Choosing a canvas tarp size sounds like it should be simple. You measure the thing you want to cover, you pick a tarp that’s big enough, done. Except that’s not quite how it works in practice — and anyone who’s bought a tarp that turned out to be too small to tie down properly, or so large it bunches awkwardly at the corners and collects water in the folds, knows exactly what we mean.

Getting the size right requires thinking about a few things beyond the raw dimensions of what you’re covering. How much overhang do you need for proper weather protection? Where are your tie points, and does the tarp have eyelets in the right places to reach them? Is the tarp going over a flat surface or a three-dimensional object with height? Is it going to be under significant wind load, or sitting in a relatively sheltered spot?

None of these questions are complicated once you know to ask them. This guide walks through the sizing process for the three most common canvas tarp applications — home and backyard use, camping and adventure setups, and ute and trailer covers — with practical guidance on overhang, tie-point planning, and when a custom-made size makes more sense than an off-the-shelf option.

Start Here: How Canvas Tarp Sizing Actually Works

Before getting into specific applications, there are a couple of things worth understanding about how canvas tarp dimensions work — because they catch people out more often than they should.

The first is the difference between cut size and finished size. Canvas tarps are typically measured and sold by their cut size — the dimensions of the fabric before hemming and finishing. The finished size, after the edges are folded and hemmed, is generally around three to five percent smaller than the stated dimensions. For a small tarp this difference is minimal. For a large tarp it can amount to ten or fifteen centimetres per side — enough to matter if you’ve measured your space precisely and ordered to those exact dimensions. When you’re measuring up, factor in that the tarp will be slightly smaller than its stated size, and account for that in your calculations.

The second is that a canvas tarp sized exactly to the thing you’re covering is almost never the right choice. You need additional material beyond the footprint of the covered area for overhang — the amount the tarp extends past the edges of what’s underneath — and for tie-down. These are related but not the same thing. Overhang is about weather protection: a tarp that barely reaches the edges of an object doesn’t shed rain away from it, it directs water straight down the sides and potentially underneath. Tie-down material is about security: the eyelets need to sit clear of the object being covered so ropes or straps can be attached without pulling at awkward angles.

As a general starting point, a good rule of thumb is to add at least 30 to 60 centimetres on each dimension for overhang. For objects that are three-dimensional — anything with height, like a woodpile, a piece of machinery, or a loaded trailer — you need to add twice the height of the object to both the length and width dimensions to account for the material that drapes down the sides. A woodpile that’s a metre high and a metre wide, for example, needs a tarp that’s at least two metres wider than the pile’s footprint to cover both sides properly — and that’s before any additional overhang for weather protection and tie-down.

For outdoor storage applications where the tarp will be in place for extended periods and exposed to significant weather, a minimum of around 60 centimetres of overhang per side is a sound recommendation. For camping shelter setups where the tarp is pitched rather than draped over an object, the sizing logic is different again — more on that shortly.

Sizing for Home and Backyard Use

Home and backyard canvas tarp applications are diverse, but they tend to fall into a few common categories: covering stored items like firewood, outdoor furniture, or equipment; protecting garden areas or work zones; and creating temporary shade or weather shelter over an outdoor space.

For covering stored items, the three-dimensional sizing approach described above applies directly. Measure the length, width and height of what you’re covering, then calculate your tarp size as the footprint dimensions plus twice the height on each axis, plus your overhang allowance on top of that. It sounds like a lot of arithmetic but it quickly becomes intuitive — and it’s far less frustrating than discovering your tarp only covers the top of the pile and leaves the sides exposed to rain.

For a woodpile specifically, the top-only coverage approach is actually intentional and correct — canvas tarps work best on firewood when they cover the top and hang down partially on the sides while leaving the sides open for airflow. In this case size your tarp to cover the top comfortably with 30 to 40 centimetres of overhang on each side, which gives you enough material to deflect rain without sealing the sides completely.

For covering outdoor furniture through winter or wet weather, measure the furniture at its widest points in all directions and add a generous overhang — 40 to 60 centimetres per side — to ensure the cover reaches down far enough to keep rain from driving in underneath. Furniture covers need to handle wind, which means having enough material at the sides and bottom to be weighted or tied down securely. A cover that barely clears the bottom of a chair or table leg will lift in the first decent gust.

For shade or weather shelter over a work area — a patio, a carport, a workspace — think about the coverage area you actually need people and activity to fit within, and then size up from there. A tarp that just covers your work area leaves you stepping off the edge into the rain the moment you move more than a metre from the centre. Adding a comfortable margin around the intended activity zone is almost always worth it.

Tie-point planning for home use is usually straightforward — most backyards have fences, posts, walls and other structures within reach of a rope, and the eyelets on a standard canvas tarp at regular spacing give you plenty of options. Where home installations get tricky is when the anchor points are fixed and don’t align with standard eyelet spacing — which is exactly when a made-to-order canvas tarp with custom eyelet placement becomes worth considering rather than working around the limitations of a standard layout.

Sizing for Camping and Adventure Setups

Canvas tarp sizing for camping is a different exercise to sizing for storage, because you’re designing a shelter rather than simply covering an object. The size of the tarp determines how much covered space you have to live and sleep in, and the relationship between tarp size and usable shelter area changes significantly depending on how the tarp is pitched.

This is the detail that catches a lot of campers out. A tarp pitched as a lean-to or A-frame doesn’t give you a usable floor area equal to the tarp’s dimensions — it gives you considerably less, because the sides slope down to the ground and the usable standing or sitting space is only the portion near the ridge. As a rough guide, a tarp pitched as an A-frame provides a usable interior area of roughly half its total surface area, because both sides are angled rather than vertical. A lean-to is more efficient — one high wall and one low — but still requires more tarp than the floor area you want to sleep in.

For solo camping, a smaller canvas tarp provides a comfortable personal shelter with room for a sleeping mat and gear alongside. For two people, you need something considerably larger to maintain comfortable covered space, particularly once the pitch angles are factored in. For family or group camping with a central communal shelter rather than individual sleeping areas, sizing up generously is always the right call — the weight of canvas means you’re rarely carrying this on your back, and a larger shelter that fits everyone comfortably is worth more than a tarp that forces everyone to squeeze.

Overhang matters for camping setups in a different way than for storage. When a tarp is pitched as a lean-to or fly, the overhang at the open face — the side facing the weather — is what determines how much rain can drive in horizontally underneath. A tarp pitched too steeply with minimal overhang at the front provides less rain protection than one pitched at a lower angle with a good forward projection. Planning the pitch angle and the amount of forward overhang together, rather than thinking about tarp size in isolation, produces a much better shelter.

For A-frame pitches in particular, the length of the tarp along the ridgeline determines how much shelter depth you have from front to back, and the width determines how far the sides come down toward the ground. Both dimensions matter and both need to be adequate for the intended use — a tarp that’s long enough along the ridge but too narrow will leave you with sides that barely reach the ground and minimal weather protection on a windy night.

Tie-point planning for camping is partly determined by the tarp’s eyelet layout and partly by what you have to attach to in the field — trees, poles, vehicle roof racks, existing structures. Canvas tarps with eyelets at regular intervals around the full perimeter give you the most flexibility in the field, because you can choose which attachment points to use depending on what’s available and how you’re pitching the shelter. Knowing where your eyelets are before you leave home, and thinking through how you’ll use them for the pitch you’re planning, saves time and improvisation once you’re on site.

Sizing for Ute Trays and Trailers

Canvas tarp sizing for ute and trailer use has a specific set of requirements that’s worth thinking through carefully, because a cover that works well in a static backyard situation doesn’t necessarily work well on a moving vehicle.

The starting point is the same — measure the tray or trailer bed, add the height of the load, and calculate the total coverage area needed including side drop. For a flat tray with a low load, this is straightforward. For a loaded trailer with cargo stacked high, the height dimension becomes significant and can mean the difference between a tarp that covers the load comfortably and one that barely reaches the sides.

For road use, the overhang and tie-down calculation is more critical than for static applications. A tarp that has adequate overhang when stationary may be insufficient at highway speeds when wind gets underneath and creates lift. For taller items, adding twice the height to the base dimensions ensures full vertical coverage. For road use specifically, generous side coverage that can be tied firmly under the tray or trailer rail is important — a cover that can be properly secured under the vehicle structure is far more stable at speed than one that relies only on top-down tension.

Eyelet placement matters enormously for ute and trailer covers. The eyelets need to be spaced to align with the tray or trailer rail tie-down points so ropes or straps can be run through them and secured underneath at regular intervals. A standard eyelet spacing that happens to land between your tray’s tie-down hooks forces you to run ropes at awkward angles, which creates uneven tension across the cover and points of concentrated stress that wear through faster. For regular trailer use, a made-to-order canvas tarp with eyelets spaced to match your specific tray or trailer hardware is a worthwhile investment — it installs correctly every time, sits flat and secure, and lasts longer because it’s not under uneven stress.

Wind load is also a factor in tarp sizing for trailer use. A larger canvas tarp with more side coverage needs to be more securely fastened than a smaller one, because it presents more surface area to the wind. Going up in tarp size for a trailer application should be accompanied by thinking through how the additional material will be secured — more tie-down points, more rope runs, or both.

The weight of canvas is worth keeping in mind for ute and trailer applications too. A heavy canvas tarp adds meaningful weight compared to a poly alternative, which may or may not be relevant depending on your load. For most applications it’s not a significant consideration, but for weight-sensitive loads it’s worth factoring in.

When to Go Made to Order

Standard canvas tarp sizes cover a wide range of common applications, and for many home, camping and trailer uses there’s a standard size that fits well enough to do the job properly. But there are situations where a made-to-order canvas tarp is clearly the better choice, and recognising those situations upfront saves the frustration of making a standard size work in a space it wasn’t designed for.

The clearest case for going custom is when your measured requirements fall between standard sizes. A tarp that’s too large creates excess material that bunches, folds, collects water and creates wind-catching pockets. Going down to the nearest smaller standard size often means inadequate overhang or insufficient coverage of the sides. A custom size made to your exact measurements — including the overhang allowance built into the dimensions — fits properly and performs properly from day one.

Custom eyelet placement is the other strong reason to go made-to-order. If you have fixed anchor points — fence posts at specific intervals, tray tie-down hardware at set positions, pergola beams at a particular spacing — and the standard eyelet layout doesn’t align with them, a custom tarp with eyelets positioned to match your anchor points solves the problem permanently rather than requiring workarounds every time you put the tarp up.

Our Made to Order Canvas Tarps are made in the same quality CrocSkin canvas as our standard range, with the same material performance and durability, in whatever dimensions and eyelet configuration your application requires. For anything that doesn’t fit a standard size comfortably, it’s the right starting point.

A Practical Sizing Checklist Before You Order

Before placing an order — whether for a standard or custom canvas tarp — running through these questions covers the key sizing considerations and helps make sure the tarp you receive does what you need it to.

Measure the footprint of what you’re covering in both directions. For three-dimensional objects, measure the height too and add twice that height to both dimensions. Decide how much overhang you need for your application — 30 centimetres per side as a minimum for sheltered home use, 60 centimetres or more for exposed outdoor storage or road use. Add that overhang to your dimensions. Check that the resulting size aligns with a standard option, or consider going made-to-order if it doesn’t. Think through your tie points — where will ropes or straps attach, and will the eyelet positions on the tarp you’re considering reach those points cleanly? And finally, account for the finished-size reduction — order slightly larger than your calculated minimum to ensure the finished tarp has the coverage you planned for.

Getting these details right before ordering is far less work than receiving a tarp that’s close but not quite right and having to either make it work or start again. Canvas tarps are a meaningful investment, and a little planning upfront ensures that investment delivers exactly what you intended.

Browse our full range of CrocSkin Canvas Tarpaulins or explore Made to Order Canvas options for custom dimensions and eyelet placement.