JohnAbercrombie
Paddler
In the very entertaining 'Indian Arm' thread by Pawsplus, we started to get a bit off-topic talking about tent poles and tarps, so I'm starting a new thread here.
Fire away!
My preference:
Buy a good tent that can pitch outer first and you won't be looking for trees and sticks (or carrying metal tarp poles in your kayak).
Save the tarp setup for cooking/eating (at a distance from your tent).
But I do see plenty of people putting tarps over tents. Adding up the cost (and weight and volume) of a good tarp setup and a 'mid-priced' tent gets you close to the 'exoskeleton' tent (Hilleberg, Fjallraven, Exped, etc..) price range.
And, if you decide you don't like your Hilleberg after using it for a few years, you can sell it for 75% of what you paid for it, from what I see on eBay.
You can even get a Hilleberg Allak knockoff (with lower-quality fabric and poles, more mesh, etc..- Naturehike Cloud Peak) for $250 CAD delivered.
https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesal...t=Naturehike+cloud+peak+tent&switch_new_app=y
Fire away!
It also assumes that it won't get very windy.Though a tarp is the standard shelter for a hammock, I learned about "Tarp First" from kayak campers using tents. I had never seen such a thing - a tarp over a tent that already had a rainfly. They explained that it allowed them to set everything up - and pack it up when time to go - in a relatively dry area under the tarp. That assumes there is some way to rig/suspend the tarp.
My preference:
Buy a good tent that can pitch outer first and you won't be looking for trees and sticks (or carrying metal tarp poles in your kayak).
Save the tarp setup for cooking/eating (at a distance from your tent).
But I do see plenty of people putting tarps over tents. Adding up the cost (and weight and volume) of a good tarp setup and a 'mid-priced' tent gets you close to the 'exoskeleton' tent (Hilleberg, Fjallraven, Exped, etc..) price range.
And, if you decide you don't like your Hilleberg after using it for a few years, you can sell it for 75% of what you paid for it, from what I see on eBay.
You can even get a Hilleberg Allak knockoff (with lower-quality fabric and poles, more mesh, etc..- Naturehike Cloud Peak) for $250 CAD delivered.
https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesal...t=Naturehike+cloud+peak+tent&switch_new_app=y