex tarp so that I could try tarping on the ground outside of bug season. (That would be mid-August on.)

[skylark]

I bought this poncho tarp and I have an idea.

https://www.campmor.com/c/ultralite-...-tarp-20275ste

There are plastic snaps on each side of the poncho, intended to snap the sides together while wearing the poncho.

I plan to make a polycro sheet, the length of the poncho tarp, and install snaps in the polycro so that it will snap to the long side of the poncho tarp.

I will set up the poncho tarp as a half-pyramid with the hiking pole offset from the peak of the half-pyramid with a guy line of a foot or two in length. The polycro sheet will be attached to the poncho tarp across the opening and should act as a vestibule and splash guard. I will use my pack and shoes to hold the polycro down and out away from the tarp.

I also bought 4 yards of tule (like bug netting) so I will try the same thing with tule to make a bug screen. I won't be able to use both at the same time.

At the moment my plan is to leave the polycro and tule panels rectangular, as long as the tarp and about the same size as the tarp. I may cut away some of it after testing it.

I will not be able to try this out until the ground thaws out (a month or three?) but I will sew it up it soon.

It will be interesting to see if it sheds water or if it collects it.

[nsherry61]

. . . I plan to make a polycro sheet, the length of the poncho tarp, and install snaps in the polycro so that it will snap to the long side of the poncho tarp. . .

It looks like you are trying to make a bigger tarp out of your poncho. I suspect that if it is a bigger tarp you want, you will be much happier with a bigger tarp instead of a modified poncho.

I'd recommend using the poncho in a simple pitch in conditions it is good for in that pitch. If you want or need more protection, I doubt you will be happy with the poncho.

The trick is to learn to be comfortable with what the poncho can do well and get good at doing it. A poncho is good at shedding some rain coming from one or two directions. It sucks in heavy rain from 360 degrees. I doubt you would enjoy, even a modified poncho when a bigger tarp or tent are needed for truly heavy weather.

Unless you are pretty short, a 1/2 pyramid will not work well with a poncho.

[BrianLe]

My personal approach to a poncho tarp is that I like it on relatively short trips where best guess is that there won't be a lot of bad weather. I have both a golite poncho and a gatewood cape. Note that I'm under 6' --- I'm about 5' 10" or perhaps a smidge less now with age (!). With a relatively thick sleeping pad (Neo-air) it can be a challenge to keep from getting the foot end of my sleeping bag wet from condensation. And that's including the idea of using the second trekking pole to sort of pull out the fabric of the 'tent' at one side. A great choice for the southern 700 miles of the PCT where that's condensation is rarely an issue.
I also think that if you're short enough that the gatewood is roomy enough inside, then as a poncho it will be pretty long unless you take extra steps to shorten it up. And I'll say that it's not as good of a ponch for an active hiker as it's pretty enclosed, doesn't breathe well. At this point my main use for the gatewood is as an excellent emergency shelter/clothing item to bring on day hikes where I don't expect a lot of rain. But with creativity it can be good. I carried it to hike a couple hundred miles across England, reckoning that at need both my wife and I could cram into it for a break or to ride out particularly bad weather.

My issue with the golite tarp is that while it's plenty long enough, I found it somewhat narrow. With creativity I could get coverage, but I think that for serious tarp tenting you want something wider. Or at least I do. For me this is good to take if I think I can likely find a wind sheltered place to sleep, but otherwise, even with a light bivy to go with it, it can be a little sketchy. Ditto in using it as the tarp over a hammock setup --- just too narrow for my taste.

I mostly use a tent these days, with a lightweight rain jacket, and optionally add any of a cuben rain skirt, rain chaps, and cuben pack cover. This flexible combination is pretty lightweight, allows me to add or remove pieces as I need them, to mail home a subset on a longer trip if/when that makes sense. And it means that in camp and in town I have a normal rain jacket to wear.

[DuneElliot]

The post kinda answers a question/query I have about a poncho/groundsheet combo. I couldn't do the poncho-tarp set up, but to save a pound of weight I was looking at the ZPacks bathtub/poncho combo. I wasn't sure if I would like relying on my ground sheet to protect me from weather and possibly be wet when I put my sleeping gear on it. Any thoughts?

[Engine]

Flyin' Brian Robinson hike the AT, PCT and CDT in one calendar year - slept under a poncho tarp.

Jupiter hiked the ECT this year, during which he set the FKT on the FT and he used the same sleep system.

[Slo-go'en]

Well, I used the Gatewood cape w/serenity net as my primary shelter and rain gear for a while last year. It does neither job very well. After suffering through PA with it, I sent home for my tent and rain jacket.

I would suggest you forget about such foolish ideas and stick to a tent and good rain jacket.

[nsherry61]

. . . I would suggest you forget about such foolish ideas and stick to a tent and good rain jacket.

Yeah, well, I would definitely consider a poncho great backpacking rain-gear. I would also consider a poncho a wonderful ultra-light shelter for much of the backpacking season, especially if you have weather forecasts to exploit and a larger tarp to bring along if you expect extended or extreme foul weather.

[daddytwosticks]

Getting back to the OP's original question...I almost always use a poncho tarp on warmer weather short section hikes down here. However, I almost always sleep in shelters and consider my poncho tarp to be an emergency shelter. Love the ventilated coverage in poncho mode.

[Slo-go'en]

A poncho is good rain gear - if your not wearing a pack and not trying to hike. Every time I decide to give a poncho another try, I regret the decision. That said, I do like to have one in the pack to hunker down under while waiting out summer thunderstorms. It helps to keep from being drenched to the bone.

[nsherry61]

A poncho is good rain gear - if your not wearing a pack and not trying to hike. Every time I decide to give a poncho another try, I regret the decision. . .

Great example of why it is important to experiment with your gear and figure out what works well for you personally!

I especially like my poncho when I am wearing a pack and hiking because it keeps my pack dry and ventilates well so I don't get wet from the inside out.

[skylark]

The poncho tarp seems to be a little short for those over about 5'-10" when staked to the ground in half pyramid mode. My feet touch on one end and my head touches on the other end. Do guy lines help expand the usable area?