This Basha tarp is used by the British Army as a shelter, but it can make a great addition to your camping gear without breaking the bank.
The Bottom Line
(4.5 / 5)
- Sleeps 1 person comfortably and makes a great gear shelter
- Lighter and more space efficient than a tent
- Doesn’t have an inner or groundsheet
- Needs hiking poles or trees to set up
- Inexpensive but bombproof
Purchasing
Being military equipment, you will only be able to buy the British Army Basha tarp from surplus stores, or used on auction sites. Prices are normally in the £30 – £40 range, however it is very common to find used bashas for a lot less. It is still pretty easy to find these online; just google ‘British Army Basha’
Included
As most sellers only sell the tarp itself, you will need to buy pegs, guy-lines and the like to set up the tarp properly. The tarp itself is roughly 2.5m by 1.8m, and weighs 1kg, so is slightly heavier than a typical camping tarp. It comes with plenty of guy out points, and a reinforced ridgeline. This is something not every tarp can claim at this price range.
If you are not a fan of sleeping right on the ground, a bivi-bag or small groundsheet is a good idea.
Pitching
As with most tarps, pitching this tarp can be a bit of a challenge if you’ve never tried before, but with a bit of experience, you can really cut down the pitching time to a couple of minutes. You also need to bring hiking poles with you camping (this is fine if you already walk with them), or if not, make sure you’re camping some place with lots of trees.
There is no one ‘right way’ to pitch this tarp, but a couple of designs to think about are that of the ‘A-frame’ or a lean to. Do note that, since this tarp is rectangular and not square, you wont be able to do all of the pitches you see online.
This tarp also makes a great gear shelter to free up space inside your tent, and makes a huge difference if you are slightly short of room while camping.
General Comments
This raises one of the most important points about this tarp, that of finding a good place to pitch. This is because in a tarp you end up sleeping right in the ground. So if you choose to camp in a bog, you will regret it come morning. Having said this, if you think a bit before you pitch the tarp, you shouldn’t have any issues. For more info, check out our tarp camping tips.
This is designed to sleep two people, but I would highly recommend only using this for 1 person. With all the gear you’ve got, it would be a real struggle to fit 2 people and stay dry. For 1 person there is plenty of room, especially compared with shelters in a similar weight range.
Quality
This tarp may not have a rating for hydrostatic head, it has never leaked for me, even in the most torrential rainfall. Additionally, this tarp is bombproof to the extreme, unlike a lot of camping gear I’ve used. This does make the tarp much heavier though. If you’ve pitched it well, this tarp will stand up to anything you can throw at it.