Best Budget Tarp for Beginner?

[Red Wing]

Jacks has some decent size sil tarps for 70 or 80, those henessey hex fly is a great buy. So is the DnD 9x9 or 3mx3m rather.

[geneaut]

I started with the old blue poly tarps, because I already owned some. They worked fine for car camping, but weren't great for backpacking. They were also fairly loud in a driving rain storm.

I then purchased a Noah Kelty 9. Slung in a diagonal it covers even an 11' hammock fairly well. I've never gotten wet under it. I don't feel the need for insane amounts of privacy so the diagonal hang doesn't bother me.

However, seeing all the 12' tarps on here drove me to go ahead and spring for the Noah 12 as well. I justified it by telling myself I wanted the ability to close it in door mode in insane weather. In reality I tend to open it up in porch mode far more often.

Somewhere in the middle of all of that I picked up a cheap Guide Gear 8.5' nylon tarp as well ( had a coupon to use so basically got it for free ).

I use all three, but I'm also in Boy Scouts and I tend to keep 'spares' in the back of my vehicle for anything that comes up. I also have children who come with me camping, and the girl child also likes to hammock camp so she gets my Noah 12, while I usually use the 9.

And just to make things more fun I took a 10X12 camo poly tarp and cut it into (2) 10X6 tarps. I've been testing how I like Asyms, and the 10X6 is a good test size. I have that tarp hung up in the back yard now over one of my shorter 9' hammocks as a test of it's weather worthiness. So far so good actually.

TL : DR - the Noah 9 is plenty fine for almost everything I do. Gracious plenty coverage without being insanely heavy if you want to backpack it.

[320Tony]

I recently went with the chinook sand 12' by 9'6" for my WBBB XLC about $45.00 shipped free off amazon. plenty big seems to be a quality tarp. Only used it one time so far. It has metal eye ring for the ridge attachment points witch has me a little worried about longevity before they tear out wish it had nylon straps like the corners which seem very sturdy.

[geneaut]

I recently went with the chinook sand 12' by 9'6" for my WBBB XLC about $45.00 shipped free off amazon. plenty big seems to be a quality tarp. Only used it one time so far. It has metal eye ring for the ridge attachment points witch has me a little worried about longevity before they tear out wish it had nylon straps like the corners which seem very sturdy.

You could add your own straps if you'd like. Or use those little clip own attachments.

[320Tony]

You could add your own straps if you'd like. Or use those little clip own attachments.

I'm not a seamstress don't really know anyone with a sewing macchine either or I spud defiantly try sewing some on. Which clip on deals do you speak of??

[geneaut]

I'm not a seamstress don't really know anyone with a sewing macchine either or I spud defiantly try sewing some on. Which clip on deals do you speak of??

Hammocking got me into hand sewing things. I taught myself in a few hours of sitting on the couch watching Youtube, and practicing on scraps.

The clips I have are similar to these. I've never used them for a ridgeline though, and only on polytarps:

http://www.amazon.com/4pc-Heavy-Duty...ips+heavy+duty

I believe Dutch carries some that act in a different fashion that look like they might be less potentially destructive:

http://www.dutchwaregear.com/clip-on...pull-outs.html

That said, a lot of my original poly tarps have grommets, and I've yet to have one fail. I am certain they are weaker than properly done tie-outs, but I've yet to have an issue.

[Hammynewb]

Thanks all for the great information. I will be doing some backpacking, so not sure about the weight of the kelty. I may save a bit and order one of cottage vendor tarps. Decisions, decisions!

[joe_guilbeau]

Check out post #13
https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...y-Noah-9/page2

I think the Kelty Noah 12'x12' is just about 2 lbs w/o Stuff Sack. Can be had easily for about $70, and lots of tie outs.

[Theosus]

I started with a Hennessy Hex as it was an free upgrade when I bought my explorer. It's bombproof. My son (12 at the time) wanted to get a hammock so I moved him into the Hennessy Hex and I bought a smaller tarp. It's a very forgiving tarp and it does provide lot of coverage.

I'll second that one! I got the hex tarp later as an upgrade when my feet got wet on a couple of rainy hikes with the stock diamond tarp. I still use it for almost every hike. Its a bit bulky to pack but worth it. I hike with a lot of groups, and one rainy morning I put everything away except my tarp. Five of us sat under the tarp and had breakfast out of the rain. I'm looking at making my own out of silnylon, and I'm going to use the hennessy tarp as a pattern, and copy it with some different features. I really like the little cord pouches in the corners for storing the tie out lines. One of my biggest improvements to the hex tarp was replacing those black tie out lines with some yellow reflective cord! I stopped constantly tripping over my tarp lines.