[pct-l] TarpTent: Any advice?

[Lonetrail at aol.com (Lonetrail@aol.com)]

JIm 
 

I just spent three weeks in March on the AT with my Tarptent. We had rain  or 
snow every day or night except for one day. The temperature at nights  
usually was under thirty.
 
 I was conformable even in heavy downpours but I believe just a little  to 
wet from condensation. I would have to reconsider taking the  Tarptent during 
the wet season. Then again do I want to carry an extra  two pounds. 
 
I notice that when it dried out during the day the material would shrink  
around the area were you slide the rear poles thru. I found out if I would take  
a wet rag along the seam it would stretch so you could put the pole ends into  
the grommets with less strain on the Easton Aluminum poles.
 
I have the solo Virga with a sewed in floor. I am also 6'1" and have plenty  
of room
 
I also found that the two other valuable gear items that I had was the  Corcs 
shoes and a water resistant 3 oz wind breaker. I carried a 13 oz raincoat  
but I found I got more wetter from sweating then with the wind  breaker.
 
Lonetrail
:

I have  been reading about the TarpTent Virga2 recently, but have never seen  
one.  For those of you thaqt have experience with them, would you answer  a 
few questions?

How much "use-able" room would a 6'1" guy like me  have?  How well do they 
stand up to wet weather?  Floor or  no-floor?  (I hate bugs!)  How durable are 
they?  Por's and  Con's?

Thanks for any advice you can give!

Jim "Dallas"  McCrain