How to Make and Pitch Tarp Shelters and Camping Tents

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Four tarp shelters from one versatile tarp.
Four tarp shelters from one versatile tarp.
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Versatile tarp shelter, option two.
Versatile tarp shelter, option two.
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Versatile tarp shelter, option four.
Versatile tarp shelter, option four.
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Versatile tarp shelter, option three.
Versatile tarp shelter, option three.
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Whelen lean-to tent. 
Whelen lean-to tent. 
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Whelen lean-to tent sewing detail.
Whelen lean-to tent sewing detail.
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Forester tent.
Forester tent.
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Forester tent sewing detail.
Forester tent sewing detail.
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Tarp-sewing detail.
Tarp-sewing detail.

Readers of outdoor literature who’ve been around for a while have undoubtedly encountered one or more of Bradford Angier’s many books. Drawing upon a lifetime of experience gained living in the wilderness (especially at his backwoods home on British Columbia’s Peace River, near Hudson Hope), Angier writes with knowledge and a Thoreauvian simplicity.

When I’m camping with a pack train, I carry a light 7 1/2′ X 12′ tarpaulin rolled behind my saddle. Such a versatile tarp goes with me while I’m canoeing, too. 

The tarp I’ve long used I made myself by overlapping and sewing together three 12′ strips of water-repellent green fabric 32″ wide, then adding a 1″ hem all around. The corners I reinforced by stitching on four 4″-square pieces of the same material. Half-inch-diameter grommets at each corner (rather than the tie tapes shown in the Image Gallery), two on each of the shorter sides, and three on the two longer sides, completed the job. And since I used grommets instead of ties, I added a 6′-long, 1/4″-diameter section of rope to each of the metal eyes.

Ordinarily, I pitch this tarp shelter at a single 45° slant, with the two sides bushed in and a cheerful fire burning companionably in front. It can also be erected several other ways, depending on the circumstances, as suggested in the Image Gallery.

Material and Equipment for Camping Tents

  • Published on Mar 1, 1984
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