tent or tarp?

[It will Dodat]

As a new-on-the-block to the forum, I've been lurking around on the forum to see what's been hashed and this is one I've not seen... But, If it has been thrashed out please forgive, and point me where it is?

So, tent or tarp for a shelter.... Which is it for you, but more importantly, WHY...

Myself? I prefer a tent, but a tent that has a sewn-in-groundsheet. I'm really, really happy to sacrifice a little additional weight for sleep-zone security from the smaller-but-just-as-deadly creatures of the night...
here are some pics of the tent that I've issued to my GBHB, that I "removably" strapped to a golf cart <discussed in another thread> and which doubles as a hiking backpack....

Not the best tent around..... probibly a 2 perhaps at a push a 3 season, The silver lining inside is what got me to plumb for this wee fella.....

But it is small lightweight and needs only 6 pegs to pitch.... The rest can come later...

 

[Bopdude]

For me it depends on a few things, not as deadly as the SA creepy crawlies but spring onwards the British bugs can be annoying so I like some protection but not always, just depends on the trip location I suppose ?

 

[Madriverrob]

Horses for courses , I like to use both tent or tarp ( and Bivvy bag) depending on what i'm doing and where I am .......

 

[1 shot willie]

Used to use a tarp shelter mostly.......but leaning more towards tents for Autumn and Winter months.
Enjoy the open aspect of the Tarp shelter and the ability to stand and stretch your legs.
Having a fire close or under the tarp is a bonus as well

 

[It will Dodat]

Yip... I'd imagine there is a fair spread of personal preference in there, As Bopdude confirmed, Our bush is not ............. Shall we say "user friendly", and things like scorpions getting comphy in your shoes, and a rather large varity of not so plesantly dispositioned snakes that will happily take up residence are but some of the "not so user friendly" things here..

Not to mention Spiders / millipedes / that can leave you with some very nasty bites , welts and stings.

 

[Ark79]

Am new to tarps (still wet behind the ears lol). I do enjoy the tarp more. More connection to what’s around me. Trying not to sound like a tree hugger here ........also more options in style of shelter and rather light weight so plus plus. However a do like dome bivvy shelters. But for now I’m tarpman

 

[Ark79]

Yip... I'd imagine there is a fair spread of personal preference in there, As Bopdude confirmed, Our bush is not ............. Shall we say "user friendly", and things like scorpions getting comphy in your shoes, and a rather large varity of not so plesantly dispositioned snakes that will happily take up residence are but some of the "not so user friendly" things here..

Not to mention Spiders / millipedes / that can leave you with some very nasty bites , welts and stings.

“Shall we say not user friendly” brilliant pmsl.

 

[Bopdude]

Of course with a tarp you have the option of a favourite of mine, the tarp tent

 

[Bopdude]

 

[It will Dodat]

“Shall we say not user friendly” brilliant pmsl.

Hi Mark, Thanks, but you got the drop on me, Hands up, I surrender... PMSL?

 

[It will Dodat]

Bod

Did you see my 1975 military border war bush shelter....

It's a theme pitch, so give me a little license, but yes back then when I was 17 and gung-ho and not very "forward thinking".... I used to kip in similar no problem in one....

Now I'm 60, fulla aches and pains and just a tad educated, I'm down-right scared...

 

[Ark79]

Hi Mark, Thanks, but you got the drop on me, Hands up, I surrender... PMSL?

Just found the statement funny

 

[Rathwulven BC]

It all depends on your respective goals/trips.

Generally I prefer going out with very simple gear, so a tarp + bivy bag usually do the trick. But then we are talking about normal overnighters/weekenders in rather forgiving terrain.

Forget about such a setup in the alps, last year I went to cross the region around Mont Chaberton from Italy to France, with a setup as featured in the pic below. Needless to say: Three days in, then with the first rain and hail. Not a pleasure. The thunderstorm in Vallon de Baises gave us the rest, neither DD nor the Recon held up...

Tarps, nevertheless are and will always be by far more versatile as tents. Not to talk about the pack weight of course.

 

[It will Dodat]

Morning Rathwulven

This is my "tent of choice" A Backpacker Kestrel III....

I REALLY don't understand how manufactures derive the number of people for a particular tent... I mean really... 3 adulte in this tent?... I Gwarsh, you would have to be really.... really friendly to sleep 3 in this one usually halve the stated number...

But none the less, Manufactured in the 70's and no longer manufactured, it is still highly sought after by mountaineers / backpackers through out SA, and I am fortunate to now have 2, just reciently having aquired my second one at an outdoor market for 70 ZAR. (The brown one).

Once when hiking in the Natal Drakensberg, The mist rolled in and I said..... Here comes big trouble and pitched it (properly... all pegs)... Landed up spending 4 days inside while the weather turned real shitty, with mist so thick vision was no more than 5 - 8m, buffetting wind and rain squalls comming and going....

With the aquisition of the second tent I was informed that there was a A adaptor for the front, to eliminate the obstruced entrance by the single verticle pole. The manufacturer,who still make top-end backpacks could not assist me and I am in the process of sorting out an adaptor & poles.... Worked on it this weekend, and I'm really chuffed with the outcome so far, but am still waithing for bushes to be turned up in out toolroom..

It is a 4 seasons tent, the groundsheet is rubberised thicker PVC and the materials are all ripstop.

The downside is it's a little heavy... weighing in at 12Kg <I think>, and for a full pitch it uses 30 pegs..... Yip 30 of the fellas....

 

[Erbswurst]

In german forest I prefere a military poncho and Snugpack special forces bivvy bag. This is my standard set up.

At the coast line and at camping grounds I prefere Luxe Outdoor Silhexpeak V4a outer tent with bivvy bag.

In France in the summer I often use a Decathlon Arpenaz 2.

And in heavy duty conditions I use the Hilleberg Nallo 2.

 

[Rathwulven BC]

@It will Dodat

Amen brother.

That is also what I meant with my posting: If I go long distances, I always tend to size down weight-wise. That - in combination with too much confidence - turned out to be a rather messed up situation. As you might picture, the Recon I featured is nothing compared to a heavy, high-duty model such as your Kestrel. We are talking about a simple polyurethane-polyester-mix (type 190 I guess..) here in comparison to a proper four season tent.

As you already wrote, it comes at a price: I went up with 3,4kg (including tent and tarp) whereas you have to push through with 12kg. Just another great example that there simply is no four-season, high durability and extreme solution at minimal packweight and price.

 

[Erbswurst]

If you don't take a Carinthia bivvy bag or something like this.

Small, but ...