1. Any thoughts on Tyvek hooded coveralls (loose-fitted size) as emergency outerwear? They're inexpensive, lightweight, and vacuum-pack well. Very wind-resistent and fairly water resistent (DuPont says garment-type Tyvek holds up "about an hour" in a downpour). (I know, I railed against synthetic outerwear - but this is sorta a different topic)<br><br>2. Any thoughts on Tyvek building wrap as emergency tarps? Residential wrap is 1.8 oz/yard, Commercial is 2.4 oz /yard IIRC, and stucco wrap is in between (I think it would be slightly better as a ground cloth than either of the the other two). I "thought it up" myself and then discovered that the ultra-light backpackers have been fooling around with it for at least 4 years - mostly with good results. One drawback is the base color (white), although one CAN do something about that, it's not worth the time and expense to do it well.<br><br>There seem to be a few intelligent folks and a lot of naiive, even luddite folks in the ultra-light backpacking community - I got some good info after reading through a lot of... stuff... that was a waste of bandwidth.<br><br>One of my abiding interests is as a Scouter, and one of the things I drill and drill and drill into the kids heads is to ALWAYS have what I call their "Be Prepared" day/fanny pack with them. ALWAYS. Trying to instill habits... our 4 kids know first hand that it can truly be important (we have strange recreation habits, I suppose), and I try to pass that habit on to the other kids in Scouts/Venturing.<br><br>One small gripe I have with the BSA "Outdoor Essentials" list is that it is, in my experince, incomplete, especially for a temperate climate. One of the items I'd like to require our kids to include is that versitile item called "a tarp" - it could be a "Space blanket", an Army Poncho, a sheet of visqueen, a coated nylon tarp ($$$), a poly tarp (bulky), or... hmmm, maybe a 10'x10' piece of Tyvek. Big enough, and if they are buddy-systeming like we require, a pair of Scouts could do a LOT with 200 square feet of it. Cutting it into other sizes has no effect on the sheet integrity.<br><br>Surely someone here has experiences with Tyvek? I intend to trial it through the winter and spring and come to a definite conclusion by late spring, but welcome all thoughts/experiences, ideas, etc. I'm eager to learn, so fire away!<br><br>(I am VERY aware of the pyhsical properties of "hard" Tyvek as it comes off the roll, and can share what I've already discovered about that w.r.t. these uses. It's not something I regard as a drawback at all, and it can be remedied if it bugs someone.)<br><br>In receive mode now, waiting to hear your thoughts...<br><br>Tom Ayers