Tarps...?

[JImmyDee]

The only tarps worth considering are made of either  polyurethane coated nylon or silicone treated nylon.

The silicone stuff is about 1/3 the weight of the polyurethane stuff and packs into a little less space -- and is two or three times the cost.

[GingivitisKahn]

Check out this guy's site and his youtube videos...

 http://www.wildernessoutfittersarchery.com/

He does a bunch of treking and sleeping under tarps and so forth and sells a good one for not too much cash.

[elkbreath]

How often do you use it?  If it is only a few nites here and there...I've spent many nights under a painters tarp.  Cheap, effective and light/small too pack (comes in its own waterproof package.  

Outside of that I tooo recommend all of Kifarus products.

[denny]

Snag, The tarps go-lite sells are well made and come in a drab green if that matters to you. Go-lite uses a high quality sil-nylon and on the tarps they have sewn on tie outs. I have a couple of theirs and some from Integral Designs (a high quality / cost alternative) and I would rate them equal for workmanship.
The Kifaru pictured is a shaped tarp versus a flat tarp and they certainly have their benefits in the wind but usually cost quite bit more, go-lite also offers various shaped tarps.
The military ponchos mentioned above weigh just a bit over twice as much as the go-lite sil version. (I own them both and weigh all my gear on accurate scales) When weight doesn't matter I much prefer heavier coated nylon products for their lower price, less wind flapping issues and all around toughness. There are tarps available in spinnaker cloth that make sil-nylon versions seem heavy but they require a bit of care and are said to be noisy and are pretty expensive.  The picture is of  my Integral Designs sil poncho.
   

[John Scifres]

If it's just you, an 8x10' will do.  If you ever think you'll go tandem, buy a 10x12'.  I made my own from silnylon seconds from owareusa.com.  Cost about $25 and a day of sewing.  It's 9x11'.  I'l be using it for a week in Idaho this fall.

Here's a pic of my buddy's 8x10' he got from campmor for $80.  He has used it all over for years in all kinds of weather.  Including a week of rain in Utah and this trip to Idaho where we got a lot of snow.
   
Here's a pic of the inside of my 6x8' silnylon vestibule covered in about 4" of wet snow.

   

[Steven Russell]

Good morning David.

I'm the buddy that John mentioned in the above post and that's my green tarp that he showed a picture of.  As John mentioned, I've been using it for 5+ years now and during that time it's seen 15+ days of rain or snow.  In fact, during the one elk hunt in Utah, it rained solid for 5 out of the 6 days and I'm not talking an intermittent or light rain either.  We're talking all-day soakers.  The tarp has held up great during it all and I've never gotten wet while under it.  This is especially important to me because I use a down sleeping bag. In fact, of the 4 people on the Utah trip, I stayed the driest even though the other 3 all had tents.  I definitely had the most room also.

So do I recommend a good silnylon tarp?  You betcha.  In fact, it sounds like I have John convinced and he's leaving his tent at home and bringing a tarp when he comes out to Idaho in September for an elk hunt.

If you do decide to go the tarp route, be sure to learn different ways to pitch it and be careful in your site selection and it should work out great for you.

Steve

[RGK]

I made a great ultra light tarp tent using rip stop nylon that I then waterproofed. It weighs less than 2 pounds including the poles (which are arrows) stakes and ground cloth. It even has bug netting for warm weather use.You can see it here


  http://www.camospace.com/blog/view/id_1540/title_wilderness-survival-kit/  

I got the plans online.

  http://www.tarptent.com/projects/tarpdesign.html

[snag]

Thanks for the feedback guys.  More money than I wanted to spend. But in the long run I will probably be glad I spent the money.

Steven, that sounds like a good test for the tarp! I also switched to a down bag this year to help with pack space. So to stay dry is very important.

[snag]

I'm leaning toward the GoLite Shangri-la 1. It looks like for one person it will set up like a tent for good protection and plenty of room. But I'll check out the Campor also.

[Roughcountry]

Snag, I just use a cheapo wal mart green tarp. I think its a 8 by 12. Rolls up small & light, real spendy at 9.97. If you keep the angle steep it don't leak.
I've used it a bunch, pack it on the sled in the winter for a windbreak for the fire. When it gets raggy it will acidently catch fire so's I don't have to pack it out.

Got to using one after using a big one when packing fishery bios up the John Day drainage. Weathered some big rainstorms under the tarp nicknamed, Boystown.

[snag]

What are you doing up the John Day? That's a river I want to fish. I was coming back from elk hunting once and driving along that river there was a fish hitting surface in ever pool!

[mrgreenhead]

look up cooks custom sewing cant beat the price

[ethan]

I really liked the idea's and designs of the Kifaru but just couldn't see myself spending that much.  So I got the Go-Lite Shangrala-3 and I'm really impressed so far.  I don't think you'll be dissapointed.

[Blackstick]

I’m something of a tarp freak and the tarps made by Dan Cooke are the best you can get. Plus they are made here in America.

 http://www.cookecustomsewing.com/

[Roughcountry]

Snag, I was on the north fork, from the end of the road on up into the wilderness.
They do stream surveys every year & count the salmon reds. Our job was to have a camp ready every night and a hot meal. Two of us used 5 horses and moved camp every day. The bios walk the river.

Great time for me to scout for hunting season. One thing I noticed was the bear sign, it would be a great time to hunt bear. Lots of trail's where the bruins are getting after the dead and dying fish.

My favorite stream was the Walla Walla. they count Bull trout reds on it. I could get a feel for how high the elk were.

[snag]

Roughcountry pm sent.

[JockC]

Snag--
Various sales on right now on discontinued Golite tarps and floorless, TarpTent type shelters around the Internet.  I think I found where on backpackinglight.com (look for Forums  -> Gear -> Gear Deals.  If you can't find one for about a third off, PM me and I'll look up where I just made a purchase.  I think I bought a Golite Hut--nice if you're in wind.  I'm pretty sure it was at Sierra Trading Post.  I have a 8x10 non-cat Campmor silnylon tarp, and this Hut is way quieter and more bomb-proof for equal weight.

[Problem Child]

Couldn't you use a rainfly from a regular A-frame tent?? Campmor has the rainfly only for a Eureka Timberline 2 man tent for like $40. I have a four-man version and it has sewn in loops on the peak of the rainfly and grommets all the way around.

[snag]

JockC, the Golites on Sierra are older discontinued models that are heavier. I will do some further searching...thanks though.

Problem Child (how did you earn this name, or do I want to know?) The rainflys I have seen are designed to fit over a tent...pretty hard to get them to be tight by themselves. Maybe it work.

[Problem Child]

Originally posted by snag:
JockC, the Golites on Sierra are older discontinued models that are heavier. I will do some further searching...thanks though.

Problem Child (how did you earn this name, or do I want to know?) The rainflys I have seen are designed to fit over a tent...pretty hard to get them to be tight by themselves. Maybe it work.