Nath, loved reading your mongolia blog, read it over the past week. I'm so jealous of those landscapes you've seen. Although, I have to say most of the photos depict dry weather. Was this the case?

i wouldnt sleep under one, i prefer the tent. i do like a tarp for your other reasons though, its great to sit under in the shade/dry and watch the world go by.

a good quality thin ripstop in a good size is quite expensive though, and those cheap woven plastic ones (always blue or green!) made out of recycled binliners are just noisy horrible things. thick and heavy too.

This is my set up for my TTR250, all waterproof and compact.

http://i837.photobucket.com/albums/z...4/DSCF4754.jpg

Got a great area for keeping my kit dry, plus I can hook the basha onto another bike and even get another tent underneath.
http://i837.photobucket.com/albums/z...4/DSCF4763.jpg

Hi Harty, just wondering but how are you planning on keeping your soft panniers + tent etc. on the outside safe? In terms of when you stop at a supermarket for 20 mins to get food or in a small town for an hour while wondering around / having lunch? – soz but im planning my first tour in June and was thinking of doing the same thing (UK-Russia) yet not quite sure how i would keep it all safe other than lug it around with me,
Cheers.

Was going to use one of these. One to thread through the underside of the panniers, then one through the zips. To be honest if anywhere is dodgy then as a group, keep someone on guard I suppose :confused1:

http://cdn1.ioffer.com/img/item/755/...K6c5BPvB1p.jpg

Alpkit shelter
 

have considered getting one of these,as many have said how versatile they are.

Rig 7 Lightweight Tarp cover - Alpkit Outdoor Gear Shop

Rig 21 Lightweight Tarp cover - Alpkit Outdoor Gear Shop

They have used walking poles to support theirs but a couple of lightweight poles from a camping shop would do it.

Personally I like to zip myself in at night, I've spent a few nights out sleeping in makeshift shelters and I tend to get bitten by something every time I do it, woke up one morning in a wood in Dorset to find a scorpion curled up in each of my hands, they were probably just warming themselves but I still went through the roof of the shelter, another time I woke up with a dragon fly on my face, that one stung me and my face was so swollen I couldn't see out of my right eye for two days.
I have a friend who does outback tours in Australia and they use mesh tents you get the outdoors experience but with bug, (and snake), protection.

Couldn't agree more!!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2755/...fe1c86cd9e.jpg

Sam

If the tent is a bit suspect when it comes to rain, I think the tarp/basha idea is fine. I have a 3 x 3 tarp and I have used it as an additional layer over the body of the tent, as well as giving us an awning over one side.

The tent was waterproof, but I wanted to see if the tent could then be packed mostly dry despite a night of rain.

It sort of worked. Indeed the part under the tarp was drier, except for some condensation. I simply pegged the tarp with the tent's pegs and points, pulled the tarp across the flysheet and then used paracord to lact the corners to trees nearby.

In other words, you can simply drape your tarp over th tent, peg it down and you should be dry despite a dubious tent...

Back garden Experiement !!
 

http://frothandflames.com/gallery/ma...serialNumber=2

Worked pretty well.. Didn't rain though so not sure if it would of worked as a rain shelter..

Is that a Touratech coffee table?

Funny! it must be a lot of dangerous wildlife in that back garden to need to carry a machete :rofl:mho!! dear-oh-dear-!! still many thanks for that fabulous picture touring ted - I needed a good laugh today!:thumbup1:

Well, there is a good chance the house is in the vicinity of Liverpool, when they sleep they may well find the coffee table up on bricks and the legs gone!

In Merseyside, only the foolish sleep without machetes under their pillow. :helpsmilie:

The legs were still on that table. I think we scared any potential "tea leafs" away with our late, bourbon fueled dancning around the campfire. That tent/setup belongs to Greenmalanashi on here lol.

:innocent:

Tadpole 23 + Basha
 

Hi touring ted.
I went through this exact same head f**k for ages before deciding..
As you considered in the first post, I ended up going for a tadpole 23 tent. Works great and fits me and the missus very snug (with gear outside). I recommend. But one thing to note: The front door only opens halfway across the front, so you get a very restricted view out the font door when brewing up the morning coffe (this will be a source of many "it's my turn to see outside" arguments with the missus).

I got the tent for £80 off ebay. Always plenty on there.

Basha: Have decided to take one for all the reasons above, but also to use as a makeshift bike cover when very wet/parked up somewhere/keep off salt spray when on boats etc etc...

I havent bought it so cant comment, but woodlore . com (Ray mears' website) sell a whole DVD on the subkect of basha (aka hoochie) camping.