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A poor tarp pitch can lead itself to condensation. Did you use a plastic ground sheet? Water running under the tarp when it's raining can cause a lot of humidity inside the tarp. Were you pitched on long grass? Plant life can increase condensation under a tarp. This can also be alleviated by a plastic ground sheet. How close to the ground was your tarp ...

Spectra/Dyneema (UHMWPE) fibers are the strongest fibers available for weaving fabrics, but the puncture resistance of a woven fabric depends heavily on the weave. The major puncture risks for rafts or inflatable sleeping pads are needle-like (thorns, pine needles, wood splinters, etc.). Sharp-edged rocks could not easily puncture a raft or sleeping pad ...

This happened to me too - once we took a plastic tarp with us instead of a tent. Terrible storm catched us. But we sweated under the plastic tarp so horrible that we preferred to stay out on the rain and kept only our bags under it. Condensation occurs when humidity meets cold - where humidity is so high (or the temperature is so low) that it cannot remain ...

The key differentiator between tarps and more modern tent material is the breathability and wicking you get from modern materials. Modern tents are very effective at passing moisture outside, but even then, you still see the recommendation that you don't let anything touch the inside of the tent during the night as moisture will take the easiest route. ...

Let's look at the physics behind where all the condensation came from. At night the air gets colder, but the ground has a lot of "thermal mass", so stays much closer to the average day/night temperature. This means at night the moisture from the ground will be entering the air at the ground, but that air will cool as it rises. That increases the water ...

I don't get condensation under my tarp, not in general, even after several hours in a heavy downpour. I don't pitch it over vegetation, in general. I did have condensation one time when I had it pitched close to the ground, just enough for me to lay under, and it rained heavy all night, perhaps 1-1/2 inches or more. If the rain's coming straight down, I ...