Managed to get a couple of hours spare today so ventured out to harvest some birch bark and to pitch my new TW Sargasso tarp for the first time.
The model I purchased is the 3.9m x 2.5m in rip stop material in green.
The tarp comes in its own stuff sack along with a separate bag containing some guy lines and quite heavy duty plastic tent pegs. All look good quality (but I shan’t be using them).
I was surprised, and pleased at how small the packed size of the tarp was and the rip-stop material is ‘paper like’ to touch but seems very strong and very light.
The hexagonal shape with concave cut to the ‘long’ edges makes for a nice ‘taut’ pitch. The quality of stitching throughout is excellent and all tabs/ seams are well made and seem very strong. The material is very lightweight but seems very strong and isn’t noisy in the wind.
I especially like the internal ‘D’ rings at each end of the tarp (ideal for me to attach the TW Hornet’s bug bet to) and the small pockets on the inside of each corner for stowing your guy-lines.
I moved my guy lines and closed the door and here is where the first improvement could be made. TW have chosen not to run the Velcro for fastening the doors / ends from top to bottom. It stops about half way down which means that the end is not sealed completely (see picture). Of course you can run guy lines from the bottom of the door flaps in order to seal it more effectively but it would have been simple to make the Velcro full length. (I will probably add extra Velcro myself).
In summary a very good piece of kit, small pack size, lightweight, well made and with the ability to close the doors in very inclement weather. It will very likely become my ‘go to’ tarp for hammocking.
Cheers
Steve
The model I purchased is the 3.9m x 2.5m in rip stop material in green.
The tarp comes in its own stuff sack along with a separate bag containing some guy lines and quite heavy duty plastic tent pegs. All look good quality (but I shan’t be using them).
I was surprised, and pleased at how small the packed size of the tarp was and the rip-stop material is ‘paper like’ to touch but seems very strong and very light.
The hexagonal shape with concave cut to the ‘long’ edges makes for a nice ‘taut’ pitch. The quality of stitching throughout is excellent and all tabs/ seams are well made and seem very strong. The material is very lightweight but seems very strong and isn’t noisy in the wind.
I especially like the internal ‘D’ rings at each end of the tarp (ideal for me to attach the TW Hornet’s bug bet to) and the small pockets on the inside of each corner for stowing your guy-lines.
I moved my guy lines and closed the door and here is where the first improvement could be made. TW have chosen not to run the Velcro for fastening the doors / ends from top to bottom. It stops about half way down which means that the end is not sealed completely (see picture). Of course you can run guy lines from the bottom of the door flaps in order to seal it more effectively but it would have been simple to make the Velcro full length. (I will probably add extra Velcro myself).
In summary a very good piece of kit, small pack size, lightweight, well made and with the ability to close the doors in very inclement weather. It will very likely become my ‘go to’ tarp for hammocking.
Cheers
Steve
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