Tarp tent

A tarp tent is usually a plastic or nylon sheet used in place of a tent. It is usually rigged with poles, tent pegs (stakes), and guy lines. It is a floorless tent, usually with open ends.

It is sometimes called a "rain fly".fact|date=March 2008 It is lighter and cheaper than a tent and easier to set up. However, because it is more open, it does not provide as much protection from rain, snow, wind, or cold as a tent does. It provides no protection from insects. More sophisticated tarp tents are now manufactured or homemade with such things as bug screening and storm flaps on the ends. According to Harvey Manning in his book

"Backpacking One Step at a Time" (The REI Press Seattle), "The term 'tarp-tent' as used here denotes a broad category which at one boundary is nothing more than a shaped tarp and at the other end verges on a 'true' tent. The common characteristic is a "single wall", in most cases, waterproof."

In "Mountaineering the Freedom of the Hills" (4th ed. The Mountaineers, Seattle, WA) it says, "A tarp [tent] is both light in weight and low in cost, and offers adequate shelter from all but extreme weather in lowland forests and among subalpine trees."