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Thread: Tent or Tarp?

  1. #31
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    Are you sure the tent actually leaked in the rain? Quite often the combination of high humidity, perspiration, damp clothes, and exhaling moisture will result in all of that condensing on the ceiling/walls and ending up in the floor as puddles. Why I tend to like floorless shelters in forested areas, although that could be a whole different ballgame on compacted or clay soil.

  2. #32
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    I'm from everywhere man because I'm an everywhere man....
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    No condensation.. just picked a poor spot. There was a deluge and the run off ended up puddling around and under the tent where I had placed it. Another time was when we got to a spot in the dark. Looked like we picked a good spot, but it turned out the other way. That wasn't a fun night. Besides the wet, someone... not me... didn't close the fly all the way and I woke up with a raccoon walking on my back. That was some funny stuff... at least now it is.

  3. #33
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    Depends on mode of camping and weather.

    For actual patrolling/hike in type situations I will usually just use a tarp unless it's going to be crazy cold. If crazy cold then a one man Eureka tent.

    If weather is even semi decent then just a sill nylon tarp. If it's really swampy/buggy maybe a small mosquito net as well or a Snugpak Jungle bag for bug protection.

    Camped this way when I was 16, still camping this way at 47

    Now if it's "car camping" I'll bring a Eureka 3 man tent if it's just me or a 5 person tent if it's the whole family just for some more room/comfort.

  4. #34
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    Quote Originally Posted by B Cart View Post
    I do a lot of camping and backpacking, and i do like the hammock/tarp combo, but if you are going camping in cold weather, you MUST bring a good hammock quilt or something to help insulate or you will freeze. I trade off between a hammock/tarp and my nice backpacking tent in the warmer weather, but if i'm camping in the late fall or winter, i always use a tent.
    Quote Originally Posted by ViniVidivici View Post
    I agree. Hammock is not good in extreme cold, as you feel cold underneath, where gravity has you pressed down against the bottom surface. Much rather be down in a bag on top of a puss pad.
    Hennessy Hammock is one I'd like to try...
    https://hennessyhammock.com/pages/cold-weather-camping
    Gettin' down innagrass.
    Let's Go Brandon!

  5. #35
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    Quote Originally Posted by titsonritz View Post
    Hennessy Hammock is one I'd like to try...
    https://hennessyhammock.com/pages/cold-weather-camping
    Never heard of this Hennessy Hammock until just now. And like you, I want to try it.

  6. #36
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    Hennessey makes good stuff. There are lots of other good options as well. I've been using a Hammock Gear 3/4 underquilt for five years or so along with a good goose down bag and stay plenty warm.

  7. #37
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    while you do need a couple of small-pole tripods to set up a hammock, you dont need a couple of big trees. I've used 6 stakes and guy-lines to make small trees capable of holding a hammock slightly off of the ground, too. i intensely dislike having to lay on rocks, thorns, mud, snow, frozen ground, spiders, centipedes, scorpions, etc. My hammock is made of 10x50ft of monofilament fishnet, 2" mesh. I folded it 3x, making it 6 ft 'long" and then lay on it sideways, guying it out fairly flat with 4 stakes, cause I greatly prefer to sleep on my side and I toss and turn a lot. I gathered the ends around a couple of small hard rubber balls and use Muletape as tree straps. In a few hours, it can becoe a very big seine, a good-size gillnet, or net-weir and the latter two can be baited, too. The hammock weighs a lb. I use a combo of PEVA shower curtains, SOL mylar bivvies, (Escape lite "breathable" and the non-breathable 2 person Emergency bivvy) and a couple of full body bugnet bags, as well as three of the large, thick drum-liner trash bags. as my sleep-shelter system. Total weight is 3.5 lbs, and i can wear it as ponchos, set it up as tarps,. I can sleep OK in it at 10F, in just cammies, balaclava, gloves, booties, shoes, sock liners, and shemagh, without a fire.

    If it's too cold for the hammock, or I cant find a way to hang the hammock, I empty the buttpack and day pack, stuff them with debris and use them as sleeping pads.Because they've been waterproof sprayed, the debris need not be dry and it can be just small sticks. It still gives me insulation from the cold, wet ground, and a small amount of padding. If i must use wet,soft debris for padding, I put it between the sticks and the part of the packs that touch the ground.

    I sit on the buttpack, lean back on the day pack, which I lean up against a bush, boulder, etc. I put my feet on a pile of small sticks. Inside of the double layers of mylar, I dont have to worry about getting wet. The breathable type of mylar is next to me, and the non breathable type is outside. This is cause the non-breathable stuff stops the wind and rain better. The breathable mylar keeps the condensation away from my body. The Escape is much too small. Everywhere it touchs you forms a cold spot. So i used 100 mph tape to make two Escape bivies into one that is much wider and longer.

    If It's cold, I wrap the net hammock and the bugnet bags around me, under my cammies, with dry debris between the layers. This makes for an excellent 'longohns" layer. Then i wrap the drum liners around me, outside of the cammies, with debris between the layers. Sure, all of this is a pita to set up, but it gives me a 3.5 lb 4-season set up that handles, rain, bugs, cold, is very adaptable to conditions, offers complete coverage and is wearable. So there's no extra weight for clothing, either. Folded and spindled, this gear is about the size of 2 gallon cans, to include the "extra" clothing.

    Both of the mylar bivvies have a foot wide, full length "window' of the clear PEVA shower curtain along one side. So I can face the PEVA towards the sun, or towards the one way projected heat of a Siberian fire lay, and the radiant heat comes thru the PEVA, and is reflected by the Mylar. I can also add hot stones or water, with the stones wrapped in extra socks. This last trick is worth about 10F degrees, for 2-3 hours. i carry a UCO lantern and beeswax candle. if need be, I can use my body heat and the candle, sitting position only, to dry out an armfull of damp debris in a couple of hours. With the fire and the hot water or stones, I can sleep ok at -20F, in 20 mph winds. I"m not going to be any place colder than that, I can assure you! :-) I would never stay any place that got below 0F. I'd be hiking my butt out of such a climate.

    i wrap the shemagh around my face and exhale into that. i've tried both having my head outside and inside of my set up and it's warmer inside, by quite a large margin! The shemagh catches most of the condensation from my breath and I can then dry it out by wrapping it around a hot stone.

    If you want to try this system, be aware that you MUST "tent" the bivvies over a ridgeline and must always check for air leaks in the mylar bivvies If your bodyheat can escape, you wont get nearly as much protection from the bivvies. You CAN always stuff the area between the bivvies with dry, soft debris, for more insulative effect. Carry repair-tape and if the bivvies somehow get badly torn, figure on wrapping them around yourself and tying the bundle. It will still help keep you warm. I added zippers across the ends and down one side of the bivvies and the bugnet bags. This lets me wear them while hiking. In extreme cases, vs bugs, etc, you might have to do some cutting and taping so as to protect your legs from assault. The bug netting is cheap and duct tape is extremely useful for a lot of things. Carry some!

    You can easily have 5x the bulk and weight of this set up and have no more protection from the elements. It's not all that expensive, either. The Escape Lite bivvies are $45 each and the Emergency bivvy is $20. use removable blue masking tape as you experiment, cause duct tape does not come off of mylar, folks. You can just spray paint the blaze orange emergency bivvy, a tan color and then add gray splotches for cammo effect. the Escape bivvy can be had in OD green.

    I roll up the extra clothing in the sleep/shelter gear, wedge it between the two packs and tie it into place. Then it serves as a pack frame, transferring the pack weight to my padded hip belt. The pads of the belt and shoulder harness are little pouches which hold my spare socks and underwear. Like everyone who's had to lug around a lot of weight, for long periods of time, I hate every oz and every cubic inch of stuff,. So I try very hard to make everything serve at least 2 purposes. I find it very useful to have both the buttpack and the day pack and it saves money to not have to have a $200-$300 pack, too.
    Last edited by tellum; 11-14-20 at 09:32.

  8. #38
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    I'm not a back packer much anymore, but I do like the 10X10 sil-tarp, the DD 10X10 is good quality, but so are the Aqua Quest tarps on Amazon. I have a 10X10 Sil-tarp that is excellent, but they come in different sizes and weights. Some are Silicon coated and Some are heavier with TPU coating. https://smile.amazon.com/s?k=aqua+qu...ss_ts-a-p_8_11

    I've never used a hammock, because I don't sleep well in them.

    To keep warm when its cool, you need some kind of insulation from the ground and a decent bag or blanket. You also need to limit the wind, which is where a tent can be better.

    I keep a 10x10 Sil-tarp in my BO bag, a SOL breathable bivvy bag, a poncho, and a poncho liner (Swagman roll). I also keep some of those larger thin reflecting blankets. You can make a really warm super-shelter if you have some clear plastic too. I also take about 4-5 feet of folded heavy duty 18" wide aluminum foil and I fashion a reflector or hold hot coals that I can put under my poncho when sitting. But that's only for a couple to a few days of survival.
    Last edited by ScottsBad; 01-11-21 at 23:04.

  9. #39
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    I like hammocks for how fast you can set them up. I have a Warbonnet and Lawson and I like them both. Warbonnet is very light and has built-in bug net. Lawson also has a bug net , but my Lawson is a lot heavier.

  10. #40
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    You need to look at Force Protector Gear. They make excellent thermashield blankets.
    Here is one of the survival shelter kits:












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