The Kammok Kuhli is a new rain tarp from Kammok, and mine arrived several weeks ago. Right away, I took the Kuhli with me on a couple trips, and the tarp held up through a good thunderstorm. The Kuhli has performed great and it may be my new favorite rain tarp.
For coverage, the Kuhli has a 12 foot long ridgeline and is 9 feet wide. So even those who sleep in 11 foot long hammocks will have no trouble getting total coverage with the Kuhli. I set the tarp up on a canoe trip with several other hikers. One of my friends saw the Kuhli and said, “If it starts raining, we can all get under Mark‘s tarp.” I‘m sure you must be thinking that providing all that room has to come at the cost of weight. And you are right to some extent. While the Kuhli isn‘t the lightest tarp out there, it is by no means the heaviest. When I weighed the Kuhli in its stuff sack, it came in at 19.87 ounces. That’s close to what Kammok advertises the tarp to weigh – 20 ounces.
The Kuhli offers a ton of options for setup. For instance, it has 16 reinforced guy outs. Yes, that‘s 16 guy outs. There are 5 guy outs on each long side. Then one at each end of the main ridgeline. Finally, there is one more between the ridgeline and each corner. Each tie out has a cord lock line tensioner and section of reflective cordage attached. Hypalon reinforcements are used at the guy outs. Many people like to use their tarp in “porch mode” or “awning mode”. So the Kuhli has built in grommets to use trekking poles or sticks to pitch one side of the tarp up high. Check out Kammok‘s video to see some of the various ways you can set up the Kuhli.
A 15D ripstop silnylon with a PU coating makes up the Kammok Kuhli and the seams are factory taped. No water will be leaking through this tarp. A double ended stuff sack is used for quick deployment. Just open one end of the sack and attach a ridge line to a tree. Open the other end and pull out the tarp to finish setup at the other end. The integrated cord locks make tightening things up easy.
One pro of the Kammok Kuhli is that it is light for its size. Another pro are the cord locks and grommets are at each guy out and the lines are really reflective. Flexibility in setup is definitely a pro. There a lots of options to get the tarp just the way you want it.
The only cons I have are minor. Such as the guy lines being a bit short. But I am fine with that. From setup to setup, the needed guy out points will vary. And having long lines at each spot is unnecessary. Plus, managing all those long lines would be cumbersome. Just carry cordage to use for extensions when you need it and you will be fine. Also, the cord locks allowed a bit of slippage. I easily tied a slippery half hitch in the line to stop the problem. Quickly untie these knots quickly by pulling on the cord, just like untying a shoe.
Although the Kammok Kuhli has an MSRP of $159, it pays to shop around. You’ll also find that it comes in 3 colors. Click here to visit the Kammok website and check out all of their well-made gear.
Mark
I’d like to to offer a special thanks to Kammok for sending the Kuhli for testing and review. I‘ll be carrying this tarp throughout the upcoming backpacking season. Keep an eye out for a durability report this spring.