The good old cargo tarpaulin has been with us for the last decade as part of our gear on our motorcycle adventures. It has become an essential part of the gear with a multiple of uses.
Yes, those cheap 3x3m 5x5m or whatever size you prefer, cargo tarpaulins you buy at DIY shops. They weigh about nothing and won’t have you in tears if the tarpaulin tears or wear out over time. Check whatever size will work best for your type of travel. At one stage we were only able to get a 6x5m tarp and just cut it in to pieces.
“A tarpaulin or tarp is a large sheet of strong, flexible, water-resistant or waterproof material, often cloth such as canvas or polyester coated with polyurethane, or made of plastics such as polyethylene.”
Why is tarpaulin called tarpaulin?
The word tarpaulin comes from tar and palling—another 17th Century name for sheets used to cover objects on ships. Sailors also made waterproof clothing from tarpaulins including tricorn hats, choosing the style in an act of defiance to mimic what the officers wore.
“A tarpaulin or tarp is a large sheet of strong, flexible, water-resistant or waterproof material, often cloth such as canvas or polyester coated with polyurethane, or made of plastics such as polyethylene.”
Blue tarps are the most popular form of tarp and the most easily found. The light coloured tarps typically reflect sunlight rather than absorbing it. White and grey are good option colour tarp to reflect heat. Black and dark gray tarps absorb sunlight, rather than reflect it.
Motorcycle security:
There are many places parking for the bikes are in open areas, where they are in the open and accesible to wondering fingers. It is most often than not an option to wheel a bike into your hotel room. They have to stay in parking areas, out in front of hotel parking and sometimes there are just no choice other than the dusty street of a small village.
Unfortunetly an overland dual sport motorcycle is an interesting looking vehicle and draw the attention of most people walking past. Throw a tarpaulin or bike cover over the motorcycles and they vanish right in front of your eyes. There’s suddenly nothing to touch and see other than the wheels sticking out. We use 4 lightweight aluminium carabiners to hook the tarp to the spokes.
It is an incredibly effective way to get a bike out of sight. We have sat watching our bikes covered under the tarpaulins in a street and people does not even blink walking past the bikes. Open them up and suddenly they are like shiny colourful magnets.
When it is windy or with dust sand storms we also use bungee cords through the loops on the tarps to pull the tarp tight and stop flapping. There is just not reason to buy a tent with room for a motorcycle having the use of tarpaulin.
Additional roof space:
Additional roof space: Rainy days, damaged tent flysheets not being waterproof, sitting in the sun at a
campsite, having to create a wind barrier, tarpaulins are great to be used for these applications. Many a time we have been caught camping having to make our own outside area to sit out the rain with fellow motorcycle advriders. Or when we get to a cool camp spot on a beach area in Peru the afternoon and there are no shade around.
There were instances where our tent due to age and use stopped rain from leaking into the tent. The flysheet waterproofness was no more and we had to use the tarpaulin as new flysheet roof. Which worked pretty effectively.
Tent footprint: Tarp are the perfect foot print to protect the floor fabrics of tents on rough surfaces. In Africa thorns will with ease make sure a tent is not waterproof anymore. Camping on places like salt lakes withe their sharp edge rock surfaces will ripp or create holes in no time in a tent floor. There is nothing worse waking up at night floating a dam of water because the tent floor is has holes in it.
Tarpaulin general use:
Use tarpaulins when working on the bike. When you fix flat tyres in the dirt nuts bolts and tools to tend to get lost in the dirt quite quick. Work on a tarp and things stay cleaner.
We pack our tarps on the rear carrier and then our duffel bag or luggage ontop of the tarp. If things do chafe or rub on those nasty dirt roads the tarp with take the punishment not the motorcycle parts or the luagge.
Tarpaulins make for good wind shelter protection. Camping on places like the Altiplano at 4000m altitude in Chile where the wind blows the snot out of your face, using a tarp to create a wind barrier. In the last decade we had to use a tarp for wind protection while camping many times.
Tarpaulins does get holes and tears in them over time, nevertheless, the low cost, small weight and space a tarpaulin takes up on a bike is absolutely worth the money and use to carry one.
With this article about tarps, read the comprehensive article dealing with tents below. How to go about choosing the best tents for motorcycle adventure dualsport riding. We offer tips, suggestions, explain the jargon and samples.
Any recommendations for size and brand (thin but tough)?
Hi Dave, unfortunately not, every time we had to replace the tarps was in countries where the options were very limited, and we basically take what we can get. I try to at least get 3x3m or a 5x5m and not some hideous colours. The last one we bought was at Home Depot in the USA and they had quite a few brands. I can’t remember the name, but it was a thicker gauge one which I hope will last a bit longer than normal.
Michnus
Excellent recommendations. It seem tarps are way overlooked for their usefulness. Cheers