So here is a new piece of gear I plan to use on a few thru hikes this year. I call it: The trailschlut.






Its made of 3 hefty bags, and some various tape I gleaned. The floor is emergency blanket. I am spending the night in it tonight and in the morning ill tape the e-blanket to the edges of the "tarp" its closest to now. The trekking pole corner is facing west, wind blowing NW at about 20mph. Temps are reading °36 at 6:34pm. Im rockin a reg. Ridgerest, +35 synthetic mummy. Patagonia cap1 tops+bottoms, trekking wool socks, fleece hat, rei revelcloud jacket. I have a pair of liner gloves also an xtra e-blanket incase temps dip. they will, ill use it for a VB if I get cold. Light rain is in the forcast anf I see ice on the ground beside me...ill post more pics tomorrow.

Edited by trAletrasch on 02/26/2012 19:41:51 MST.

why tape the floor to the shelter? Either way, it will be interesting to see how/if it warps with repeated tension/wind stress.

Looks good.

But don't tape the floor to it....for those times you get some condesation.

That, and the SB will tear, etc before the tarp and you may want to replace it.

Edited by funnymoney on 02/26/2012 19:59:17 MST.

ive been lying here reading blogging and realized before checking back on this thread that taping it might not be the best idea due to condensation, so thanks for bringing that up. i will need to replace the SB and i'm thinkin about maybe rocking some tyvek instead..or using them together.

before dark i added more tape to it near the guypoints and another grommet (a 5th, it only had 4) to the middle on one side so that i could pitch it pyramid-style.
I am sleeping in it pyramid-pitch as i type. i'm thinking it will warp a great deal, i'm hoping to get a solid week of nights under it. before major breakdown.
its getting cold. its now 31degrees.

"A few thru-hikes"? That's ambitious. If only I were willing to make time for that much hiking...

Your bargain tarp is clever and looks like it would offer plenty of shelter on all but the most tempestuous days. I would recommend looking over all of the taped seams each time you set it up. Polyethylene doesn't bond well to anything, especially tapes (even very aggressive ones), and it is likely to peel a bit, particularly at temperature extremes (in very cold or very hot weather).

yeahhhh i tried a few tapes that peeled at first and class1 duct tape is what i'm using it appears to stick great and gorilla tape is the stuff to use for grommets for sure.
a few thru hikes does not necessarily mean 1000mi+
wonderland, a few hundred miles on the pct and maybe a couple enchantments thru's is about it. the oddball overnighter or weekend.

of course, cant aford much till i have a job now, can i.