>silnylon tarp
>only 330 grams (11.6 oz)
>will break when exposed to fire or if a branch will fall on it
>expensive to fix or replace
>looks nice
>120 USD
Meanwhile:
>literal piece of plastic drop cloth
>only 330 grams (11.6 oz) for a decent thickness
>will break when exposed to fire or if a branch will fall on it
>easy to fix with ducktape and trivial to replace
>looks like an oversized garbage bag
>2 USD
Why would anyone sane buy a silnylon tarp, PrepHole?
No, I mean it seriously. Why shouldn't I make myself a tarp out of this plastic drop cloth? Is there any benefit (other than looks) that would justify buying a product that's sixty times more expensive?
You forget the sound of plastic "crunching" in the wind. That itself is also very irritating. Also silnylon is more easily packable. Otherwise, I guess it's up to you and your specific flavour of autism.
>the sound of plastic "crunching" in the wind
soul
People have been screwing around with polycro sheets as tarps for a very long time with varying degrees of success.
>if a branch falls on them, both will be destroyed
Not every branch weighs a hundred pounds. The plastic sheets are just much weaker. Wind is a bigger issue. Also, a small rip in a nylon tarp won’t always turn into a catastrophe; hence “rip stop” nylon. A small tear in plastic generally will. There’s also the issue of tie offs for guylines. It introduces a pretty big failure point to plastic.
>a nylon tarp cant be fixed with duct tape but a plastic sheet can
wut?
But yeah, you can absolutely get away with plastic if it’s not too windy and you don’t have bad luck. Go out enough times and it’s more likely to fail.
>>a nylon tarp cant be fixed with duct tape but a plastic sheet can
>wut?
Maybe it's just my cheap, chinease duct tape, but it doesn't stick well to silnylon, while working great with plastic
because i don't wanna look like a homeless, next question?
Do you often encounter other people when camping?
I'm not sure why looks matter if you don't
It can be done quite aesthetically, but I'll admit it's an acquired taste: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2tZLJ3bD1E
Make yourself a backpack out of an ikea bag to complete your ultralighter hobo look (only 380g!)
that is such a flex though, you don't even need a tent because of all the hunnies who will be cuddling up to you with that bag.
I'm married, I would enjoy the b***h repellant effect. 380 grams is based too.
How do you attach the tieouts?
With duck tape, it's really as simple as that.
It's gonna fall apart in the first proper rainstorm.
wrong
How many storms have you weathered under your trash bag tarp?
I camped like that in some really windy conditions, under snow and under regular rain, but not during any powerful storms, when there's a high risk of branches falling down from the trees - I'm a hammock camper and that would be too dangerous for my liking.
If you're really worried, you could take a pinch of dirt, wrap your tarp around it to form a small ball and use that as a tieout, pic related. It should be even sturdier than duck tape adhesive (which again, in 95% of conditions is just fine). I'd still use ducktape though to reinforce material in that place.
If the wind is really strong, you could just make more tieouts, to distribute the force of the wind evenly.
How many garbage bags did it take? How did you connect the bags to one another? Tape? Melt them? Duct tape eventually fails when exposed to water.
I didn't use a literal garbage bag you bozo. I used plastic drop cloth, like the one OP showed on the right. They come in really big sizes; the one I used was 4x6 meters and I had to cut it down to size. It's also much thicker than a literal trash bag.
>Duct tape eventually fails when exposed to water.
Maybe. Didn't happen to me so far. If I was worried, then in case of any tears I'd put duck tape on both sides of the tarp - this way the bottom piece of tape wouldn't be exposed to water at all and give majority of strength, while the top one, more exposed to water, would have to just provide rain protection.
Besides, given how cheap this whole thing is, I wouldn't mind replacing it every other season or so. I think everyone should at least consider this kind of tarp. Especially if you're not gonna meet other campers - it does look like a garbage bag shelter that a homeless person would use.
If you take a trash bag and cut it open by slicing it down one of the sides, then cut it across bottom, you can turn it into a single layered big rectangular sheet of plastic. 2 or 3 of these sheets should be enough to fit a person laying down under it, but it could take more depending on the size of your trashbag and the desired size of the finished tarp.
As for melting them together, sure you can do this. Just overlap the edges of the two sheets of plastic and apply a little heat as you press them together. You can use a bunch of different heat sources to do this too. Like a clothes iron, flat iron, soldering iron, heat gun, or maybe even a hair dryer. You may need to fold a few pieces of paper over and place it on top of the plastic to insulate it from the heat source bit, so you can heat it slowly and evenly.
if you want tape that will last forever on plastic use steam seal tape, its not that much expensive either
will check it out, thx!
np anon give it a try
it will never tear or dry out like duct tape
theoretically, how would installing grommets onto this material end up? would it compromise the integrity of the material?
if there is enough pull on them even the best commercial ones will eventually fail
many people making their own tarps usually stitch patches of leather or something stronger to the edges to take some of that weight off from the grommets
this
is the easiest way to do it and you should learn it anyways if for some reason your tarp would end up ripping
Just scrunch the corner of the tarp up and use it like a piece of rope to tie a sheet bend in it. There are some even more secure knots you can tie too, but this one's quick to tie and easy to learn. You may even already know it.
I just use blue tarps from harbor freight.
Based,
Same here, kept me dry and cozy no problem
>bringing a chair
>when you have a hammock to sit in
why
Not him but
>bug net
if it’s really bad you don’t want to be opening and closing that thing every time you get up/down, it will let the bugs inside.
Also
>lantern
he’s obv car camping so why not bring a few extra comfort items
I take an old railroad lantern for off-trail camping. Shit's maximum cozy.
Yup! Car camping but it’s a mile and a half hike to the spot.
I’ve roughed it with lighter gear but if I can take the chance I’d rather carry something heavier and more comfortable
An 8 by 11 tarp will last you twice as long imo. The extra weight is manageable if you’re only carrying a tarp.
Pros:
>can be used as a rainfly when using a hammock
>can be used as a ground sheep to protect your sleeping pad
>can be used to haul shit
>can be easily incorporated into shelters like a leanto or frick it, can be a standalone leanto
>will last years with no loss of waterproofing
>durable so heavy rain/snow won’t break it.
Cons:
>heavy
>makes noise if super windy
Just buy an 85L pack and stuff it in the bottom. It won’t make that much of a difference if you’re not carrying a bunch of heavy shit or going 10+ miles a day