Warbonnet Superfly ridge line keyring breaking...anyone else have this happen?

[Krtster79]

I had something surprising happen today while I had my tarp pitched working on a door management system. It’s the 13ft Warbonnet Superfly tarp. It’s a beautiful day out, but there are 15mph winds. Not sure on the gusts. Well, while messing with some shock cord away from my tarp, I suddenly heard a pop, look over and see my tarp flapping in the wind on the ground on one end. I suddenly thought to myself “Oh [email protected]?k”. I suddenly did an investigation and luckily it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. The small little keyring that Warbonnet attaches to their tarps on the ridge line was completely bent where it was no longer a key ring. Hopefully I can attach the picture to show. Anyways, since I’m new to this, what are people’s thoughts?
-Did I have the split ridge line pulled too tight? I had it synched as tight as I could get it with my 2 Dutch Stingers.
-I wouldn’t think 15 mph winds with maybe 25mph gusts would do that but maybe so?
-the ridge line itself on the tarp looks in good shape still. It looks fine. Should I just connect the stingers directly to the ridge line instead of getting another keyring and attaching a stinger to the keyring since it’s clear the keyring wasn’t strong enough?
-If I do replace the keyring, is there a better device to use? Just a simple continuous loop?

Here is the pic of the keyring. The pic shows the good one still on one end and the broken one in the background on the desk.

[Countrybois]

Very strange that one was completely bent out of shape, yet the other looks unaffected..

Quite possibly a bad split ring. Maybe one that was a different material than what it was supposed to be made it into that batch.

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[Rusty Shackelford]

Sounds to me like maybe you overdid it a bit tightening things down, the rings are meant to fail before the tarp material if put under too much stress.

[cmoulder]

They employ the split ring as a "fuse" that is designed to fail, rather than having tarp or webbing shred.

That's the theory. However, I've never used them with various ground and hammock tarps, mainly DCF and a few Silpoly, and never found this to be an issue.

But it sounds likely that you had it set up too taut, perhaps pre-loading too much tension and then the wind just finished the job.

This is analogous to over-tightening bolts on machines. Seems okay until a small amount of excess vibration makes it snap unexpectedly and prematurely because it was over-torqued.

[TrailSlug]

I had this so I ordered beefier rings from Amazon and I've not had this issue since.

[cougarmeat]

I’ve found the split rings that come with the SuperFly are pretty rugged. If I’m going to put a “fuse” in the system, I usually use a weaker kind from a hobby/crafts store in series with anything suppled by the manufacturer.

You have to think a little bit about the physics you are dealing with. Are you pitched so the tarp will catch the wind and take the brunt of its full force? Or is it oriented parallel to the wind so it presents a minimum surface area? One benefit from bungee on the guy lines is they allow the tarp to deform and “spill” the wind (then spring back) - just like a sailor lets the sail out to dump some wind before she gets dumped.

If it was a faulty split ring; it would be rare I’m guessing you had things rigged too tight. But good engineering prevailed because the ring they used deformed and let go before the tarp was torn.

[Krtster79]

Is there a good video or site to learn more about setting a tarp in windy conditions? Like best way to orient the tarp in relation to the wind and also if it’s better to have the tarp pitched at a steep angle or more flat?

I’m 98% sure I rigged the tarp too tight at the ridge line. I cranked down on the zing it around the stringers. So that plus the heavy wind added enough force to make the ring fail. Happy that failed instead of the tarp ripping!

Thanks everyone for the help. I’m a noob...still learning.

[SilvrSurfr]

I don't consider 15 mph to be "windy conditions." That's barely a breeze. In all likelihood, you're just making your ridgeline too tight.

[TallPaul]

I’m guessing it was too tight. What if the trees themselves move in opposite directions? If there is no give in the line, something else will give.

[Adroa]

Reading this I was surprised because I really crank down on my ridgeline and the split rings on my Superfly have been just fine. Wasn't until an hour after reading this and my mind wandered back I realized it was because I attach my tarp to the ridgeline with nama claws on a continuous ridgeline as opposed to split one... so if you are worried about this happening again but like a very taut ridgeline maybe consider a continuous one.