Techniques For Make Your Own Shock Cord Tarp Tensioners

[clean]

Isn't any shock cord going to have less tension than zing-it?

[gmcttr]

...or be prone to launching my steaks.

Never attach your steaks to the tarp guylines. Keep them in the cooler until ready to cook.

[bkautzman89]

Sorry, wrong steak. I meant stake. Stupid phone.

[12trysomething]

I have only used the 100% stuff. I try and make 4" loops of shock cord with 8" between the loops in my zing-it guy lines. This way the loop is maxed out when the zing-it takes over. When I tighten my guy lines the shock cord stretches to a 6-7 inch loop and has a couple of inches of "keep taunt" in it.

I hope this makes sense and helps.

[bkautzman89]

Yeah it does. Maybe I'll just get both and see what happens. I'm thinking the less taught stuff might be better, considering I'm switching to 1.1 mm guy lines.

[BBST]

Very cool.

Made a set of the surgical tubing tensioners that just disintegrated when I pulled them out of storage.

Can't believe I have not seen these before.

[goobie]

Well that just sucks!!

[Koolranch]

I just got 500' from amazon to do some DIY for my motorcycle. Thanks for all the tips.

[DaleT]

Just made a set of the youngblood style for my marmot ajax 3 after a very droopy fly this weekend, gonna make some for my 10x10 camo tarp tomorrow if the weather holds off.We got 3 days of October rain coming on Wednesday, might be a good test for them.

[GreatBigDave]

Here's my take on self-tensioning guy lines. Shock cord cored Zing-It. These should be as strong as the Brummel eye and have no knots or loops to get snagged.
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Tools and parts: 12" 14ga copper wire fid for opening the rope, large needle for picking strands out for the taper and passing the line through itself, 6" 24ga wire fid for burying line. 4" piece of 1/8" shock cord, 6' piece of Zing-It.
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Milk the cover of the shock cord by holding one end and stretching out the shock cord sliding your fingers from where you're holding it to the free end. 3 or 4 times should yeild 3/8"-1/2" of cover past the loose end. The Zing-It gets a Brummel eye splice on one end (4", big enough to pass the hank of line through) and a back splice on the other end. There are plenty of good descriptions of these splices here and on other sites.
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Open 12" of the line past the eye’s bury and pull the wire fid through the line. Thread the cover of the shock cord through the wire fid up to the elastic core and fold it back over the shock cord.
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Milk the Zing-It onto the shock cord by pushing it off the fid onto the shock cord. Be careful not to pull directly on the shock cord or it will stretch and slide right off the fid. Once the loosened end of the shock cord is inside the Zing-It, continue burying it by pushing the Zing-It to the shock cord then pinching the Zing-It and stretching the shock cord inside. Let go and start again when you get to the point where the shock cord enters the Zing-It. Continue milking the shock cord into the Zing-It this way until it's completely inside. Milk the remainder of the 12" section of Zing-It onto the shock cord core, remove the wire fid, and trim the shock cord's cover if necessary. Smooth the Zing-It over the ends of the shock cord core.
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12" of Zing-It will cover 4" of shock cord and stretch to 8".
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Thanks for looking.