They cost so much……. Anyone ever regret purchasing a dcf tarp?
They cost so much……. Anyone ever regret purchasing a dcf tarp?
No.
And I considered my 12' AHE Toxaway to be the bees knees. Still a great tarp. I just don't carry it anymore.
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I bought mine used on the forums so it was quite abit cheaper than list price. ( almost half price!) The pros- its really lite weight, great coverage and is 100 % water proof with no stretch. The cons- price, its a bit louder in the rain ( kind of like a tin roof!) more prone to puncture damage, and the biggest thing for me- its bulky when stored in my pack- storage while hiking is something im still struggling with. So its give and take. I will say that i have been in some crazy bad rain storms ( one lasted almost 24 hrs !!) and stayed completely dry!- no misting etc
Last edited by stevebo; 03-13-2022 at 00:15.
FYI: If you want to know what type a certain bear is, sneak up behind it and kick it. Then,
run like crazy and climb up a tree. If the bear climbs the tree and eats you, it's a black
bear. If the bear just pushes the tree over and eats you, it's a grizzly bear : )
Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me, either, just leave me alone.
--unknown
I bought my HG DCF Winter Palace ten years ago, and it still looks brand new.
As for the usual complaints about DCF:
1. It's louder in the rain - This might be true, but nobody has ever scientifically quantified this claim by carrying a decibel meter out in the woods. Actually, you would need two decibel meters and two tarps to compare them, and nobody is gonna do that. I pay no attention to this claim because rain on a tarp is loud, no matter what kind of tarp it is. When I was young, my family lived in a home with a tin roof, and it was loud, but I always slept like a baby, just like I do with DCF.
2. Bulkier - Yeah, DCF is bulkier, but it weighs half as much as silnylon or silpoly. My DCF tarp fits fine in an outside pocket of my backpack, just like my silnylon tarps do. So the bulk really doesn't matter to me.
3. DCF lets more sun in - might be true, but I am not a day lounger. By the time the sun would be beating down on me, I'm already up and packed by then.
I've used my DCF tarp in 60 mph winds with no problem (though I do wake up every few hours in windy weather to make sure the guylines/stakes are holding).
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." Ralph Waldo Emerson
No, and I still thank myself every time I use it.
As for bulk, I find it a non-issue. Here's how I handle my 11' HG Hex, and it works the same for the Palace as well. I've carried the 11' Hex with packs as small as 28L for some short summer trips.
Noise from rain has never bothered me. Some other sounds do — like frogs, insects, birds such a whippoorwills and owls, distant traffic, coyotes, people snoring (of whom I am one) — but for that I have ear plugs.
Five Basic Principles of Going Lighter (not me... the great Cam Honan of OZ)
“If everybody is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking.” ~ Gen. George S Patton
No. Everything of better-to-high-quality, regardless of sport, will cost more. The bulk is the only objection I have (I like snakeskins, so the package never gets quite as compact as in Bob's video), but the positive trade is weight and that it doesn't sag as much as other materials when wet.
For longer-term DCF tarp users, do you notice any degradation in the fabric? eg, de-laminating or weakness at the common crease points?
There aren't any crease points, unless you fold instead of roll your tarp up.
Delamination only seems to be an issue for people who leave their tarp out in the sun all day. I have heard of some people who've left their DCF tarp out in the back yard for two or three months, then complain that the tarp has delaminated.
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." Ralph Waldo Emerson
>Actually, you would need two decibel meters and two tarps to compare them, and nobody is gonna do that.
I have a decibel meter and will measure the sound level on a SilNylon, SilPoly and DCF tarp IF a vendor will ship me a DCF tarp (I’ll buy the SilPoly)
Though it won’t be a simultaneous read, I can do it a few times to check for consistency. We aren’t looking for a numeric loudness figure - just if one reading is consistently louder than another.
In order to see what few have seen, you must go where few have gone. And DO what few have done.
Five Basic Principles of Going Lighter (not me... the great Cam Honan of OZ)
“If everybody is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking.” ~ Gen. George S Patton
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