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27/7/2022 at 11:04am
Location: London
Outfit: Lunar Cosmos 524
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Joined: 17/9/2015 Diamond Member 
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Bought one recently for use on our minimalist camping trip to France. Usually take a big 6 berth tunnel tent with porch for use as the kitchen, but this time with only two of us went for a couple of 1-2 man canvas coffin tents and the kitchen in the open.
Bought the tarp mostly for keeping the rain off the 3-way fridge, but also meant we could cook in comfort regardless of weather. Also had the standby duty of sheltering the old unproven tents (donated to us) if their waterproofing proved deficient, which is partly why I went for the bigger version.
Bit of a faff to get the tarp erected, partly because first use and unfamiliar, but mostly because the weather was s**tE, raining quite heavily and probably too strong a wind to be trying to put a tarp up!
Once erected in the tall pole at each of the 'square' corner format with tapered extensions sloping to ground we found it pretty robust to the wind. The webbing strap guys did stretch/slip a little and needed a few adjustments to re-tension on occasions, but they were put under some duress by the weather! The wire pegs supplied whilst thicker and longer than most, were not really up to coping with the very friable sandy soil, so I used hefty rock pegs with two crossed over on the guys most strained by the wind. Probably would have benefited from a 5th pole for use with the included 'mushroom' pole head to put a dome in our configuration to shed collected rain a little better, but between the slope of the pitch and the odd flap from wind it remained pretty clear of puddling rain.
It proved utterly waterproof for the 5 days we used it with everything from torrents to drizzle thrown at it. What truly amazed us was it's heat repelling properties, it was very sunny (when not raining!) with temps up in low 30C's , but it really did take the extreme heat out of the sun, and we sat out under it in total comfort. During the day the tents were ovens and intolerable to do any more the dive in, grab something, and dive out again (soaked in sweat!), but under the tarp was lovely. It would also appear that the claimed UPF 50+ is justified too, my pal is prone to vanishing in a puff of smoke if he ventures out in the sun without something akin to an overcoat on, but hours under the tarp and he didn't even get pink! Being mostly an off white colour may seem like a disadvantage in terms of keeping it clean, but it does mean that when under it you are in merely subdued lighting not deep dark shadow.
When considering buying the tarp, did wonder if £60 was a bit too much for our needs and what we'd get, but having used it in anger, worth every penny! Only negative, but not really a fault of this tarp over any other of comparable size is probably essential to have two (or more) people to erect it in some of the variable formats, that's a lot of sail area! Often overlooked in a review is the break down, we took it down in much kinder weather (even if it was too hot!), and it all packed up perfectly without any struggles to get it back in it's carry bag.
Be interesting to read your experiences with it Sean
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Topic: Back to a tarp.
via mobile 26/8/2022 at 9:52pm
