​Hmm.. two Ponchos Joined Together 🤔

I’d been meaning to try this for ages now, since I tried the single poncho setup last year. I wanted to think this is really cool but I just can’t get my head around the fact that you still need to bring a raincoat, in addition to your ponchos, because you have to take the ponchos off to erect them as a shelter.. seems a bit pointless really

But with that inconvenient issue aside, the two ponchos joined together really easily via zips and velcro. It was a bit faffy getting the shelter up and getting the mesh inner installed but I got there in the end, and got to enjoy a nice lil nook out of the rain with a mesh-enclosed bedroom area

Another issue is that it looks like you can only install one mesh inner under the 2 ponchos, so one of you would be out with the bugs in the vestibule area.. although I think I preferred the space inside without the mesh inner installed – a head bug net would suffice to keep the bugs off the important parts

I whipped up a delicious pork chow mein for my tea and spent a lovely rainy night in the woods

Thank you to Frank for being the second poncho wearer and keeping me company

Ps. For the gear lovers - this is One Tigris Tentsformer – as always I have no affiliation.

A night out under my poncho.. except this one turns into a tent! Well, sort of. The poncho becomes the fly, and the arm holes become the vents. You can use it like this, just as it is, like a lil tarp-type open shelter. Or, you can stick the matching mesh tent underneath it to create a bug-proof tent thing.

It all seems pretty damn cool, and it’s a fun concept. But I still can’t get my head around these poncho shelters.

First off, you still need to wear a rain coat, for two reasons. The sleeves are far too short to keep your arms dry. And then there’s that familiar poncho-shelter-problem.. if it’s raining, you’re going to get wet when you have to take off the poncho to erect it as a shelter. So, you end up just wearing it over your raincoat, which in my opinion defeats the object of it being a multi-purpose piece of gear.

Pitching this inner first would be a bad idea in rain, as it would just fill up with water. So, I tried to pitch it fly-first, which I found a bit faffy. But it was my first time and I guess I’d be better at it now that I know how it all works

I felt so cosy in this with my lil lantern glowing, enjoying a tasty home cooked chicken tikka masala and listening to the owls and the crows. I tried a mini hot water bottle for this camp, which I found to be a less effective method for warming myself than my electronic hand warmers. The lil hot water bottle only stayed warm 2-3 hours, compared to my handwarmer which chucks out heat all night long. The handwarmer, although I consider it heavy, is considerably lighter than a hot water bottle plus the extra water I had to carry in to fill it with
I settled down for the night, and slept so soundly that I didn’t wake up at all as the rain started coming through the front mesh. By morning the floor was soggy, and my pillow was damp. Not really an issue as I always use a bivi bag, but could become a bit of an annoyance, particularly if you are to be out for more than one night. There's also no vestibule, so everything has to be in the 1-person sleeping space with you, or else shoved under the fly

All that being said, I loved camping with this. I loved the colour and how discrete it was. I loved the ‘feel’ of it.. it felt woodlandly and lovely. Not the most technical terms, but you know what I mean, it felt nice and I felt at home in it. I’ve come to realise that I am such a lover of going unnoticed, that I prefer to camp in a stealthy shelter that lets a bit of water in, than a noticeable shelter that stays totally dry inside
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This seems to be well made too, with taped seams, to stop the rain from leaking through the roof (while it comes straight in through the front mesh instead haha!) I do think the poncho fly would make an excellent emergency or lunch shelter for summer hiking though. And, apparently you can join two of these ponchos together, to create a tipi tent! Walking into the woods wearing two ponchos just sounds too wonderfully ridiculous, so I’ll definitely be trying that at some point