Largest Tarp?

[Alaskan Hanger]

Hello All,
well back from my first hang. Most my equipment worked well. I did find out my Superfly tarp, thought light weight, was to short. Let me explain. the conditions were wet to say the least. It started to rain before I even arrived (I arrived first of the group). I hung the tarp a couple inches above the ridgeline of the hammock because of the rain. But the quilt protector still hung below the bottom of the tarp. There was little to no wind, so my gear remained dry. But It has shown me that for me to raise the tarp high enough for me to sit comfortably under it, the hammock will be hung awful high. maybe to high to get in and out of it easily.

So here is my question:
What is the largest silnylon tarp with doors available. I need the highth it doesn't matter the weight. Cost is the important part, so cuben fiber is out of the question.

Thanks for the help
Alaskan

[Bubba]

Underground Quilts does custom work and they make good tarps. Give Paul and Missy a call.

[Slider1]

My Hennessey hex double works fine. 10 x 12. Sometimes I lower the hammock and make it tighter. This helps a little. I'm 6'1" and have to put the tarp higher but the hex seems to work ok. +1 on what bubba said. Get one that meets your needs. Have fun!

[weaver2469]

Just to clarify, do you mean it wasn't wide enough? By that I mean that each side of the tarp you needed to be longer? I think the superfly, at 120" wide is about as wide as I have seen by the usual cottage tarp makers. I think Cooke Custom Sewing (canoe country guys love CCS stuff) will make you whatever you want, but bigger tarps get to be costly. You also might look at a Kelty Noah 12. It is 144" by 144".

[themadindian]

Both my kids use the kelty noah 12, extremely versatile tarp and many configurations

[Puck's]

I'd add in another one to take a look at the Kelty Noah 12. For the price and possible configurations its pretty decent tarp.

Wife and I did several weeks with just Blue Tarps from Harbor/Walmart. Allowed us to get a feel for how big we needed. My wife liked to have a wider tarp to bring down on sides for privacy and up for larger porch mode.

I have been toying with a BYOG tarp, as I haven't found a wide tarp at a price point I like. Ripstop by the roll has some sil membrane material that has really been tempting me to try a DIY Tarp. If that's an option for you might look into that. In my estimates, I can build for about 1/2 price compared to buying one, just not sure I want to tackle that as my first DIY project yet. Dutch also has some material on sale for Black Friday that has been tempting me also.

the two I was looking at :
http://ripstopbytheroll.com/products...ant=7949695105
http://www.dutchwaregear.com/xenon-sil.html

Good Luck

[Boston]

I think you're expiriencing "newbie doubt".

The superfly is one of the biggest tarps you can buy for hammocking. You will NOT have a coverage problem with it.

Very rarely does a tarp need to be "battoned down" (hung super low) Based on your description of conditions you'll be perfectly fine hanging the tarp higher.

[Alaskan Hanger]

Hello Again,
To clarify, The ridgeline is long enough but the sides are not long enough, from the ridgeline down. In porch mode with my hammock under the tarp there is not enough room for me to sit under the tarp too. At 6'-6" tall and 285lbs. I take up a bit of room. Its not newbie doubt, I have spent a lot of time hunkered down beneath a tarp waiting out the rain.

Alaskan

[themadindian]

Here's my Hennessy Hex in porch mode and my son's Noah 12 in door/storm mode

and here is the noah 12 in porch mode with the corners folded in taking away room and that's still a lot of room

[Boston]

Hello Again,
To clarify, The ridgeline is long enough but the sides are not long enough, from the ridgeline down. In porch mode with my hammock under the tarp there is not enough room for me to sit under the tarp too. At 6'-6" tall and 285lbs. I take up a bit of room. Its not newbie doubt, I have spent a lot of time hunkered down beneath a tarp waiting out the rain.

Alaskan

The tarp is 10ft wide. You're not THAT big. I've weathered plenty of storms under my similar width tarp, and even tarps that are smaller. There's plenty of space to sit in a hammock and stay dry, especially in porch mode if it's not super windy.

Like I said, I think you're over thinking this too much. Think about it this way: you're on here complaining that one of the most popular, well regarded, and largest tarps on the market for hammocks is too small. Are you that much bigger than everyone else who uses one? No. Are you more experienced than all the other users, and we somehow aren't seeing the problem? No.

You can do what you want, but what I'm trying to tell you is I think the problem is more with your perception, not the tarp. Use it some more, play around during storms in your back yard. Test it to see what works and what wont. I think you'll be surprised.

Or you can ignore me, and go buy another tarp. It's not my money.