I love the width of both. If at all possible it’s nice to pitch it above the hammer and wide with porch mode on both sides. It’s like sleeping under a pavilion!
I love the width of both. If at all possible it’s nice to pitch it above the hammer and wide with porch mode on both sides. It’s like sleeping under a pavilion!
Is a winter tarp worth it, even the Mountain Fly? I'm seriously considering a winter tarp for this season, but I'm not convinced I need to spend the money. I've winter hammock camped the past two years and it has only been a couple of times that the wind was hard down the open end of my tarp. Both times, I was warm and comfy because of good under quilts (-10° Loco Libre Carolina Reaper (the bomb)). It was enough to wake me up and I was somewhat nervous that the under quilt would allow a draft, but I was fine. So that has made me think of doors and my topic searches have led to this very interesting thread. The shape of a normal tarp allows wind down the ends (longitudinal winds?) to bring in rain and cold air that can defeat my under quilt. In the woods or between two trees, is it worth the money to have a dedicated winter tarp and what experiences have led you to that?
This thread is good info. It has moved me away from full-door tarps to solutions like the Mountain (or even Mini) fly. Thanks to all. I appreciate your advice.
I think of the mountainfly as the perfect one-size-fits-all thing, if you're not going to get tarps for seasonal usage. Basically I just want one tarp and I'll just use it everywhere, and the mountainfly seems perfect for that to me. I like the extra coverage just in case.
The "just in case" is what I experienced last week (and failed to achieve). I had my Thunderfly tarp which is enough in most cases.
But I set up on a small peninsula after some hard hiking and packrafting. There were literally two trees, perfect for a hammock, and that's it. The wind was coming 45° at the low side/head end of the tarp. I had a nice porch mode setup on the other side. The wind was really whipping thru and it wasn't until I turned my headlamp on high that I realized how a few big drops falling were blasted into a thousand tiny drops/mist as they fell into the wind. The head end of my UQ was getting misted/wet, so I hung my jacket and it was fine thru the night.
I ended up getting 0.70" of rain over about 4 hours. And I would have gotten an extra 45 minutes of sleep if I had my superfly tarp and wasn't awake messing with stuff.
Long story short, "site selection" is still a joke to me. The chances of wind changing or having no selection at all is extremely high. Having some extra tarp never hurts.
That's interesting to hear, because I came so close to getting the ThunderFly but just wanted that little bit extra. Sounds like you ran into what I worry about. Thanks for the report.
Yeah but ... isn't the Mountain fly just wider but same 11 ft. length? I see; looking at the photos, the extra width allows for more coverage on the half-doors.
OneClick - that's why UQP's are so nice. They compensate somewhat for the wind changing direction. However, they are designed to cover the quilt, not necessarily the whole hammock lower surface area.
In order to see what few have seen, you must go where few have gone. And DO what few have done.
The mountainfly is considerably wider than the thunderfly. 120 inches versus the 103" of the Thunderfly, although mine measures in at just at 57.5" per half side, assuming I'm not doing something wrong with the measuring tape.
That was why in the end I went with the Mountainfly, for that extra bit getting the bottom edge closer to the ground in a bad side driven rain like the one we got soaked in a month ago. Had it been cold, It would have been an awful night. I picked between several trees so that we had the best angle away from the two approaches of wind off the lake, but the rain came in through the forest behind us ( go figgure ) and right down the open ends of the cloudburst.
I just got the Mountainfly and measured it just to be sure I had not accidentally gotten a Thunderfly because it struck me that the beak was very short. Much shorter than my impression of it from Warbonnets site. So I'm doubly glad that I got the Mountainfly in a 13 footer to put over my wife's Ridgerunner. I though the cloudburst I had used with it for about five years was a 13' tarp, but after the soaking I got the tape out and found it to be an 11 footer. Silly me.
I also got the internal pole mod - and now she will "Glamp" in a palace.
Last edited by Pavel; 10-07-2021 at 11:33. Reason: spelling and tense
Pavel - thank you for that additional information. I'm on the fence about all that - MountianFly vs something like a Dutch Extra wide and 11 ft vs 13 ft to accommodate a RidgeRunner in style.
In order to see what few have seen, you must go where few have gone. And DO what few have done.
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