Penta Tarp

What was a looking for? I don't remember now. But I found this most excellent shaped tarp that speaks to me. I give you the Penta Tarp. (You'll have to click that to actually see it.) There's also a couple YouTube videos, one from the prototype and the other from starting to sell these things. I know maybe I should sit down with a tarp and some instructions and get started on learning some configurations well enough to pop them up as needed in the wild. A flat tarp can become anything you want it to be given the situation. However, the simplicity of a shaped tarp is wonderful, and this pentagon shaped solo tarp is simple from start to finish. It comes out of a single 72 inch wide piece of fabric trimmed into the shape with one small seam plus reinforcements. Watch how quickly and easily it goes up in either one of those videos! Then, if you really want one, support him in his evening job of becoming a gear designer and manufacturer by buying one.

What I would want it for: I tend to spend my nights out under the stars. If I am worried that it'll rain or otherwise get downright soggy (like it did in the Superstitions), I tend to want some protection. Right now, that protection is a full on double wall tent. I'm locked into that tent having to get first a door zipper, then a fly zipper, undone to have a look at the sky. It takes me away from nature in ways I'm not used to when I have nothing overhead. With the tarp, if it seems a bit dark and you want to see what's happening, you can poke your head out easily and spot the lunar eclipse! (Been there, done that while cowboy camping. Wouldn't have in a tent.) Some weather and, really, some areas, just don't lend themselves to the trust needed for sleeping out under the stars. That's when I would want this. And at just over half a pound, it is an exceptional emergency shelter. The design should cover one all the way to big storm that isn't coming around to the other side for random gusting, and if you do have that, there's the one with storm doors (same link, just on the right hand side) to keep you dry.

The thing is, he's gone and made it out of the wrong material. Somewhat. I need to get to trying something of silpoly and find out exactly how little "low stretch" is. How small that low water take-up is. It's not as good as Cuben/Dynema, but on a budget, it is the best. That part I'm okay with. But he's got the stuff from Ripstop By the Roll, which has 3000mm hydrostatic head while the Xenon at DutchWare Gear claims 4000mm (4500mm on the normal width). They claim it's lighter, too, at 1.2-1.3 oz/yd² while the other is 1.7 oz/yd². It's also a bit more expensive. Presumably weaker? It is starting to sound magic otherwise. It doesn't come in any nice, light colors like the one that was chosen for the available tarps.

He doesn't seem adverse to other people sewing their own from his idea, but also hasn't spoon fed the pattern to everyone. It's 9 feet long and 46 inches wide, which sets a few dimensions. The rest... well, I've had a guess. Something like this.

Start with some 4 yards of extra wide silpoly (or other fabric of your choice) and start cutting away the triangles, leaving seam allowances. Hem the edges, sew up the beak, get in reinforcement as needed (from the lower triangles, if it fits). Storm doors might come from the upper corners (which will be the larger triangles in the real thing)... I think. I mocked it up in some plastic I had handy and it did seem to work, but I had no worries about seams. It would be nice to get a stuff sack out of it too.

Now I just need to get up the gumption to actually do it. I stuck everything in the cart and it is already up around half the cost of the thing already produced. The extra foot on the wide Xenon makes it almost twice as expensive!