Rain shelter?

[TXyakr]

Here are some embarrassing photos of my nylon tarps, but not near a fire due to danger of sparks burning holes in them. It would appear by the suspension lines that I set them up in the dark after drinking far to much tequila. I should have paddled faster and drunk less. ;-) Sabine River. Will try to add more but must reduce resolution 1st.
SabineTarpSM.jpg

HiViz para cord line and red chair defeats the purpose of camo tarp but easier to find at night.
SabineTarp2sm.jpg

San Marcos car camping in 85F night lows - 110F highs
drunken, heat stroke suspension system, worst ever
sanmarcosTarp.jpg

Slightly less drunk on the Kiamichi river, "river stone" island, canoe wilderness camping.
KiamichiTarp1.jpg

Note aluminum pot bottom far left with tea candles, later stacked river stones around them to reduce humidity trapped under tarp when I closed flaps for the night. January in Oklahoma, temps only down to 25 or 28F, basically shorts and T-shirt weather compared to Alaska.

[TXyakr]

Those simple $10 polyester diamond shaped tarps from Yukon outfitters are reasonably good. Many people trying to go light weight prefer Silicon treated nylon (SilNylon) or Cuben Fiber but 190T polyester with polyurethane coating can actually hold up better to sunlight (UV), so may be worth the weigh penalty for such a small tarp. I also like the tarps that have grosgrain loops along the top or as side panel pull outs this allows you to run a cord thru them and suspend to nearby trees etc to reduce the rain puddles on it and increase the head space below.

From time to time you can find Yukon on sale at Woot dot com (sorry if that is spam) I have never purchase from that site but it is very popular with many camping people, most of their stuff is a little junky to me but everything I take camping gets trashed anyway so what the woot.

I recommend just cutting or finding on the ground some sticks or poles to hold up the corners and "Pitching" a tarp like this in "porch" mode, then only pull the corners down to the ground if it is going to rain hard or strong winds. Many YT videos showing this here is one, from a guy who sells very expensive tarps. minutes 5:30 to 6:30



One of my photos in comment above and other people's photos in previous comments showed porch mode tarps better, point is sticks or found poles make this easy to do if a nearby tree or shrub is not convenient, or use a trekking pole or canoe/kayak paddle etc.

I also have a "Free Standing" Tri-pod shelter from Abo that I replaced the fiberglass poles with aluminum to make it lighter and pack smaller but I rarely use, mostly just when on a sand bar/beach with no trees. These and Kelty shade maker versions etc are a pain to set up and pack and even with all aluminum poles or not do not fit in a small kayak.

[1stimestar]

Ever since the early days, and after the pup tents ...there was always some sort of fly......

From the cheapy Kmart Tent....we used a screen house set up over the tent....hung the center tie.... up in a tree.
You can really make your life more pleasant....several different set ups....

Newest SG tent, Walmart awning....
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Rondy...

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Early Kitchen fly used with Tipi....

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One of the Alaska show, can't remember the name....but a guy wife (Inuit) and 3 daughters det up summer camp and using a kitchen fly.....for out door shelter in bad weather

That was Life Below Zero, the one I'm going to be on, if they don't cut me out again lol.