Naturehike – Cloud Atlas – tarp (290 x 240 cm, 550 g)

A 15D silicone-coated nylon tarp measuring 290 x 240 cm: a roof with no floor, no doors and no insect mesh. You pitch it with guy lines between trees, on your trekking poles or off the bike. 550 g, packing down to 10 x 25 cm.

Key specifications

• Sheet size 290 x 240 cm, weight 550 g.
• Packed size 10 x 25 cm — that fits in a frame triangle or the bottom of a pack.
• 15D silicone-coated nylon, hydrostatic head 2000 mm.
• Colour blue.
• No floor, no insect mesh: this is a roof, not a tent.

What you use it for

For travelling light without carrying a tent: 290 x 240 cm keeps one person and their luggage dry with room to spare, two if you huddle. Also as a cooking and sitting spot beside your tent in the rain, as a sun shade on a pitch, or as a roof over a hammock. For bikepacking this is the lightest shelter that still genuinely shelters.

Pitching and care

Silnylon stretches once it gets wet: re-tension your lines after the first hour of rain, or the fabric sags and water pools on it. Pitch it low and taut in wind, higher when you want airflow against condensation. A hydrostatic head of 2000 mm is plenty for a roof, but do not use it as a groundsheet underneath you: the pressure of a knee or elbow defeats any hydrostatic head. Store it dry — leaving it folded away wet attacks the coating.