Advice on equipment for beginer please?

[kemmett]

Hi,
I'll be camping light in Bellingen in April. I'll be with experienced people but the idea is for it to be a bit of a learning experience. 10 days total, about 4 nights away from the main camp. I don't have any camping experience. We're asked to use a tarp, and no hammock. The gear-laden world that seems to be light camping is pretty overwhelming. I'm looking for a tarp, probably some form of insect netting, and a sleeping mat. I will be cycling in from Urunga (and back afterwards) so I want to keep the weight down BUT I don't have plans to make a habit of this either, so want to keep the budget moderate. Hopefully someone can answer a couple of questions:
1) I've seen the Ray-Way tarp and net tent options online. Is this a viable option (quality, complexity - I haven't sewn before)? I haven't come across many mentions of Ray's stuff in these forums.
2) Where is a good place to learn about setting up a tarp
3) Would you recommend some insect netting and a floor in Bellingen in April? I would have thought so, but...

Thanks for any advice you can give,
Chris

[clarence]

Any of the flat tarps will be fine, even if it isn't a high quality one it will keep you pretty dry. One of the high tech WE type tarps will be over $100. A generic lightweight tarp about 2.5mx3m will be adequately large for 2 persons and be less than $50 (obviously the quality will be lower). For what you are doing the latter would be fine. Once you are out you will work out how to set it up pretty quickly, just make sure you have a good few metres of 2 or 3mm cord (I'd say 10m in total would be heaps) and six pegs. Don't worry about poles if you are in forest areas, just use sticks or existing trees. There are two main setup methods- the a-frame or the lean-to. The site, weather and tarp will dictate the ideal setup.

Sewing insect nets around tarps is a bit of a waste if you are only going to use it for a trip or two. High quality mesh is hard to find and once it is sewn in it can restrict the way the tarp can be set up and still be insect proof.

Instead I would suggest a cheap domestic insect net (last one I bought some years ago was about $30). If you run a string ridge line under the high point of an a-frame tarp setup the net can be hung from this and tucked in around the edge of your groundsheet. The mesh in many of the domestic nets is, however, larger than good no-see-um mesh and may let persistent ants or leeches through.

I used to carry the fly and poles of a two person dome tent with a separate groundsheet and carried the insect net in summer just in case. It worked out way lighter than a full inner tent and the insect net could be wrapped over the outside of the dome tent and tucked under the groundsheet and worked reasonably well. A few bits of gear and sleep mats would keep the edges fairly well sealed against the ground. This way we could easily put three people in the tent outer (as there was no inner restricting sleeping space). On a clear night you can just hang the net up from a tree branch without the need for a tarp and experience one of the great pleasures of camping.

I would take the insect net and some from of floor for Bellingen in April (NOTE I now in Tas but walked and cycle toured for many years in NSW)

[kemmett]

@ clarence, thanks for the reply and advice. I now have a 3mx3m tarp (second hand) and some tyvek for a floor. The tarp is probably a bit big, but I'll have a bike with me, so can use the extra space. I'd like to think I'll do some more cycle touring in the coming years, so I think it's a bit of an investment.

I found a fair few resources on youtube about setting up a tarp, also about various knots. Hopefully I'll take enough notes to make it work.

I bought a s2s single bug net and will follow your suggestion about tucking it under and using the ridge line. I'll treat the mesh before I go, maybe the ants and leeches will let me rest.