I just started hammock camping and I need to get a tarp. I'm a little confused on what the difference is between these hammock brand tarps and the ones you can get at Home Depot or Lowe's. Can anyone shed some light on this or any benefits to using one type of tarp vs the other?
The tarps you'll find at home stores are heavier (much) than the wonderfully light tarps you'll read about in the forums. Also, the tarps we use are usually one solid piece of material with minimal stitching. The poly tarps at home stores are more like tightly woven blankets. Weaving=tiny holes for water.
Home Depot tarps degrade quickly (very quickly in my experience). They weigh three to four times or even more what a silnylon, silpoly or cuben fiber tarp would weigh. If you're hiking any amount of distance, you'll appreciate the lower weight.
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." Ralph Waldo Emerson
Utility tarps such as the ones from Home Depot, are heavy, bulky, not durable, and use grommets. I find the grommets in those things come out with consistent high winds, especially on the cheap blue ones. These tarps come in different grades increasing weight with durability. Ones not treated with UV protection break down quickly and the cheap blue ones don't last long anyway, probably due to the loose weave.
The ones made for camping are generally lighter, pack smaller, and made with sewn in pull-outs, and have a tight durable weave. The pull-outs being sewn in are much more durable. Also, the edges are generally hemmed using quality thread made to last. They are constructed with the mindset of getting a good taught pitch for protecting people from the elements.
You can certainly use utility tarps for camping and they are cheap.
Thank you for all the insight on this topic!
With these tarps made for camping, what brands do you recommend? What shapes of the tarp do you find to work best?
Yes the tarps at home improvement stores are very heavy, hard to setup, and not very great when backpacking or camping. If you are looking for easy to setup, cheap, and light then get a Yukon outfitters, warbonnet, Hennessey hammock, hammock gear rainflys. If you want to get a really light rainfly and don't mind the price then get a cuben fiber tarp from hammockgear.com
for starters why don't you try the Warbonnet Edge for $95? It weighs 11.25 ounces and has an 11ft ridgeline. Another good first one to try is the Wilderness Logics Tad Pole tarp for $95 and 12.7 ounces.Originally Posted by Augendazs
Or if you're really just wanting something cheap to get your feet wet you can try the Kelty Noah 9 tarp...$44 on amazon.com. It weighs 24 oz and covers 12.7 feet on the ridgeline when diamond pitched.
Last edited by Kroma; 03-03-2016 at 21:39.
+1 on the Wilderness Logics Tad Pole. My go to tarp. Love it!
Just picked up a Yukon Outfitters Walkabout on Woot for $16 a week ago, but it can be had right now for $36 on amazon. Not as much coverage for wind as other options but if there isn't anything more than a sprinkle of rain in the forecast then it should be fine, plus it's only 14oz.
Like a lot of camping choices, your choice of tarp greatly depends on what sort of camping you plan on doing. I would never think of carrying one of those blue tarps on a backpacking trip, but if I needed a cover to string over the picnic table or even my hammock during my next car camping trip, I would not hesitate to throw one or two in the back of the truck. Yes you could use one of these tarps instead of a purposed built sil poly tarp, but only you can decide if that is the best solution for you.
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