Fast Storm Tarp Deployment

[cougarmeat]

I started thinking about going from a stargazing, tarp in snakeskin, night to hunkered down in storm mode.

The plan sailors used came to mind. Their sails have fixed reef-points that reduce the sail area by lowering it to fixed tie-off places.

What if, instead of having to find it each time, I had an "anchor point on my guyline that was just where I needed it when the tarp was lowered and closer-in than usual - like during protection from a real (not just sprinkles) rain storm.

So the idea is to set up your tarp at home, guy it down the way you'd want it in a storm, and see where along the guyline length you'd contact your stake. This isn't too hard if you also have a little bungee as part of your guyline - it gives you a bit of flexibility if there's a stone/root just where you'd like the stake.

Then you'd tie a fixed loop - like an Alpine/Butterfly knot at that point in your guyline.

Now, if you have to move from none (tarp still in skins) or loose (porch mode) tarp configuration to storm mode, you know right where to stake your tarp and you have a loop already for your stake. If it were me, I'd make the loop large enough to double it over the stake - so it cinches down (rather than just a loop that can slip off).

[LowTech]

I do a version of that being that I can be in an encampment for weeks or more.
I have my tarp up, just not out, most of the time. Unless it's just the total dry season and then I have it accessible but not up w/ sun exposure.
So anyway the tarp is up and in a mesh skin. If I think there is a chance of rain I drop it and stake it out, then I put the tarp back in its skin. Not only are the stakes in the ground but the guylines are adjusted close enough (I use linelocks).
Then I put my standard rock/firewood/branch/chair at the stakes so that I don't step on/kick the stakes in the dark and so that they're easy to find if I need to put my tarp out during the night.
For example, right now I have 16 stakes in the ground,
4 for my double pole stand (all 4 being used),
8 for the shade cloth (2 for each corner), one side being used (4),
4 for the tarp if needed and it has been a time or two since the hurricane.

I don't have any trouble waking up, sliding the skin off the tarp and letting it unroll, attaching the upwind side to the stakes (breeze/wind will separate the two sides for me), and then attaching the other side and making any adjustments from under the tarp w/ the linelocks before getting more than a few drops on my quilts.


"Sent w/o me knowing"

[Ratatosk]

I would worry that you'd be setting yourself up to have to exactly reproduce the setup you had in your backyard, which may be more frustrating than simply storm-prepping your tarp on site. Maybe a permanent loop in the few inches of shock cord at the tieouts?

Leaving a midshipman's hitch in the end of your guylines would serve this function better than a fixed loop, I think - plus be adjustable enough that you wouldn't have to pinpoint your stake location. Any time I leave stakes in the ground with no guyline pointing to them, and go do something else (even stargaze), they tend to get left in the ground.

Speaking of sailing, and furling sails, one hack that Im considering that is way more appealing to me than a snakeskin for a tarp is just three thick rubber bands, like you'd get on broccoli, with a little stick marlinspiked into them. Roll the tarp up around the ridgeline, and toggle it at each end and the middle. The sailor in my would be happy just reef knotting my tarp that way, but a rubber band toggle seems a little more mindless and easy. I've been tarp camping for years, but until I added a hammock to the mix, the tarp never got in the way or had to get moved at all.

[Shug]

That is why I like the marlinspike hitch for my tie outs and stake. I can tie the stake in where I want it and be ready. I often to what I call the "quarterback pitch" if I feel it may sort but still want to view some sky. If it gets back I can full pitch very quickly.
Shug

[cougarmeat]

Ratatosk - tried that idea with those brown hair "rubberbands" women use for their ponytails. I recall one poster saying you can find them on the ground anywhere within a quarter-mile radius of a teenager - something like that. They didn't work so well because they were just "one more thing" to deal with and I had to pay attention that I didn't also inadvertently add them to the total ground litter.

What worked better, BSS (before Snakeskins), was using one of the guy lines to secure the tarp around the ridgeline the way you'd use a line to secure the sail around the boom - something like a series of half hitches. One guyline might not be long enough for the full tarp length, but two guylines, coming from opposite ends, would do the job.

As others have mentioned an important component is stake management. If you put them in the ground ahead of time, you don't want to trip over them or leave them on site. Day-glo survey tape may help - in the daylight. But I do have limits to how much extra color I want to add to my "wildernss" experience.

[Ratatosk]

Cougarmeat - ah, I like the use-what's-already-there approach, but knowing me I'd have flemishes in my tarp by the end of the night if I tried to get all nautical on it. That's a good thought, using a guyline.
I tend to bring several of those rubber bands on trips, and they just live on my wrist most of the time. I'll mess with it if I get a chance this weekend (meaning, of course, if it isn't hotter than seven hells out there) and report back. -R

[KBr00ks]

I use three small velcro straps to hold my tarp rolled up to the ridgeline. I usually hang the tarp below the ridgeline, so when I go to pack it I flip one side over the ridgeline so that most of it is "captured" inside the roll. The guylines get tossed along one side and rolled up with the tarp. I figure-8 the long end of the ridgeline and tuck it into the roll, fold the roll up a few times, and use the shorter end to wrap around the whole thing. The Dutch hook conveniently holds the line in place on the wrap.

While this is relatively fast and easy, the velcro straps do become "one more thing" to keep track of sometimes, and since they're black I have nearly misplaced one or more when setting up at night. When unpacking I usually stick them all together and put them in my pocket, and sometimes they just stay there -- though occasionally the ball of velcro gets uncomfortable to sleep on!

[slugbait]

If you cut a small slit near one end (parallel to the long edge) of the velcro you could slide them onto the ridgeline where they'd stay till you need them.

[cmoulder]

Normally I just pitch the tarp in the night time configuration because I'm not a stargazer, mainly because I'm usually pretty tired when I crawl in, and I fall right to sleep.

However on those rare occasions where opt for open sky, here's how I do it while insuring quick tarp deployment if it should start raining...