For those of you who have made the henry shires original tarptent, how many have used it during a full storm? How did it do? After making my tarptent for 2, I sprayed it a little with my garden hose to make sure the seams didn't leak, but I'm curious as to how it does in an actual rain storm with wind and the works. Anyone?

I've heard the silnylon fabric starts to really stretch after prolonged exposure to the elements and will start to absorb and collect water rather than beading and sheding it off. How true is this? After spraying it with my garden hose, it seemed to hold up fine to me.

No one has used a MYOG silnylon tarptent in the rain?

I've used silnylon tarps in gales that collapsed or destroyed expedition tents. Don't know about the tarptent, but, given a competent user, it should do OK.

No experience with Shires, but a fair amount with sil-nylon. As far as I know, the only exposure that's deleterious is to sunlight. The manufacturer of my tarp recommended pitching in shaded areas and not leaving it erected in base situations for longest life. My tarp does tend to stretch a little making it necessary to cinch up on the guy lines, but I've never known it to leak.