I've been considering getting a tarp to shelter under when we set up camp and pack away. Last time we went away it was drizzling as we packed up and it would have been useful to have something to cover the trailer.

Like most people we pack everything up inside the tent (the sleeping bags, mats, clothes and so on), then we put all that into the trailer, drop the tent and pack that away.

As soon as the stuff comes out of the tent to go into the trailer it's liable to get wet. The trailer has a cover, but it's hard to keep that on while you pack it up and it need to be taken off to get some items in at all (the kids bikes which lie across the top of everything else for example). The same is true when we set up camp, there is a period while we're getting the tent up that the trailer cover is off but the tent's not yet up, so again all the stuff in the trailer could get wet.

We've been lucky with the weather so far and this hasn't been an issue but that can't last. So with that in mind I think we're going to get a tarp, basically a big flysheet with 2 poles you can use as a cover. It'll be ideal for setting up and packing away.

If we pack it last we can it out from the trailer without removing the cover, put it up over the trailer and then get on with the rest. Packing away we'd do the reverse have the tarp up over the trailer until everything else is away and then pack it up last, tucking it into the back of the already covered trailer.

Thinking more about it I realised that actually it'll be really useful as an extension to the front of the tent and with our windbreak give a useful outdoor area. All in all it seems like a no-brainer.