Best way to pitch a tarp with a cantanary ridge?

I am a tarp novice but with a cat cut tarp I believe you just want to tie it to the ends of the ridge line. There should be no need to string a line under the ridge of teh tarp. In fact that could only be problematic.

William, first of all you want to decide where you will be camping. Will you be down amongst the trees, or will you be up on some windy peak?

I find myself camping in some places without trees, so I have to prepare for that. I don't use trekking poles, so I have my tarp shelters fixed up with Fibraplex carbon fiber tent poles. For sheer lightness of weight, that works best for me.

Tying a cord between two trees is pretty dependable, but you still have to think about it a little. You could tie the cord between two trees, rather high. Then drop two vertical cords from there to the two peak points of the Echo 1.

–B.G.–

K thanks guys that's what I thought is that a rope running under the cat cut ridge line would be problematic This is my first real ul " backpacking" tarp all the others I just made from tyvec or ripstop just a little bit cheaper then cuben lol

William, when you get it, try to figure it out on your own. If that doesn't work, then maybe ask the manufacturer. Surely they know. Then try it again. If that doesn't work, shoot a photo of your results and post it here. Somebody will have an idea.

–B.G.–

Even having never pitched an a-frame before, it turned out to be easier to do than I expected. It just took a bit of practice. :)

The first time I pitched a cat-cut tarp, it took me an hour or so of tweaking to get what turned out to be a pretty lousy pitch. The 2nd time, it took me about five minutes to get a decent pitch.

Some of you have seen my pics of me pitching a tarp on here. Trust me, just practice and practice some more. I now can pitch a tarp in a few minutes and I get a taught pitch everytime! Tensioning is the key as well as having your poles lined up

In the old days, tarp cords were larger and heavier, like more than 3mm in diameter, and it was easy to find tensioners and cord locks that worked.

Now we are moving into the realm of 1.0 to 1.5mm cords. I suspect that the old tensioners and cord locks may not hold. Any suggestions?

–B.G.–

Bob,

The Micro Line Locs that Joe sells at Zpacks supposedly work with the 1.4 mm Dyneema cordage he sells.

I don't know. 0.7 grams each might be too much, because I would need six or eight.

Maybe I could drill some holes in each one to lighten them.

–B.G.–

My supplier listed the weight as .5 grams. I'm recharging my scale batteries to check it later. Not much room for holes. Maybe two very small ones. Otherwise you run into structural problems or mess up the grip surface.Mine are glow in the dark.

I hope you guys are joking about the holes.

The 1.5 mm Z-Line is very nice, and Joe has great shipping rates. I do not care for the smaller 1.25 Z-Line at all though. I found it much more difficult to work with.

"I hope you guys are joking about the holes."

Some of us were in the original crew of "cut off the end of the toothbrush handle."

No weight shall be left unexamined.

–B.G.–