Simply Light Designs Winter Haven tarp [Short Term] Review

[joefbtg28]

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-J...o/_MG_1250.jpg

Use Case:
I wanted a tarp for winter camping and car camping. When I am backpacking I would consider myself a lightweight [insert ultra-light buzzword here] backpacker. However, I wanted to continue hammock camping while I setup for back-country skiing adventures and normal winter camping scenarios. I wanted a setup that could handle normal winter conditions. If the weather called for a decent amount of snow [6+ inches], I would still swing for a mountaineering tent when needed.

In Field Experience:
The weekend I camped with this tarp [Poudre Canyon above Ft. Collins, CO] so far was average for a shoulder season camp in the Rockies. Lows in the mid 30's and 15-20mph winds at times. As you can see in the picture, I probably ran the tarp a bit lower than necessary for the conditions. I could see running the tarp steep, with the doors closed, and into the snow being an excellent winter time solution for hammock campers. I noticed the heavier 1.4oz material held up better in the wind than the lighter sil nylon used in my other tarp, the Warbonnet Big Mambajamba. I was using kelty triptease reflective cord for my guy lines, and that diameter [says 1.5mm, but definitely thicker than zing it] worked exceptionally well with the corner tensioners. It was very easy to put the fixed loop ends of my guy lines on the stakes, and then bring the loose [sharp] end through the tensioner. The tarp pull outs also had nice d-rings with re-reinforcements on them. This tarp seems like it is built to handle a lot.

Conclusions:
I will still backpack with the Warbonett Big Mambajamba, but the Winter Haven will probably be my go to tarp 60% of the time. I am hoping the slightly heavier material, coupled with the pull out reinforcements will do better with snow load, but more testing will be needed for that. The bottom line is the stitching, seam sealing, corner reinforcements, tensioners, and silnylon are all done excellently. The reaction time on emails and overall customer service experience was great. You can't go wrong with one of Jared's creations.

[Frank1960]

Just north of you in Evans. What was the price for this tarp and the size?

[Oms]

I have been eyeballing this tarp for a while now. I like the price and the longer cut on the bottom for door closure. My plan is to replace a WB BB with a DH RG 11'er. I am currently using a OES 10x10 but need to have a 11' RL with the new hammock. It will be used for car and winter camping. I save my cuben HG Standard tarp for backpacking only. Thanks for the review.

[Oms]

I would like to make a couple of changes making it similar to the OES I have. First would be to have only one side pull-out and the other is a center loop on the RL. This has worked wonderfully for me. I will have to see what changes can be made by SL. OES does not have a tarp with the cut of the WH.

[joefbtg28]

Just north of you in Evans. What was the price for this tarp and the size?

This is the Simply light Designs Winter Haven Tarp in the 11' Ridgeline. I got it in silver/grey color cat cut, with line locs, seam sealed, and with side panel pull outs. Both my WBB XLC [11 ft] and WBB [10 ft] hammocks fit great under this tarp. I looked at the 12' version, but thought it would limit my hanging options and be harder to keep a tight tarp ridgeline. Hope that helps.

[Frank1960]

This is the Simply light Designs Winter Haven Tarp in the 11' Ridgeline. I got it in silver/grey color cat cut, with line locs, seam sealed, and with side panel pull outs. Both my WBB XLC [11 ft] and WBB [10 ft] hammocks fit great under this tarp. I looked at the 12' version, but thought it would limit my hanging options and be harder to keep a tight tarp ridgeline. Hope that helps.

Yep found it online not a bad price for it either now to save my pennies for one.