I am planning on getting one of these 2 tarps, planning on a pole mod as well. Does anyone have experience with both?
Thanks!
I am planning on getting one of these 2 tarps, planning on a pole mod as well. Does anyone have experience with both?
Thanks!
The dutch wide tarps are pretty new, so first hand opinions will be limited. But the fabric, at least in a similar form, has been around for some time.
I did have a thunderfly in 20d silpoly. And I have a new, but unused dutch wide winter. The dutch xenon packs smaller and has a lighter, more supply feel. How this effects performance, I have yet to see. But the packability does seems better, even though it is larger then my thunderfly. That's impressive.
Here's a 3rd option to consider: the Winter Haven from Jared at Simply Light Designs. I've had mine for about 5 years and its never let me down. Lots of custom options available and he's fast. Good intel about them in his subforum.
I mean if you just want to start throwing in additional options I was asking about large tarps for the Ridgerunner and got some great responses in this thread. I ended up getting a 20d silpoly 13" superfly. Haven't had a lot of time mid winter to use it yet but couple of set ups and testing it has been promising so far. Looking forward to putting it through the paces.
No pole mod experience - just can't convince myself it's worth the weight.
I have the HG DCF Winter Palace - approximately the same size as the Superfly. I consider the dimensions, 11 ft. long by 10 ft. 4 inches wide, to be great for winter camping.
However, I recently won a Dutch Winter Wide Tarp in Xenon Wide 1.1 at a raffle, and it's got a lot of Dutch bling. It has a non-continuous (split) ridgeline with Dutch Stingerz on each end. The four tie-outs all have Dutch Hookworms, and there are Dutch tarp door hooks on each end. All tie-outs have a shock cord loop. There's different colored cordage spread all around - grey for the ridgeline, blue and orange for the tie-outs. I haven't even figured out what the colors mean (if anything)!
I've never used any of this Dutch hardware, have never used shock cord loops, and have never had a split ridgeline. I suspect I'll swap out the split ridgeline first, but I'm willing to give it all a try just to see how the other half lives! And it's a big tarp - so maybe it will become my go-to for winter camping.
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." Ralph Waldo Emerson
I've got a Superfly I bought several years ago and I love it. Warbonnet offers the choice of two fabrics, Silynylon or Silpoly. I can't vouch for the other options mentioned but I love the Superfly, even in the off seasons. I've pitched in driving rain and thunderstorms and never cared which angle I'm pitched at to the wind. Drop the doors and it's kept me and all my stuff totally dry. I'd never go to a diamond pitch rainfly.
As far as width, If you told me the Superfly was a foot shorter I'd never have guessed. It has more coverage than you'll likely use as it is.
Now that I use a bridge, I have to pay a bit more attention because it leaves a small gap at one end, but even then, if the rain isn't driving directly from that angle I've been able to stay dry just fine.
+1 for the HG DCF Winter Palace. I also own a Superfly which is great, but the DCF material is half the weight and performs better in my experience. Specifically, the Silpoly on the Superfly seems to absorb a little bit of water (not much, and it doesn't leak) which makes it a little annoying to pack up after a wet night, and probably means you're carrying a goodly number of ounces of water around in your tarp until you have a chance to spread it out to dry. The DCF options are expensive, but as they say buy once, cry once. If you take care of it, it should last many years of regular use, and I'd be willing to bet that one day you're going to be looking at options to lighten your pack and wind up with a DCF tarp anyway.
I have both and I'm still trying one and then the other to decide which is going on my 2 week kayaking trip this fall. I love them both. I'm not concerned about pack size or weight. The SF is silnylon and the DW Wide Winter is silpoly but I think both materials are durable, with small character differences.
The main differences I see is the extra 2 foot of the Wide (of course), and the available options. I use the exterior pole mod with the SF. I believe that you can order the SF with one internal pole mod. I got the Wide Winter with double internal pole mods and still use it in external mode, too. It can also come with an inside ridgeline for hanging stuff under the tarp.
My impression so far is that either will do anything I ask of it. The larger size of the Winter Wide is great, and the internal mods make it bombproof, but the extra material can be a lot to wrangle sometimes.
I would also say that the main advantage of the Wide Winter's extra width is I can get lower to the ground for coverage and still have a comfortable height is bad weather.
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