I'm sick of tying knots. What's the best / easiest way to manage tarp guylines?

[gunner76]

I use the KISS principle .... Keep It Simple Stupid

I use straps and hardware for my hammock and everything stays with the hammock so nothing can get left behind. On the hammock I use cinch buckles, there are a variety of these out there in steel, Alum or Ti depending on your budget. For the tree end I use Dutch Clips available in Alum or Ti. Note: Over the last 10 years I have found that stiff straps last longer and are less likely to fray than soft straps. I have been converting my hammock's continuous ends to Red for the head end and Blue for the foot end to ID the ends for my hammocks that have a dedicated head and foot end.

For the tarp ridge line, I use 30 feet of Zing It or other similar line about 1.75 t0 2.0 mm in size. Form a simple loop using an overhand knot and attach a Micro Binner. Next slide two NamaClaws on to the line. At the end of the line you will need a Dutch Wasp ( I find the Dutch Fly is too small to work with easily ). The Micro Binner end gets wrapped around one of trees / post you attached your hammock too. The other end with the Dutch Wasp will go around the other tree / post and adjust as needed to tighten the tarp ridge line. You will need to make two small loops ( maybe 4 inches ) of Zing It or similar line and larkshead one thru each end of the tarp and use this loop to attach the trap to the ridge line. Adjust the NamaClaws as needed to get a tight pitch on your tarp.

To stake out my tarp I use Zing It and or similar line about 6 ft in length with small loops at each end. I larkshead one end thu the tie out loop / buckle of the tarps. Repeat for each tarp tie out point. I then place the free end of each loop over the stake head and get it as tight as possible and place stake in ground. Repeat for each tie out points. If there is a suitable branch then I will wrap the line over that a few times.

When I break down camp, the tarp ridge line is the only line not left attached to anything and it goes in the back with a tarp. I tried leaving it attached to the tarp but ran in to problems with getting tangled so I just figure 8 the tarp ridge line around one hand and place in tarp bag.

[cougarmeat]

Because I’ve had problems setting up the tarp in the wind, I moved to using snake skins. I started with the HH two piece nylon but have since moved to one piece mesh because the mesh is easier/quicker to dry after holding a wet tarp. Instead of taking the tarp off its ridgeline, I leave it on the NamaClaws and the line comes out the ends of the skins. At this point I’ve just put the split rings at the ends of the tarp ridgeline on the claws but found they slip off in travel. So I’ll add a short loop to the end of the tarp that I can cinch down on the claw hook.

On the fixed tree end, I’ve use a micro-biner, DutchHook, or a metal mitten hook (after removing the wire gate). I have a Wasp on the adjustable end but will probably switch that out for a loop alien or toggle. The wasp is more hassle when I have to move it position down the line. I used a Figure-9 on prusik but getting that to side and grab with the right amount of ease was … fussy.

At put away time, I fold the tarp/skin in a tight bundle and wrap the lines (extending from the skin ends) separated around the bundle.

So my two challenge there are to fix the problem of the tarp coming off the claws while packed away and getting a smoother/quicker adjustment at one end of the tarp.

The hammock is way simple with a daisy chain wrapped and DutchClipped around the trees and I just clip a carabiner from the hammock end loops to the best chain loops that give the best hammock ridgeline tension. Because the chain loop steps are pretty big - about 4 inches or more - I’ll be going back to webbing and giving it a try. I’ll add EVO loops to the webbing and save my DutchClips for the daisy chain. That’s because the webbing just needs one end to go around the tree. But some commercial daisy chain have a “tree end” that is (sometimes) wider than the looped tail and several feet long. If the tree is skinny, that can put the first (closest to the tree) chain loop too far from the tree. I could double wrap the non-loop section but the whole point of using DutchClips and such is for easy adjustment. If you have to wrap around the tree twice any addition height adjustment is no longer “easy”. I reverse the chain by switching the clip to the “loops” end and wrapping that end around the tree. That puts the first loop right next to the tree. I all depends on tree diameter and distance.

Though I’ve joked about it in the past, my last couple of times out, I was really glad I brought my 15 ft daisy chains.

Ozette Lake - kayak trip. WB ThunderFly, Hammeck Envoy-S
OzetteTree.jpg