Camping Tarps & Camp Shelters by Crazy Creek

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Camping Tarps & Camp Shelters by Crazy Creek

Camping Tarps & Camp Shelters by Crazy Creek

Camping Tarps - Crazy Creek Camping Tarps

Now you can protect your camp shelter or hang out outdoors and stay DRY! The Crazy Creek Tarps are easily portable and can set up quickly. Take down is a snap as well and you can use the camp tarps to cover your tent, your dog, or your camp gear.

There are great advantages to Tarp Camping, such as the view. When tent camping you constantly have a wall between you and wilderness. Tarps are extremely lightweight. They generally weigh in under 10oz to just over 15oz. That includes all the tieouts. Using your trekking poles or sticks from the forest keeps your pack weight down.

During a rain storm, it is quick and easy to set up a tarp and keep yourself, and your gear, dry. Setting a tent up in the rain is cumbersome, and often ineffective since the tent gets wet in the process. Becasue you don't actually come in contact witht hte tarp matierial, it is not an issue if the tarp is wet or not. Cooking under a tarp in the rain is completely safe.

Tarps are extremely versitile. You can set them up in any configuration you wish to and change the design at any time.

Setting up a Tarp as an A-Frame
(From Tripod.com)

What you will need: 1 tarp, 12 titanium tent stakes. Most of the time there will be objects to tie to (trees, rocks etc. ) and you won't use all of these. Trekking poles and two sticks four or five feet long or four such sticks if you are not using trekking poles. Tie outs, preferrably made of venetian blind cord.

Knots: Tie-outs are attached to the tarp with either a simple overhand knot or a bowline. All stakes and poles are attached with the clove hitch. This is very simple to tie and when it is time to put the tarp away the knots will simply fall apart when you slide them off the end of the stakes or off the end of your poles. This knot also can be loosened easily when you need to slide it up and down a pole in order to find just the right height.

Stake the two corners on the windward side first. Pitch the tarp so the prevailing wind hits the side of the tarp. I stake the back windward corner first. As far as I am concerned, when these two stakes are in, the hard part is over. The tarp is not going to fly away or flip back and hit you in the face. Corners should be staked diagonally. Stake the remaining two corners. Place your stakes so that there will be slack available for the raising of the ridgeline of the tarp. It may take some practice to gage this on the first try. Until then, simply move the stakes closer together or farther apart as needed when you raise the ridgeline.

Attach the front tie out to your trekking pole with a clove hitch and stake it out. Here is where you may need to adjust the distance between corner stakes. The pole should be about 2.5 feet from the tarp so that later you will have room to attach the beak to the pole. First tie a clove hitch on the pole, then tie another on the stake and push it into the ground. It is not necessary to push your pole into the ground. It is tough to place the corner stakes diagonally at this time, so don't worry about it now as you can reset them later. Go around to the back and repeat the process that you just completed in front, attaching and staking the back of the tarp. Attach and stake the side lifters, then the two stakes on each of the windward and leeward sides, and attach the beaks to your trekking poles. Go around and check the corners and reset any stake lines that are not diagonal. There are two more tie outs on each beak that are there if you need them. I have yet to use them.

More Tips from Tripod.com:

If there are trees 15 - 20 feet apart or even one tree the job of setting up the tarp is very simple. Attach the front and back guy lines to the trees at the height you choose ( I always have the front higher than the back), stake out the corners, attach the lifters on the sides, stake the sides and you are done (photo). I generally use a couple of quick release half hitches to secure the back to a tree, and a tautline hitch in front. That way I can adjust the tension as needed.

If you expect to use any tarp in different configurations it is helpful to attach the lines that you expect to shift so they are easily removed and reattached. For these make a loop in the end of each line with either a bowline or simple overhand loop. Pass the loop through the loop or grommet of the tarp then pass the other end of the line (the standing part) through the loop in the free end of the line and pull it tight. The loop remains on the line and the line is now easily moved to another attachment point on the tarp.

Some people like to use one line that is a different color than all the other lines. This line, perhaps placed at the front ridgeline, makes it easy to orient the tarp when first pulled out of your pack.

To take down the tarp, basically reverse the set up process. I like to pull the side stakes and lifters first, then the leeward corners, the ends next, and finally the windward corners. I do this in the same order each time mainly because it helps me keep track of the twelve stakes and, in a wind, the tarp will not blow away.

Pick up the collapsed tarp by grabbing the top in the middle of the tarp. Raise the tarp at this point and all the lines will fall neatly away at the bottom. Stuff it into its stow bag with the part you grabbed going in first. This will prevent any air pockets from forming. When you get to the edge of the fabric all the guy lines will be together. I coil these around my hand and place the coil in the bag last. The next time you pull out the tarp, chances are very good that there will not be any tangled line. Another possiblity is to remove all lines. In this case attach all lines to the tarp with the loops described above so they are easily removed and reattached.

From Wikipedia: A tarpaulin or tarp (also known as hootchie) is a large sheet of strong, flexible, water resistant or waterproof material, often cloth such as canvas coated with plastic or latex. Tarps have multiple uses, including as shelter from the elements (i.e. wind, rain, or sunlight), a ground sheet or a fly in camping, a drop sheet for painting, and for protecting objects such as vehicles or wood piles. It is also used on outdoor market stalls to provide some protection from the elements of nature. Tarps often have reinforced grommets at the corners and along the sides to form attachment points for rope.

The word tarpaulin originated as a compound of the words tar and palling, referring to a tarred canvas pall used to cover objects on ships. By association, sailors became known as tarpaulins and eventually tars.

And since we have mentioned spending time staying dry at the lake, we have the aquapac collection of waterproof camera cases for the ability to take pictures while you are canoeing on the lake this summer.

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