Need Knot Recommendation for Reflective Cord onTi Shepherd Stakes

[Kenneth Keating]

A couple of times at nighttime either myself or others have tripped on my guy-lines and the stakes have gone flying somewhere in the Sierra’s never to be found.  I have some 2mm Lawson’s Glowire I’d like to attached to the ends to make them  easier to find.  I’d probably leave 1″ free at the ends.  What knot would be best to attach the cord to the stakes?

[James holden]

clove hitch with a stopper knot

;)

[Kenneth Keating]

 

Eric:

Stopper knot:  single overhand knot on each free end or is there a single stopper knot that can be used to tie both free ends at once?

[James holden]

just a single stopper knot is fine, just to prevent you from pulling the clove through

are you using line loc 3s?

;)

[Kenneth Keating]

Thanks Eric.  Yes, the guys have Lineloc 3’s at the shelter end.

[James holden]

Kenneth …

anothet alternative is to terminate the stake ends with a blakes hitch … And then tighten this all the way down on the stake

 

This does not require any tying of knots in the field (blakes is pretied) … And is exceptionally flexible as you can extend the blakes to loop over rocks, etc …

the clove is perhaps more secure though and is what hilleberg recommends for high winds in one of their vid

just keep the stopper knot pretied at the ends … clove the stake close to the stopper, then tighten the clove so its right up against the stopper … prevents any slip

;)

[Hoosier T]

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think he’s just referring to adding an extra piece of cord to the actual stakes so they visible when they go flying off into the bushes; not a knot to attach the actual guylines to the stake, correct? If so, what kind of stakes are they? Why not just use reflective tape on them if they shepherd’s hooks? If they’re nails then they should have an eyelet for a piece of line in which case I just run a 5″ piece through and tie the ends off with an overhand.

[Kenneth Keating]

Yes, I’m just trying to connect short pieces of cord to the stakes.  The stakes are Zpacks Ultralight Titanium Stakes.  I’ve tried reflective tape, but due to the small diameter of the stakes and the stiffness of the reflective tape, the tape comes undone after a short period of time.  I’ve tried overlapping layers and also wrapping around in an U configuration and closing the top of the U so it it’s sticky side-to- sticky side of tape, but it comes unglued at the point around the stake and then just slips off.

[James holden]

ahhh… my bad

in that case use the FB knot i posted up about here

https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/flat-tarp-noob-qs/

on titanium shepherd stakes it easily hold 15+ lbs of pull force with 2mm nylon cord … so you can probably use em as pull cords

i would snug the knot as much as possible and put a stopper overhand right at the bight on the pull side

4-5 wraps should do it

or just spray paint the stake tops ..

;)

[Lester Moore]

How about a 5″ piece of yellow guy line with a tight fisherman’s slip knot at one end, leaving at least a few inches of free line on the other end for visibility? The line would also aid in removing driven stakes from the ground. A supple nylon line rather than Glowire or Sprectra might hold better. Alternatively, why not spray some orange spray paint on the hook – it may need to be reapplied each year if it wears off?

[Roger Caffin]

I paint the top ends of my Ti wires with a yellow epoxy paint, then I paint black rings around the yellow. Very colourful and effective.

Reflective guy ropes might help as well.

Cheers

PS: I remember one night long ago when we were just going to sleep and there was a huge thump from a guy rope. A fox had tripped over the guy rope and was looking very silly.

 

[Kenneth Keating]

Everyone’s suggestions are great!  For now I’m planning of trying out all methods and see what works best.  Sometimes ideas seem great on paper but don’t work out in the field.  But I’m also thinking about taking along an extra stake to have a backup.  Most of the time I’m in the Sierra’s so there’s plenty of rocks also, so maybe I’m overthinking this.

[Jake J]

how about reapplying the reflective tape you were using before and cover with clear heat shrink tubing when the tape is fresh to stop it from unpeeling? You could probably use a heat gun or hair dryer when applying the tape to get it to wrap a little tighter. Extend the heat shrink tubing above and below the tape to make sure it stays put. They also make adhesive lined heat shrink tubing which would hold even better: http://www.heatshrink.com/heat_shrink_tubing/w3c_4ft.asp  first site I found when I googled clear adhesive lined heatshrink tubing, has a 3:1 shrink ratio which should seal up nice and tight.

[Kenneth Keating]

Jake:

I like the heat shrink tubing idea.  But the problem with the reflective tape is after it’s applied, at a distance, the visual part is only about 1/8″ wide by 3/4″ long, so really only a small part is visual.  The issue with the cord is it slides along the stake.  But if I can use the cord with the heat shrink tubing I may obtain the best of both worlds.  I give this a try.  Thanks!

[Kenneth Keating]

In researching further, they manufacture reflective heat shrink tubing.

[Ian]

Hi Kenneth,

If the reflective heat shrink tubing doesn’t work out and you care to revisit tying some cordage to it, I’d personally take 6″ of the reflective guy line, form a bite in the middle, girth hitch that around the stake, holding both tag ends together, tie an overhand knot and then snug that against the girth hitch, and then trim and melt the tag ends however works best for you.

If this doesn’t make sense the way I described it, I can rig this up at home later and upload a picture.

I like the idea of the reflective heat shrink tubing though and may give that a shot.

[Ted Lakomowski]

I try to keep things simple.  I do not like to loose things, especially on the trail.  I use titanium spikes, with a bowline through the spike at the tarp I make a tiny small prusik to hold the line connected to the spike..  Now, I cannot loose parts even in a emergency evacuation.

[Roger Caffin]

I tried heatshrink. It didn’t work very well.
When I pushed the wire deep into the soil, the stones  in the soil were harder than the tubing and they ripped the heat shrink stuff up badly. But I was on rough rocky soil (happens a lot in Oz); in forest duff it would probably work much better.

Cheers

 

[Author]

Posts