My buddy's tarp setup changed how I think about rain protection

Reese Jenkins · 2026-04-24T02:20:04.282863+00:00

I was out last weekend at a site near Lake George, just doing a quick overnight. My buddy Dave shows up with this beat up old army tarp, not even a real tent. He set it up in like 5 minutes, string between two trees, stakes at the corners, done. We got hit with a solid drizzle around 2am. I was inside my $250 tent, zipped up, but moisture still crept in through the floor. Dave's tarp? He was bone dry, just hanging out under it, cooking on a little stove. He told me 'you spend too much on gear that fights the weather instead of working with it.' That hit different because he's right. Tent floors always fail eventually, but a well pitched tarp just lets water run off. Now I'm looking at my tent different, wondering if I've been overcomplicating things. Anyone else ever ditch the tent for a tarp and not look back?

nancythomas4mo ago

Why do people act like rain is some kind of unsolvable mystery?

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laura_allen4mo ago

Fair point about the tarp working with the weather, but a good tent shouldn't fail like that. Sounds like the issue was the tent itself, not the category of gear. A solid double-wall tent with a proper fly can keep you bone dry even in a downpour, plus you don't have to worry about bugs crawling on you at night.

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the_mila4mo ago

My cousin took a tarp setup on a trip in the Adirondacks a few years back. He woke up to a full on frog strangler at 3am, but he was snug under his cheapo tarp with a proper ridge line. Meanwhile, his friend in a high end tent was bailing water out of the bathtub floor with a cook pot. Now he swears by tarps for anything except buggy summer nights.

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