A buddy of mine just got a new Old Man Winter for Christmas, and he got it in black. I immediately questioned this as his intention is to use it year round. I was wondering if the black tarp would make that inside unbearable during summer conditions. He replied that he thought it wouldn't be any worse than a cuben tarp in the summer, claiming the whole greenhouse effect. Does anyone have any experience with either or both of these scenarios?
Should not be much different since tarps allow for good air circulation and you can always go porch mode for more air flow.
I am still 18 but with 52 years of experience !
I guess I was assuming he would want to use the doors at some point, but I guess thats unlikely during the summer, maybe privacy at some point? I dunno. To me it just seems like the black tarp would just radiate heat inwards, with the doors closed creating a pocket of hot air basically. It would also be handy to know how it functioned in direct sunlight during cold conditions, in that case it seems like it would be beneficial. Same for the cuben, if in cold conditions the cuben allows sunlight / warmth / ir in, and then traps it with doors. Seems like it would be good to know.
This topic comes up from time to time. The question is: how much time are you going to spend underneath the tarp in summer daylight hours with the sun shining brightly? My answer is: zero, zip, nada, doodly. I'm always hiking, canoeing, cooking or doing something during the day. How many daytime hours can you just lounge around in the hammock in the heat of summer? Two? Three? So your most important criterion for tarp selection is to insure the afternoon siesta in summer's blazing sun is as comfortable as possible? For the vast majority of tarp buyers, I wouldn't think this concern ever comes up while deciding what to buy. They're looking at weight, cost, durability, coverage; anything but sunshade.
How much difference would a light-colored tarp make in keeping you cooler? Not much, in my opinion. Most tarps are non-breathable anyway and are going to be a hot box in the midday sun regardless of color. The primary purpose of the tarp is weather protection, not sun shade, and you really shouldn't be leaving your tarp out in the hot sun anyway because of UV damage.
Cuben tarps are especially unsuitable for lounging, primarily because the fabric will delaminate if left out in the hot sun. Cuben fiber is popular with ultralight hikers, not world-class loungers (though I know plenty of strictly car-campers who don't hike a lick that have cuben fiber tarps). The UL hiker is not going to be lounging under his tarp in the midday sun. If you're worried about the amount of sunlight coming through your cuben fiber tarp, you should probably consider another tarp material.
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." Ralph Waldo Emerson
I appreciate the response. I guess I was just more interested in the science behind it, not so much the practicality. I use a light colored Big Daddy, in porch mode 90% of the time. I was wondering if someone had done some direct comparisons, taking temperature readings at regular intervals with similar sun exposure, etc. I guess I am just a numbers guy.
My consideration would be how fast it dries off that morning dew. So I would lean towards "black". But a vendor pointed out that if you are hanging out under your tarp for an extended time - like on a rainy day - it might "feel" better if the color was brighter - like a translucent gray or green. He felt that though black would clearly dry faster, the difference between that and another color would be slight and the benefit of more light and sense of spaciousness overweighed that slight drying time difference.
Fortunately, I haven't been in many rain storms with my hammock. And usually, there is enough "packing up gear" chores in the morning that if there is any sun at all, the tarps of any color will be dry by the time to pack them away.
I own both but never took any thermal measurements.
Love my black 12x10 tarp.
I used my cuben tarp for a 7 days in 2013 on the GOBA bike tour, I absolutely cooked in the hot June sun. I almost broke down and called one of my forum member buddies, Hammike, to come out and meet me on the route and swap tarps with me. We were riding from sun up to mid-early afternoon about 60 miles/day and then spending the afternoons hours recovering from our ride and the evenings eating everything in site.
If only I'd had a dark tarp, I'd have been the coolest guy on the tour, everyone else was sweltering in their tents and I had the breeze. Even the towel you see in the picture on my tarp was a tremendous relief, if only the wind wouldn't have kept blowing it off on the ground.
My next cuben will be a dark cammo!
DSCF6228.jpgDSCF6274.jpg
And if I could address designer@quickdata's comment about quicker drying, cuben is by far the quicker than nylong to dry because it doesn't absorb water like nylon, you give it a good shake, maybe a quick towel off and go.
As a former test engineer, I think it would be hard to develop a test methodology that would yield any meaningful statistics. The main variable would be trees - though I suppose you could set up a bunch of turtle dog stands in a pasture to level the playing field, trying to insure that each test bed was exposed to equal amounts of sunlight. Even if you were to set up such a test bed with different colored tarps and materials, each with matching calibrated thermometers, I think the conclusion would be that it's darned hot under any tarp when the midday sun is blazing in summer, some more than others. Sounds like a lot of work for such a wow/duh moment.Originally Posted by dishonor39
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." Ralph Waldo Emerson
Thank you for that very informative post. This is exactly how I backpack in the summer. In the mountains of SoCal it can very easily be over a 100 degrees mid day so its not uncommon for me to set up and avoid hiking during that time. Depending on how many miles I am trying to log for the day its sometimes possible for me to stop hiking at 10am, and not resume until 5pm. Solid point as far as dry times as well.I used my cuben tarp for a 7 days in 2013 on the GOBA bike tour, I absolutely cooked in the hot June sun. I almost broke down and called one of my forum member buddies, Hammike, to come out and meet me on the route and swap tarps with me. We were riding from sun up to mid-early afternoon about 60 miles/day and then spending the afternoons hours recovering from our ride and the evenings eating everything in site.
If only I'd had a dark tarp, I'd have been the coolest guy on the tour, everyone else was sweltering in their tents and I had the breeze. Even the towel you see in the picture on my tarp was a tremendous relief, if only the wind wouldn't have kept blowing it off on the ground.
My next cuben will be a dark cammo!
DSCF6228.jpgDSCF6274.jpg
And if I could address designer@quickdata's comment about quicker drying, cuben is by far the quicker than nylong to dry because it doesn't absorb water like nylon, you give it a good shake, maybe a quick towel off and go.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks