Monday 5 October 2009

cowboy tv dinners

Arranging this coming weekends trip I rashly promised to bring Bush Buddy along because Ramblin' Jay was bring her Bushbaby. At the time this looked to be a grand idea; we could while away the evening watching our ultralight versions of the cowboy TV, perhaps toasting something or making popcorn to go with a noggin or two of Scotland's Finest. And to milk the situation for every drop of bushcraft experience I was going leave the usual suspects of the Wasabi or Jabba at home and pack a tarp.

Then the weather happened and I realised that I needed to find a way of pitching the tarp in a more weatherproof way than the lean-to stylee that is my preferred way of putting the tarp up. A flying vee would work but there wasn't any guarantee that there'd be a tree and space to pitch the tarp in the desired position to shed the wind/rain. As my tarp came from BPL I took a look and there was one pitched in the cave or pyramid stylee; using two trekking poles, the tarp has three edges to the ground - ideal.

Cave or pyramind stylee

So I set to and put the tarp up in day light, then in several shades of dusk and twilight, and finally in the dark with the aid of a head torch. It was quite blustery on Saturday morning so I pitched it again to see how it stood up and to checkout the living space.

More than enough space for one

This is a very stable configuration and I expect it to keep the weather off. I could sleep with my feet towards the opening as there's enough clearance at the closed end for my head. I can sit up under the tarp at the open end and cook with the Bush Buddy, and there's enough room should a visitor wish to call. Roll on Friday evening :)

6 comments:

andy said...

Shame that tarp doesn't have a beak? I saw some good ones in the USA generally home made 'Ray-way's'

Think you are adventurous to use it this time of year in the UK.

Just hope the wind does not change during the wee hours

baz carter said...

I'll be using a bivibag so if the air is damp and the wind changes I can turn myelst around and sleep with my head at the closed end :)

Marcus said...

So Baz I think I missed it, where are you headed on Friday then? Be interested to hear how you get on with the tarp with that setup. Looks pretty stable.

baz carter said...

The sides are long so flex a bit but I've another two guys that could be used. Off to a BPC meet on the Ridgeway.

Been raining afair bit down her so will leave the BB at home unfortunately :(

The bike shed said...

Hello Baz - good to meet you this weekend. Didn't envy the tarp much though. Having said that, it looked better than Jay's tiny cave.

Cheers

Mark

baz carter said...

Hi Mark,

Good to meet you too.

The set up worked well. I'm used to frugal interiors as I've got a couple of Golite shelters. The Microlight is a fine little tent but doesnt have enough head room for me.

I'm on facebook so if you have a page we can network there - my email address is in the contact details.

Rgrds,
Baz