View Full Version : Pitching a Tarptent on a Platform
earlylight
06-03-2008, 18:18
I'm going to be backpacking on a section of the AT that requires the use of platforms for tents. I have a Six Moon Designs Lunar Solo and my experiences setting it up on platforms in the past have been nothing short of hilarious, requiring all kinds of extra guylines and multiple lashings to keep the thing from blowing away at night. If you are familiar with this tent, it requires the use of 6 stakes and one pole - my walking stick.
Does anyone have any advice about how to pitch a tent like this on a platform? I'm considering just stealth camping in these areas.
Thx,
Appalachian Tater
06-03-2008, 18:26
You can use eyelets or hooks provided on the platform, cram sticks or your stakes into the cracks, use rocks, use stakes and rocks together, carry some tiny eyelet screws, or use the ground around the platform if you have long lines. This is one reason I like the Rainbow, it is free-standing except for the side "beaks".
hopefulhiker
06-03-2008, 20:18
I set up a tarptent on a platform a few times. It really is not that hard.. I wedged the stakes into cracks and guyed out the front beaks to the ground or to surrounding trees.
Matteroo
06-04-2008, 03:58
I picked up some small eye-let-hooks that you can find at a home depot/lowes or any local hardware store. Something like what you'd screw into the ceiling to hang a plant, but much smaller. Make sure it comes with a 'screw point' on their ends - i picked some up after going through the whites, but would have appreciated them for a lot of the northeast. You can get some pretty small ones that weigh next to nothing - real cheap - and just carry 10 of them or so. They were pretty easy to screw into platforms with bare hands and you just need to remember to remove them - often the eyelets built into the platforms were of marginal help.
earlylight
06-04-2008, 06:57
Really helpful advice on the eyelets. I'm headed to Home depot today.
Thx,
I've used the "coffee cup hook" method many times and it works very well. But lately I've used a small piece of 8"X8" Tyvek tied (sheepshank) to the end of each guyline when stretched out I hold it down with a rock, works real well on my tarptent. BTW coffee hooks work real well hanging gear in shelters.
mountain squid
06-04-2008, 08:06
See attached photo. I didn't figure it out until The Birches in Baxter SP but it works. Use whatever platform hooks that you can and, then, all you need extra is some rocks, a stick and/or your other hiking pole. Notice the strategic placement of the aforementioned.
See you on the trail,
mt squid
Bear Cables
06-04-2008, 11:25
I've used the "coffee cup hook" method many times and it works very well. But lately I've used a small piece of 8"X8" Tyvek tied (sheepshank) to the end of each guyline when stretched out I hold it down with a rock, works real well on my tarptent. BTW coffee hooks work real well hanging gear in shelters.
I am going right now to the hardware store for hooks! We leave for NOC to Clingmans tomorrow morning.
earlylight
06-04-2008, 21:10
See attached photo. I didn't figure it out until The Birches in Baxter SP but it works. Use whatever platform hooks that you can and, then, all you need extra is some rocks, a stick and/or your other hiking pole. Notice the strategic placement of the aforementioned.
See you on the trail,
mt squid
Fantastic picture! I got some eye hooks today at home depot, but I like the rock/pole combination. Very innovative. Nice tent. :)