Cord Lengths?

[Kellen Holt]

I just picked up the standard 50 feet of triptease, but I am unsure as to what lengths I should cut it into. I read the product page for the Aircore cord, and BPL suggests 3 foot lengths for staking and 9 foot lengths for ridgeline attachments. Is this about appropriate? Also, it is useful to carry longer lengths for tying off rocks/boulders as tarp anchors?

[Jason Shaffer]

Really depends on size of tarp and desired pitch options. Not including extra length for anchors/deadmen, I prefer 10-11 foot ridegline cords, each w/ 2 loops: one at the end of the cord (for a high pitch, using side guylines) and one ~3/4 down (low pitch, staking sides directly thru the guyloops). That’s simplified tho–even in a low pitch, you may still need short guylines for the front side corners, staking directly thru the other side loops. Depends on headroom. Tinker with lengths of cheaper cord first, you’ll be glad you did! :^)

[Peter McDonough]

Pick ridgeline height(height of tarp at highest point).
This value = Y.
(y+1)^2 + x^2= r^2
a^2 + b^2= c^2
r + c + 1 = guyline length for that ridgeline (the extra foot is for a tautline hitch)

(2(y+1)^2)^(1/2) + 2^(1/2) + 1 = ridgeline length

Round the answer to the nearest whole number and you are done.

You need about 1.5 lengths of cord for the side guyouts. BPL doesn’t like tautline hitches, but a tautline is easier to adjust than a stake position. Tying off to rocks is a waste of time and I suggest not doing it. You may tie your ridgeline and lifters(if your tarp has them) to trees. Otherwise, you brought stakes anyway, so why not use them?

[Jason Shaffer]

Interesting Peter,
I’ll have to compare this forumula to my lengths, which I had to arrive at after an awful lot of trial / error with each tarp. This formula could definitely be a great solution to all the variables tho.

>Tying off to rocks is a waste of time and I suggest not doing it.

Until temps fall, wet ground freezes solid, and you can’t get those stakes into anything, with any amount of pounding. This has happened to me and others. Site selection regardless. While rigging deadmen IS time consuming, having no option to do so can be worse.

Cheers.

[Douglas Frick]

> Tying off to rocks is a waste of time and I suggest not doing it.

If it comes to that, I tie the cord to the tent stake, set the tent stake on the ground, then roll the rock onto it. It’s no less sturdy than tying to the rock itself, and much simpler.

My home-made deadmen don’t hold well enough in the fluffy snow around here. I wrap my guylines around my ski poles, stomp a long trench, bury them, then stomp on them. That works, and it’s easy to get them out in the morning: just use a boot heel to clear the trench.

[Peter McDonough]

Jason, its a pretty simple formula, just the Pythagorean, but anyways, I have this tarp set up so that triangle created by pole, stake, and ground is a 45 degree angle. You can change the bottom value to whatever length you want, and then plug that it. The 45 degree angle is the most stable, anything longer or shorter will decrease stability of the tarp. Also, the stick may be a greater difference away from the tarp, and this may also change your guyline length.

I use MSR ground hog stakes and I have never been able NOT to get them in the ground. Just as a test, I put one in a small hole of limestone in the backyard and then used a hammer to drive it into the limestone. I figure if these stakes will go through rock I don’t have much to worry about. I use them because in Texas there aren’t too many places that titanium stakes will go in with hand pressure, and these just make my life that much easier.

[R K]

I use my guyline the way that is detailed in the Advanced Tarp Camping article on this site. I cut my 50 ft of Triptease into 3 ft lengths and tied loops in both ends of each piece. This gives the flexibility to change your guyline length as needed by girth hitching the shorter pieces togeather to make a longer one. It works well with a poncho tarp and I can change what type of pitch to use depending on the conditions.

Roy

[Jason Shaffer]

Yep my current lengths mostly only differ from above b/c I keep the pole well over a foot out from the ends of the tarp. Also I do 2 or 3 different pitches by switching up the lines a bit, hence my hesitation to snip before experimenting. oh well…

These guyline discussions seem to come up again and again, with differing and interesting opinions.
In my thread from last year, and this longer and more recent one . both the benefits and limitations of the single-side-guyline approach come up. I like it in theory, but it seems not to work as well for some people as others. For fast-pitch poncho-tarping this year I do want to give it another go, practice both ways for awhile until I find a personal winner. Beyond those in the article, any special tips Roy?

[R K]

Jason,

No tips that I have come up with myself, but in BPL’s review of the MLD pro poncho Will Rietveld uses plastic clips to speed the adding and removal of the guylines when in poncho mode. I looked around to see if I could find the clips with no luck, so I resorted to using mini carabiners, like the kind used for keychains. These weigh 0.2 oz each and I take six with me for total of 1.2 oz. These serve double duty for hanging things off my pack to dry. It’s a trade off for the convienence, but I don’t mind the extra weight. That’s all I got.

Roy

[Jason Shaffer]

Brace yourself Roy, you could just about cut your carabiner wt in half w/ the Ursalite Microbiners, .11 oz each. Ok maybe you’ve already seen these. I forgot about the plastic clip idea tho. Anyway I just ordered the MLD poncho, but it will still be a few weeks. sigh…

[R K]

Jason,

Thanks for the link. I should’ve looked here at BPL first. I’ll put an order in later today.

Roy

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