Why use tarp shelters? The biggest reason ultralight backpackers use them is to reduce the load weight. The lightest tent you can find will be about three pounds. Some of the newest ultralight tarps weigh just seven ounces.
Weight is not the only advantage of tarp shelters, though. Also give room to move, and you can easily look around. You can quickly remove them when ready to go. If wet, to get rid of it and integrate in an outside pocket of his backpack. Even if they were the same weight, still prefer a tarp over a tent for most trips.
The lighter than my own tarp shelters weighs 16 ounces with all chains. That seems to be strong, now when I look at ultralight tarps out there again. Integral Designs Sil Tarp 5 'x 8', for example, weighs only 7 ounces.
The Bozeman Mountain Works Stealth 0 Catenary Ridgeline Ulralight Backpacking Tarp weighs an incredible 5.7 oz. With a name like that, you know you have to be expensive. Of course, almost any canvas backpack will be lighter – and cheaper – the lightest of tents there.
How To use Tarp Shelter
You will need a larger canvas than you think. A seven-meter roof may appear to cover his body six feet pretty well, until a blowing rain soaks your feet. Proper use is even more important than size, however.
Pitch side low in the wind. Keep all parts available, if a storm is coming. Uniformly tighten the lines of type. Use rocks, trees, trekking poles and everything else fails. Step off the canvas with force, to prevent flapping in the wind too, which can loosen the strings or the cause of the tarp to tear.
If you have not used the tarp shelters before, experiment until it can be configured in several different environments. Bring light play until you learn how to use sticks and trees and rocks. No stakes means less weight to carry. I have always found something to use, even at the top of the tundra.
You may have to treat the seams with a sealant occasionally, or at least the first time you buy your canvas. Buy seam sealer at any place that sells tarps and tents. You will need string or cord of some kind of tie-downs. I put lengths that vary around the canvas, so you can unleash and use of long where needed. Sometimes the tree will be a little too far.
I use 4 ' 7 'pieces of plastic groundsheets. They opened-up giant garbage bags weighing 2 ounces. Disposable, but I've used one for a week in Rocky Mountains, and are inexpensive and easy to replace. Whatever you use, the bag was on him, so be sure you have space. You do not want to touch the wet ground just because it moved a little. On the other hand, if too large to capture rain near the edge of the tarp, and funnel it back to you.
Mosquitoes keep a lot of ultralight backpackers use tarp shelters. Repellent is a partial solution, as is the use of the canvas only when there is too much errors. A headnet help, but keeping the rest of his body covered in hot weather is not pleasant. Camping up high, windy and you have fewer problems with bugs.
Also There are shelters that can throw mesh under his canvas. The lightest I've seen a weight of 1 pound and 7 ounces. With a 7-ounce tarp, you would be under 2 pounds for a shelter, and comes with a flat, so you do not have to bring a floor. Ultralight tarps and tarp shelters, by the way, weighs less than 20 ounces, a standard I just invented, but it seems reasonable.
About the Author:
Steve Gillman is a long-time backpacker, and advocate of
lightweight backpacking. He has also made over 200 hiking
sticks. His advice and stories can be found at
http://www.TheUltraligh
tBackpackingSite.com
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Tarp Shelters For Lightweight Backpackers
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