Tarps, blankets, mats and nets. Everyone has a need for each one of these items whether using a hammock and tarp for shelter or a tent, blanket, mat and net for camping or shelter.
Tarps
Tarps are great for so many things including: shelter, ground sheet for a tent, wind break, trailer cover and water collection. The type of tarp you want will depend on the task at hand. A shelter and water collection tarp should be lightweight, waterproof and tough. The best tarp for our research so far is the Aqua Quest Defender. They make several sizes. It is made of heavy duty 70D Nylon with heavy TPU coating.
If you want a ground tarp, you can go with a standard two sided heavy duty 8mil poly tarp. They come in many different sizes and provide an adequate water resistant footprint for a tent.
Blankets
There are also many types of blankets to consider for shelter, camping, and trauma. For a shelter, you can use a heavy double sided emergency blanket. You can also use one of these under your sleeping bag (in a tent, shelter or hammock) to insulate you from the ground.
If you are looking for trauma blankets for first aid, you can use the heavy duty ones above or the thin mylar blankets which fold up smaller for an emergency. These do not make great shelters due to the fact that they can tear easily.
Blankets to be used for warmth only should be warm when wet and fire resistant. Such as a camp blanket, cot blanket or blanket to carry in your vehicle. A 100% wool blanket is the best choice. It is heavy for packing. You can make it part of your cot setup or part of your sleeping bag set up. A merino wool blanket will be considerably lighter weight and softer. It retains warmth even when wet but is more expensive.
Mats
There are thousands of uses for mats. You can put your sleeping bag on them, put them in front of your tent and just inside your tent to keep the dirt from being tracked in, put them inside the tent under the cots and put them up inside the tent for a partition. We have a CGear Sand Free Multi Mat and we absolutely love it. We love it so much for a mat in front of the tent that we purchased another one.
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