A Little Help Please

[Ken Helwig]

Hi all. I have a Integral Designs Sil Tarp and a Bearpaw Minamalist 1. I have used Tarptents for a long time and would like to go the tarp route. I have posted pics here with the the thought that I need to get more of a taught pitch. I have played and played all day and I still cannot get it just right. Help!

another view

[BlackHatGuy]

Hard to tell, but it looks to me like you're offsetting your front and back trekking pole, thereby ensuring you'll get the wrinkles you're trying to eliminate. Just a thought.

[Ken Thompson]

Man you better fix that sorry pitch. If you take that set up looking like that at Coe they will have you for lunch!

[Mark Hudson]

I dont even own a tarp, so take this for what its worth, but it looks like the tops of your poles are closing in on one another causing the wrinkles…can you stake out the tops and draw them apart?

[Ken Helwig]

Douglas, do you mean the poles have to be the exact same length????? I am trying to get rid of those darn wrinkles.

Ken….yeah N.S.! I will bring my Nemo Go GO Bivy if I cannot get this right.

This is my JMT shelter and I have to get this right. I have plenty of time, I just want to nail it!

[Ken Helwig]

Mark, what do you mean by the tops of the poles are closing in and causing the wrinkles..Do you mean that the tips are pointing inwards towards each other???

Or are my poles cockeye????

[BlackHatGuy]

Hi Ken,

No, they don't have to be the same height. Hard to explain, so let me try this way. Humor me.

Draw a square. Now draw a line down the middle of the square. Each pole, ideally, should be at one end of this line. If one of the poles is a bit to the left or right of the line, while the other is right at the end of the line, then you'll get the wrinkles/it'll make it harder to make it taut.

Does that make sense?

[Ken Helwig]

Doug, Yes! and I posted a minute or so ago where I said my poles are cockeyed…I think I know what you are aying….the need to be in line in order to insure a taught pitch?

[BlackHatGuy]

"they need to be in line in order to ensure a taut pitch?"

I don't know if it's an absolute, but it certainly makes it a lot easier!

[Ken Helwig]

Thanks Doug, I will play more tomorrow!

[Franco Darioli]

Yes Doug is right..
The poles need to be in line and the corners at each end need to be parallel too.
(immagine a line from one rear corner to the other rear corner and one from the front corner to the other front corner . Those two lines need to be parallel to each other .)
Franco

[Jamie Shortt]

Ken, Here is a pic of my ID siltarp showing a fairly tight pitch with differing height poles, but parallel to each other.

Here is a pic of my MYOG tarp that is essentially an 8×5 tarp just like the siltarp.

A couple of things to consider. One you can pull the ridgeline much tighter then you think at first. This tarp is pretty tough. Make sure everything is lined up and the poles are straight. Check to make sure the corner lines run out at a diagonal, not straight. Also the rear corner lines should be shorter than the front ones. I often just stake the rear corners directly to the ground without lines.

I have found the best way to set up my tarps is to stake out the front corners at the approximate distance to give the proper height (just takes practice). Then put the front pole in and stake out the front guy line. Then I go do the rear corners, these should be closer together than the front ones. Now put up the rear pole and rear ridge line. I go back and adjust the stake locations to get things tight. Then I stake out the side guy lines. I used 8 stakes and line in total.

Hope this helps,
Jamie

[Jerry Adams]

Or if the corners aren't square to the ridgeline

Exhagerated example

[Ken Helwig]

Franco and Jamie, thanks I think a light just went off. I will try this tomorrow. Stoked!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ken Helwig]

Thanks Jerry, your illustration makes sense to a ludite like me.

I appreciate the help all. Let me work on this tomorrow and see what I can do.

[Jacob Linton]

Looks to me like you've got the poles right. Just put them in the center of the shorter side on each end. I think that photo is a weird angle and is just fooling everyone.
I say tighten up your ridgeline. I always tighten my ridgeline all the way before tightening down the corners. Can be kinda hard to do without staking the corners enough to hold the poles up though. The whole thing will want to keep falling to one side.
So yeah, get that ridgeline taught, then work on tightening the corners/sides.

Hope that helps.

[Steven Evans]

It looks to me like you just need to tighten everything up but sometimes getting that super tight pitch can be tricky – all good advice above though and could very well solve your problem.

I made a video after answering a slew of emails about how to pitch a tarp last summer. Definitely not the only way or the right way, but it's the way that works for me. Might be of some help.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXrapf_8WFM

I show 3 pitches, the first pitch in the video will be the A-Frame you are after.

[Jerry Adams]

When you have some spare time

intentionally mis-pitch it

make it non-square, raise a corner,…

see how it looks with each variation

then you will know what to do when you pitch it and it's not taut

[Sumi Wada]

Your tarp walls looks really steeply pitched. Try going a little lower and wider — then the tension will be more evenly distributed, especially if you shorten your guylines.

[James Marco]

I will agree with Sumi. It is pitched too high. But, this doesn't effect the tension.

The first thing I notice is that the tarp is too small for the bug liner. You will get some spray into each open end. Keep this as close as possible to the net tent, even if you have to sag the net tent a bit.

Pull the guy lines against the opposite diagnal stake, not the pole or 45 degrees. The way you have it pitched, it needs more tension along the ridge line. And repositioning of the 4 stakes.

But, all in all, that isn't real bad.

Try this, take some heavy duty hair ties. Loop these at each corner. Tie your short, 3-4' guy lines to these (loop-to-loop) and pull these out. This will serve to keep tension on things in the wind and releive pressure from flapping.

[Backpack Jack]

HA! HA! I couldn't resist Ken, I went through the same thing with the first tarp I pitched. I had the same bivy, and used it on the Rae Lakes trip that you had to go home on. I like the bivy, just to confining for me, that's why I just use my Moment now. I like to be able to sit up and put my clothes on, move around, but that's just me getting older. See you at Coe

[kevin smith]

hey ken
keep in mind im no tarp expert by any means

two things that could help

pull the ridge line tighter make sure the ridge is as tight as it will go without damage make sure the guy lines go straight out from the tie out

also pull alternate corners tight one at a time ie if you pull the left front corner tight on one side pull the opposite right side tight next and vice versa
as to pole height as long as the ridge is tight different pole heights shouldn t really matter
as long as like others have said the trekking poles are aligned with each other

you should be able to get a tight pitch of course i say that as the mail man is dropping off my oware cattarp 1.1 i got from gear swap now i will be posting pics of a tarp pitched worse than yours LOL

kevin

[Rob Lee]

IMO, Jamie has the best advice. Get the ridge line taut first, then do the corners. My sequence is to loosely and narrowly stake the rear corners. Then set up rear pole. Keep some forward tension on the ridge as you go to the front-insert the front pole and stake it TIGHT. Then stake the front corners taut. Then reposition the rear corners. The key for me was making sure the initial corner pitch was loose. That was the best way for me to get the tightest ridge line pitch. The only tarp I've used is the SpinnTwin.

[Jacob Linton]

Maybe this'll help someone…
I took some photos of the process of setting up my tarp in a simple A-frame.
Tried to do a step by step and explain, hopefully I didn't leave anything out.

[kevin smith]

just set up my new oware cat tarp 1.1 for the first time i really like this tarp

and it seems to me to be very easy to pitch so far

kevin

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