No Need to "Air-Out" the Sleeping Gear 

If using a tent, the sleeping bag or quilt must be "aired out" each mid-morning, to rid it of the absorbed moisture. When using a tarp, I have no need to air-out my sleeping gear, because my tarp does not entrap moisture. Rain or not, my gear stays dry. This saves me the bother of stopping and pulling out the sleeping gear each morning, spreading everything to dry, and then reloading things back into the pack. I enjoy taking rest breaks throughout the day, but not to empty my backpack of its contents in order to dry them.

The Tarp Offers a Wider Selection of Camping Choices 

.. Because I can pitch it over bushes and small trees when necessary, and sleep comfortably in my Net-tent nestled between the greenery, the tarp offers a much wider selection of camping choices.

I coined the term "stealth camping" to mean camping away from established campsites, and have used the concept for decades. During my second and third thru-hikes of the Appalachian Trail, I stealth camped with my tarp almost every night, and experienced no problems finding places to sleep anywhere along the full length of the trail. Again, that was because I could pitch my tarp over bushes and saplings when necessary. I could not have done that with a tent. The Appalachian Trail has comparably few places to stealth camp with a tent, away from the designated shelters, because of the dense vegetation.

On the Appalachian Trail, I would not dream of choosing a tent over a tarp. One reason is because of the relative lack of possible tent sites - compared to the vast tarp camping potential. Many times during my AT hikes, the weather would deteriorate rapidly and I would need to find a place to camp pronto. Because I carried a tarp, this was much more easily done. For me at least, a tarp opened up huge possibilities for safer camping.

The tarp provides far more sheltered living space than a small "lightweight" tent, so the tarp has room for backpacks and other gear. This is especially important rainy night, and if I need something from my backpack, I have it right there handy.

Not including the beaks, the two-person tarp shelters an area 106" long by 92" wide when pitched with a roof slope of 30 degrees.

Our one-person tarp shelters the same length, and 75" wide. As an example, for someone 20" wide at the shoulders (which is my own measurement) this tarp would give them 27" of additional coverage to either side. This shelter would be more than three times their width!

If you cannot find a camping place this wide, which would be very rare, simply pitch the tarp with a steeper slope to its roof, so that the sides don't spread out as much.

 I Much Prefer to Camp in the Rain with a Tarp rather than a Tent 

Rain is a simple fact of the outdoor experience. The tarp is easier for me to pitch in a heavy rain, without getting the rest of my gear soaked. The tarp has much more room to accommodate my gear, so I don't have to leave anything out in the rain. It has plenty of space also for cooking a meal, and I don't have to worry about dangerous stove fumes accumulating inside a tent and possibly causing asphyxiation. Best of all, I find it much easier to break camp in the rain. I can load my gear into the backpack while still under the tarp, and then at the last moment I can step out, take the tarp down and stuff it into an outside pocket of my backpack, and begin the day's hike.

Normally, one pitches the tarp higher, with the ridge further above the ground, for better ventilation. But in stormy weather the tarp is pitched lower, with tarp's sides close to the ground for better protection. This is a simple matter of raising or lowering the ridge, then adjusting the side spread narrower or wider by lengthening or shortening the side lines.

Also, the lower the pitch, the more the beaks angle downwards to help shelter the interior. And if the wind is blowing rain into the tarp's interior, one can fit a Bat-Wing (Tarp-Door).

In the wilds for weeks at a time, I depend on my shelter. I don't want to risk a tent pole buckling in strong wind, which would render the tent immediately unserviceable. My tarp has no poles, so the risks of a shelter failure are much reduced. Instead I use trees or stout support sticks found naturally in the forest. In the same light, I don't have to carry those tent poles all day when hiking or biking.

 A Ray-Way Tarp is Stronger than a Tent 

I have camped in winds so strong they might have flattened just about any backpacking tent. But in such conditions I simply pitch my tarps low lying, to reduce the effects of the wind. So in effect, the lower I pitch the tarp, the stronger it becomes.

A Ray-Way tarp is more economical than a tent. Yet despite its low cost, the tarp is surprisingly durable. So durable, in fact, that it lasts for many years of hard use. The durability is important to me because my outings tend to be hard on gear - mainly due to the boisterous weather and rugged alpine terrain.

 The Tarp can be Easily Home-Made 

The Ray-Way Tarp is simple in construction, so it is easy to make.

I like to make my own hiking and camping gear for a certain sense of gratification and a better sense of belonging in the wilds due to the more thorough preparations.