Best way to do tarp guylines…

I’ve been wondering about this too since I’m about to re-string my MLD flat tarp. Anybody have great suggestions? I’m particularly interested in finding out an easy way to keep the guylines from tangling when I pack my tarp into its stuff sack.

But for the moment, I have a few tentative pointers.

1) The MYOG article you referenced looks pretty good. If you want to use that method to make a loop, I would suggest making the loop unattached to anything, and then girth-hitching the line to your tarp. That way you’ll be able to easily remove the line from your tarp if you want to experiment with some other arrangement.

2) If it were me, since I haven’t tried Jim’s method, I would probably just do a bowline to make a loop instead. Don’t need a sewing needle to do it, at least.

3) As for the other end of the line, where it hooks up with the stake, you almost certainly want this to be adjustable, so that you can A) allow your tarp to be pitched in tight or uneven spaces, and B) properly adjust the tension of your tarp once it’s pitched, or once the weather changes. There is a tensioner kit that BPL sells, but if you don’t have time to wait for the shipping or don’t want to bother with more hardware, I’ve had good experience using a taut-line hitch looped back onto the guyline after it has looped around a tent stake. This is free, fun to learn, doesn’t require any other equipment, and is a really valuable knot, if you haven’t learned it already. I haven’t seen TripTease up close but I must warn that this knot might not work if you’re using something slick like spectra. But then . . . I’m pretty sure TripTease has a lot of friction in it–I hope the knot slides at all!

Hope this stuff helps, good luck!

To attach my guylines to my tarps I make a bowline in one end and then pull the other end through the tie-out and the bowline. This is easy enough to put on and take off that I use the same method for my poncho-tarp where I'm taking the guylines off and on every night/morning.

On the end with the stake I've doubled up the line and tied a figure eight to form a loop. I just put my stake in the loop and position it wherever it needs to be to keep the tarp taut. A bowline would also work well but the figure eight holds a little better on my thin line.

A tautline will probably work fine with Triptease and will allow you change the length of your guylines easily. I have to be a little creative if I want to shorten my guylines in the field but I'm usually able to make due with few problems.

Adam

I'm a fan of making a loop by making an overhand knot out of a bight. Then girth hitch this to the tarp tie out. For the stake connection, tautline hitches are brilliant. I'm trying to make the tautline hitch work on the dacron cord that MLD supplies, but I can't get the cord to hold the knot. Well, the knot will stay put under tension, but eventually, the knot comes untied. This also happened with the bowline I noticed. I may have to switch to Triptease if I can't get this fixed.

Vick shared this very simple, but elegant approach to keeping guylines from getting tangled.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/xdpy/forum_thread/3748/index.html?skip_to_post=27073#27073

For a cat tarp (MLD Grace Duo) I would assume that people cut the guy lines for the side pullouts very short right? It seems like the only way to stake these points and have it be effective is at a fairly steep angle coming right off the tarp, which would put your guy line at around 6" right?

I use Kelty Triptease also. It's high friction stuff. I tie an overhand knot loop on the first end – just long enough to girth-hitch to the tarp. I tie a tautline hitch on the other for adjustability. If I have to go around a pole I use a rolling hitch midway in between. Never had any bad tangling problems – Triptease is pretty stiff.

Thanks for the pointer Thomas, but unfortunately I have nothing in the way of sewing equipment / expertise. :-(

Ryan, not a bad idea, but I personally would say give yourself a little more for the sake of flexibility. In particular, if I'm in a sheltered position with non-threatening weather, I'll hook up my tarp's front end (or both ends) to a tree instead of a trekking pole to give myself a more comfortable entry / exit and more headroom while inside. This obviously puts my tarp higher off the ground, potentially several feet higher, and so this would be a good example of a time when you might want longer side guylines.

But then . . . if the site is sheltered and the weather's non-threatening . . . you may not need to bother with side lines at all.

Ditto. I have the MLD Grace Duo and like to hang it high and broad for spacious comfort when the chances of rain are slim. My tie-outs are all with really thin lines, and I keep them long.

You could get someone like MLD or Oware to make the modifications.

Ian & Rick can either of you be more specific about how much longer? I think my first of guylines are about 16" but it's much too short. I'm trying to decide whether to go to 24, 30 or 36" for the next set. I guess I'm leaning towards 36" because it'll be easier to trim down a bit if they're too long.

I too am wondering how long guylines should be. Just weighed my new (first) tarp, and I got over 2oz of guylines. Granted they are 3mm MLD line for the linelocks, but wow, 2oz. I got lots of kiteline I could use that would be alot lighter, but it doesn't work with the linelocks.

Steve

Stephen, Do you think Kelty Triptease would work with MLD Linelocs?

Edit: nevermind, I just measured it and it's 2mm in diameter. Wow 3mm line is kind of chubby then.

An alternative might be the ultralight guyline kits as sold on BPL.

I cut guyline for my caternary-cut tarp so the front and back guy outs are about 12' long (so I can tie them to trees). The side ones I usually cut about 2-2.5 feet long, maybe making the ones on the corners a bit longer for those occasions when the weather is fair and I want a more spacious shelter.

Stephen, Do you think Kelty Triptease would work with MLD Linelocs?

Henry Shires uses Triptease with linelocs on his shelters and it works very well.