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10-K
04-01-2013, 17:44
Ok so I am out in my yard playing with my Oware tarp and after about a half hour I can see there is going to be a steeper learning curve to this than say... pitching a tent.

Am I correct in assuming a tarp with a catenary cut can only be pitched in an A frame configuration?

Tips? Suggestions? Advice?

I'm listening!

Two Speed
04-01-2013, 18:01
. . . Am I correct in assuming a tarp with a catenary cut can only be pitched in an A frame configuration? . . . That would be correct.

10-K
04-01-2013, 18:15
That sure simplifies things....

Mountain Mike
04-01-2013, 18:15
My go to tarp has been a Campmor 10' x 10' tent tarp with several tie outs. I can configure it in many ways. Looking at some light weight alternatives but I can see I will need to add some tie outs. Don't see it as a major concern. A tarp isn't for everyone or every condition. It takes more experience to set one up than a tent & good placement. It lacks privacy but offers space to cook & spread out.

juma
04-01-2013, 19:12
you might want to watch "Spitfire hikes the Pacific Crest Trail 2013 (https://www.facebook.com/groups/102062796650482/)" on FB. He is a searcher and journaler who is trying again this year with a tarp. He just launched about 2 days ago.

The Cleaner
04-01-2013, 19:28
I've got a Kelty Noah's Tarp which also has a catenary shape and outside tie out loops.In bold lettering in the instruction guide it says that it can be set up in several ways.IMO your location and weather will help you decide how to set it up.I usually hang a line between 2 trees for mid support and use my Leki single pole to hold up 1 end.Then the other 3 corners are staked to the ground.I once used a long straight dead (small) tree for center support and had it facing a steep bank.Here's some pics,easier to show than explain....20874208752087620877

Feral Bill
04-01-2013, 19:34
I've got a Kelty Noah's Tarp which also has a catenary shape and outside tie out loops.In bold lettering in the instruction guide it says that it can be set up in several ways.IMO your location and weather will help you decide how to set it up.I usually hang a line between 2 trees for mid support and use my Leki single pole to hold up 1 end.Then the other 3 corners are staked to the ground.I once used a long straight dead (small) tree for center support and had it facing a steep bank.Here's some pics,easier to show than explain....20874208752087620877More or less what I do with my 8x10 Equinox tarp. Works great.

Wise Old Owl
04-01-2013, 19:47
Yea I sold my Kelty... personal experience pitch close to the ground where if its foul weather. A little higher if its a non windy night.

Praha4
04-01-2013, 19:56
what type cord do you all prefer for your tarp guylines?

I just got a silnylon MLD Grace tarp, and ordered some Kelty Triptease cord... I think that's what Henry uses with his Tarptents....

The Cleaner
04-01-2013, 20:31
what type cord do you all prefer for your tarp guylines?

I just got a silnylon MLD Grace tarp, and ordered some Kelty Triptease cord... I think that's what Henry uses with his Tarptents.... I bought a set of Nite-Ize figure 8 plastic clips with reflective cord.These are the smaller ones and you don't need to know any fancy knots to use them.They just have a V shape groove and a hole where you loop the line through.Also easy to re-adjust when needed.Each piece of cord is about 5' long.Google them if interested...

kayak karl
04-01-2013, 20:41
this is how i hang tarp when i go to ground.
20882
http://www.jacksrbetter.com/shop/jrb-11-x-10-tarp/

10-K
04-01-2013, 21:01
It appears to take more room to pitch a tarp than a tent - in a way....

I'm absolutely going to figure this out for warm weather though..it's incredibly worth it.

I was just playing with my scale.

18.0 oz (exactly) - Tarp, stakes, bivy.
11.1 oz TAR Prolite
17.1 oz EE 50* quilt

Total = 46.2 oz (2 lbs, 14.2 oz) for shelter, bag, and pad.

Throw in my pack at 28 oz for a total of 74.2 oz for "Big 4"

Violent Green
04-01-2013, 21:34
What are the dimensions of your tarp?

Ryan

Two Speed
04-01-2013, 21:44
It appears to take more room to pitch a tarp than a tent - in a way.... Not what my experience leads me to believe. After a little tweaking I figured out how to set up an Oware Cat 1.5 in about the same area as an old Sierra Designs Lightyear I used to use.

One critical step was semi-permanently rigging the stakes to the corners of the tarp with bungee cord. I'd gotten good and tired of having all the rigging getting tangled up so I tried the bungee trick. Once I did that all I had to keep up with was the ridge line tie outs. I found that rig to set up faster and as a bonus losing stakes wasn't an issue any more.

BTW, how do you like the detailing on the tie outs?

Dogwood
04-02-2013, 02:23
It appears to take more room to pitch a tarp than a tent - in a way....

I'm absolutely going to figure this out for warm weather though..it's incredibly worth it.

I was just playing with my scale.

18.0 oz (exactly) - Tarp, stakes, bivy.
11.1 oz TAR Prolite
17.1 oz EE 50* quilt

Total = 46.2 oz (2 lbs, 14.2 oz) for shelter, bag, and pad.

Throw in my pack at 28 oz for a total of 74.2 oz for "Big 4"

Definitely, it's why I think it's worth it FOR ME, too. Now, you are getting a better grasp of ONE OF THE REASONS I like tarps and will always have at least one in my shelter arsenal.

Don't let this pt escape you either. You have A LOT of variety in tweaking those BIG 4 up or down in function and a little in wt by adding and taking away pieces in the kit equation. Just look at your sleep system in that regard. Think about it. For example, coming up with different combinations with that UL bivy, UL silk sleeping bag liner, 50* quilt, sleeping pad(s) is potentially like having multiple sleeping bags/quilts! It's the same with your shelter! It's versatile! Play with it. Brainstorm. IMHO, it sounds like you are the kind of hiker ready for these things.

How does a tarp's volume play into your kit too? compared to a tent? hammock with rain fly? How does that tarp volume possibly play into the size and wt backpack you might require? Feel it snowballing. And remember, you don't need to tarp in all situations, on all trails, during all seasons, etc. What you are doing is expanding your shelter options! You are expanding your awareness. You are expanding your versatility! You are expanding your knowledge. HMM! Not bad, hey?

See KK's tarp pitch. That's a flat or non catenary curved ridge line tarp but you can do the same thing. I like tying up to a tree at the entrance like that because it gives me greater flexibility to pitch my catenary ridge line cut tarp HIGHER at the entrance allowing greater head room than I would get with my trekkiing poles or with my dedicated tarp poles. I'm 6'4" and dislike having to crawl under the carpet so to speak. I dislike not being able to sit up under a tarp or inside a tent. But, if you pitch the entrance really high in a rather narrow or minimum width(mimimalist) tarp you can start running into situations that start affecting your coverage and lead to possible difficulty guying your sides out. This is why I like slightly oversized( in length and width) tarps to avoid possible guying out and coverage issues when pitching a high ridgeline. IMO, the slight wt penalty(about 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 ozs I take with a sightly oversized cuben, spinnaker, or say 30D silny tarp is a tradeoff I'm willing to make for the greater functionality and versatility of the tarp in terms of coverage and how high I can pitch a catenary ridgeline cut tarp.

Not sure how many tie outs are on each side of the Oware Cat 1.5. I think it's 5 on each side but may be 4 or 6. Regardless, know that you don't always have to use all those guy outs on each side. You may find you only need to use 3 guy outs, hence stakes, on each side, for example.

Here's another advantage of having a slightly larger tarp. In fair weather scenarios like you'll PROBABLY encounter to a VERY LARGE degree on the PCT, especially from Campo to KM you can throw the bivy out of the kit equation for coverage concerns which is going to drop MORE wt. Consider throwing the bivy back into the mix by mailing it to KM along with a bug head net to address the skeeters and gnats. Get rid of the bivy once safely through the Sierras near Bridgeport for the summer. Throw it back into the mix some where in mid-northeren WA. Same with a sleeping bag liner. BTW, skeeters can be brutal in OR as well!!!

See the versatility with a compartmentalized kit that can easily be tweaked? I do the same thing with apparel and accessories(hat, gloves, down booties, a couple a Toasty Toes, etc) for warmth. As you become more aware of weather, site selection, pitching configurations, etc in relation to your hiking style, hiking philosophy, typical trail conditions, gear availability, priorities, likes/dislikes, etc you might find you'll need the bivy less than you did at first, ESPECIALLY with the slightly oversized tarp. Once you get the slightly oversized tarping down pat and feel the need to squeeze another oz or 3 from a tarp you'll be in a better place to access things.

Here's something else I do. I set my catenary ridgeline cut tarp up in the A frame config but at the head or entrance not use the top two side gut outs closest to the entrance configuring in something like an amended lean to configuration I hold back the triangular side flap by tying a rock or short heavy section of downed branch to the end of the side guy out line not staked/guyed out and use that to hold down the triangular flap flipped over to the other side of the tarp. The small rock/branch holds it down and my side guy out lines are sufficiently long enough, about 30" each, that the rock/branch hangs below the tarp fabric not rubbing on it, which I find especially important to avoid with some easy to abrade thin cuben fabrics. It's akin to folding back the covers at an angle on the bed so you can more easily get under the covers. I get my stars' and planets' views this way without having to crawl under low pitched tarp, even greater ventilation, and in case the weather gets rainy or snowy during the night I just need to stake out one or two guy lines which is a cinch in a pinch. I'll even lay my stakes nearby or poke them into the ground in the area where I would be using them in case the weather turns nasty during the night. I can usually stake those last two side guyouts while still in my sleeping bag. HINT: paint some bright colors on the ends of your stakes, especially those expensive TI skewer stakes. They can get misplaced or lost easily. BTW, I do like my 2 ridgeline guyout stakes to be a little longer/stronger or have a slightly different design to gain greater holding power in those higher stress areas.

By altering the angles of my end ridge line poles and, of course, guying out my poles appropriately I have even been able to set my CATENARY RIDGELINE CUT tarps up in a LEAN TO configuration. I find it rather easy once you start playing with different angles and configurations. With each ridgeline guyed out to a tree on each end it should be easy to see how a catenary cut tarp can be used as a lean to also. You just have to find two trees spaced apart the right distance. I purposefully have reflective 8 ft long Triptease or Spectra ridge guyout lines for this reason. Makes it easier to tie up to larger diameter trees too. I never did feel the need, even as an UL gram weenie, to make EVERYTHING the LEAST POSSIBLE WT especially when the wt isn't all that significant in the BIG scheme of things! Another useful aspect of guying out the ridgeline to a LARGE tree at the entrance is that the LARGE tree acts as a wind/snow/rain break to some degree. This is important for me since none of my current tarps have beaks.

Oh, here's one I recently heard that I thought might be worth experimenting with further. It came from one of the Colorado WB tarp users. Maybe Colorado Rob. Do a WB serach where he goes into a little more, but brief, detail in his posts about it. He uses short sections of UL bungee sandwiched between Spectra on his side tie outs. Could make tensioning issues on the sides virtually a non issue. Might especially come in handy when tarping in exposed or gusty conditions or with some minimalist super thin tarp fabrics.

Some more thoughts. Mountain Mike's tarp pic looks to be a flat(non Catenary cut) tarp(maybe an Equinox tarp?) probably square but could be slightly rectangular. Lots of set up configurations possible. See how nicely he has staked the one corner down to give himself some privacy and protection from wind and rain that might come in from that direction.

The Cleaner's catenary cut Kelty Noah tarp is shown pitched in several variations. Like the way he configured in a variety of ways. He's pitching taut too which is what you want. I may be wrong but I think Kelty Noah tarps are catenary cut on the bottom side hems as well as the ridge. I think it's trapezoidal or wing shaped or a slightly squeezed square shape. Makes it able to get nice drum tight taut pitches.

The Mountain Laurel Designs Grace tarp Praha just picked up is SHWEET. They hit my UL tarp shweet spot. I got two in different sizes and fabrics. One stock. One custom sized UL gram weenie size. Ron Bell knows how to construct tarps. PERIOD. His packs are killer too.

KK's Jacks R Better tarp is basically a flat tarp offering GENEROUS coverage, oodles and oodles and oodles of tie out pts, hence basically unlimited configurations, and is made of heavier wt very durable 1.1 silny unless KK ordered it in a lesser wt or fabric. It's rather light wt but gram weenies might have some issues with it I just mentioned that because we all need to individually strike the right balance for ourselves when opting for a tarp as a shelter but know that you 10-k regard gear wt as a very high priority. Heck KK can sleep under that tarp with his kayak at the same time.;)

leaftye
04-02-2013, 02:43
you might want to watch "Spitfire hikes the Pacific Crest Trail 2013 (https://www.facebook.com/groups/102062796650482/)" on FB. He is a searcher and journaler who is trying again this year with a tarp. He just launched about 2 days ago.

I watched his first attempt. I read his journal entry a while back where he talked about what he learned. Hopefully it goes better this time. It really has to. The first time was bad.

10-K
04-02-2013, 07:45
Enough info in this thread to keep me tarp-busy for quite a while - thanks guys!

I'm following Spitfire on Postholer - seems he turned off friend requests on FB. His first trip was an unmitigated disaster - wishing him better luck this trip. He seems more prepared for sure.

The Cleaner
04-02-2013, 07:47
I found the pics I was looking for.BTW the Noah's Tarp 9 is probably too heavy for ULers but it only costs about 60$ and could fit 2 hikers if needed..208832088420885Also a tarp can be used at a shelter if the wind,rain or snow is blowing in...

juma
04-02-2013, 08:14
Spitfire, if you send the FB a message to his name account, "dave scott," he'll send you an invite.