Poncho Tarp?

[nsherry61]

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?

Of course, if you don't pull the corners all the way to the ground, there will be more space inside.

I'm 6'4". My 104" long, 57" wide Sea-to-Summit poncho tarp works fine as a lean-to and fairly well as a modified lean-to with one end staked down and the other end open. I've slept under this poncho tarp and another similar one with a lower version of this pitch, faced into some protection and away from the prevailing wind, through some fairly rainy nights, and managed pretty well by wrapping my ground sheet up over the outside edge of my bag and accepting a little dampness from splatter and blown rain that I mostly dried out during sunny periods the next day. This would NOT cut it for a week of prolonged rain. The trip the photo below is from was Hell's Canyon, on the Oregon, side and in typical high desert fashion would alternate between hot and cold and rainy and sunny throughout the day. For this, the poncho tarp was perfect.

Modified Poncho Leanto.jpg

It does not give me enough length if I try and close off both ends. And, a 1/2 pyramid is completely silly and unworkable for me. Heck, a 1/2 pyramid with an 8x10 tarp is only marginal at best for my length.

The closest I have ever come to sleeping in a 1/2 pyramid pitch, even with an 8 x 10 tarp, is the following pitch, and I still have to sleep diagonally and scoot my feet down to the limit of the back corner to keep my head adequately inside the shelter. If I had to batten this 8 x 10 tarp pitch down further to a full 1/2 pyramid and still sleep inside, I would have to put my feet inside my pack liner to keep them dry as they would sit right against the outside edge of the tarp.

semi-half-pyramid tarp pitch.jpg

[fastfoxengineering]

A poncho tarp is all about being an absolute minimilast. It's about crushing miles and having no luxury in camp. It's pushing the boundary of being stupid light and not carrying proper shelter. if you are inexperienced with minimilast tarping then it could be dangerous. People who advocate poncho tarps typically factor in how other pieces of kit interact with their shelter. A poncho tarp would be great if you planned on staying in shelters alot. Even then I would still rather bring a 7x9 tarp and rain jacket.

Unless your comfortable being uncomfortable, I wouldnt advise a poncho tarp.

Someone for an almost negligible increase in weight adds much more security and protection to your shelter.

A hexamid tarp and a frogg toggs jacket weight like 11-12oz.

A poncho tarp is in the 7-8oz range if I remember correctly.

I'd go with option number one everytime

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

[skylark]

I took advantage of the warm weather and set up the poncho tarp in half pyramid mode. This is what I would call worst case mode with protection on three sides. I could lay down with my feet tucked into one corner, and my head under the ridge line between the guy line in the middle of the long side and corner stake on the other long side. If you can accept having your feet/sleeping bag touch the tarp, there is enough room for a 6'-0" person. I can deal with that, I have the same thing with feet touching the netting in my Eureka Spitfire. The tarp was about 4" above my nose when laying down with a good open path for ventilation. There was about 12" from my shoulder to the drip line of the opening. It is tight but do-able. If I wanted more airspace above my nose I could move closer to the dripline. There was room under shelter of the tarp for a pack or gear next to my legs.

This is what I mean by Half-Pyramid: Stake down two corners at the ends of a long side. in the middle of the other long side, attach a guy line raised up by a hiking pole, and stake the guy. Stake the two corners of the long side with the guy line on it. You may also stake the middle points of the tarp edges which are on the ground. The top peak was set up about 36" high. This setup has three sides staked down to the ground and one long side open in a triangle.

I tested a splash guard made out of polycro. The polycro was cut to the length of the tarp, and I added plastic snap fasteners along one side to fit the existing snaps on the tarp. I think the splash guard would be useful in heavy rain. The snaps ripped out of the polycro so I have to try again. I will reinforce the polycro with packing tape and fiber tape under the snaps and try again. I can't confirm if this will actually work but it is a very lightweight addition to the poncho tarp.

The poncho tarp can be set up in lean-to mode for more room, or in rain or wind conditions should work as a half-pyramid for someone 6'-0" or less. The complete shelter kit as I have it now includes the poncho tarp, a polycro groundcloth, a polycro splash guard, guyline, mesh stuff sack, stake bag, 3 titanium angle stakes and 3 titanium shepherd hook stakes and all this weighs in at 524 grams. The stuff sack volume looks like about a liter and a half. This does not include the hiking pole or a bug net. I need to add another guyline for lean-to mode.

[Rmcpeak]

Last year I carried a SMD Skyscape Trekker and only used it about 1 out of every 3 nights. This year for my LASHing I'm going to try using just a Zpacks pocket tarp for my shelter. I'll sleep in shelters some of the time. When it's warm, I don't carry rain gear, only a Houdini. I figure I can rig up a poncho with the pocket tarp if it's really raining or I get caught in a storm. When it's cool/cold I go with a Packa over a fleece or UL down and the Houdini.

[Connie]

I am 5'6" and small size overall. I like a minimalist asymetrical tarp, unless camping.

I have had very nice tents: I liked the Sierra Designs "Comet". However, it is too much trouble to dry out, pack up.

Now I consider my Six Moon Designs Deschutes Tarp for a luxury camp.

If Six Moon Designs had the Gatewood Cape in a hybrid cuben, I would find the cash to make the purchase.

I think it would be well-suited for all my favorite wet forest trails in the Pacific Northwest.

I evaluate gear by conditions I can reasonably anticipate, and next my preference. I prefer to hike and break camp and get going in the morning having a bite of food without having to cook in the morning.

I prefer a side-entry shelter. I can achieve that with a Gatewood Cape.

[Sandy of PA]

Hybrid Cuben weighs more than Sil-nylon, the Cuben used for shelters weighs from .51 to .74 ozs. per square yard. The hybrid stuff used for packs is nearly 3 ozs. per square yard.

[SkeeterPee]

I tent, but some of you mention carrying a tarp for other purposes, say to have place to sit in the evening when raining, or maybe during the day for a short thunderstorm. Do these poncho tarps work well for these purposes? And can I get rid of a rain coat if use a poncho tarp? the rain coat is also my wind jacket and it seems these poncho tarps don't really cover your arms. which may be ok in summer but not in a cold rain?

[BrianLe]

Poncho tarps designed for backpacking tend to be plenty long but relatively narrow, so if you had a couple of people maybe you could connect them side-by-side overhead to provide decent "sit in the evening when raining" space, but one alone would be skimpy unless you had the right conditions --- perhaps thick adjacent brush to ensure no wind-blown rain.

You can get rid of the raincoat, but yes, unless you then want to add back in the weight of a windshirt you don't have something to fully enclose arms and body in windy conditions. But the poncho will cover your core well enough in windy conditions; I think a lot of folks (myself included) will "belt" the poncho somehow. I personally use a length of shock (stretchy) cord and a cord lock as an at-need belt when it's windy.

Yes, your arms get wet. Much of the time "just deal with that" is a fine answer. Sometimes I carry tyvek sleeves. They sell these for people that work in labs with chemicals. I've never really enjoyed using the sleeves, but if your arms are cold it's a pretty lightweight way to augment the poncho.
I think it matters too whether you use trekking poles or not. If you don't, then you can keep your arms down such that the poncho covers them better while you walk. I'm a two-stick hiker, so I just get them wet. Makes a very big difference whether we're talking about summer rain or cold hypothermia-inducing type of rain!

[skylark]

https://jupiterhikes.wordpress.com/2...arp-camping-2/