RE: [Paddlewise] Tarps

>I do have a question: What type of rope do you use?  And do you rely on
>some form of tensioner for the rope or just use a good knot (and if so
>which one)?

I usually use parachute line.  It's pretty common in outdoor stores.
It's a thinnish rope so you can pack lots of it in a small space.  It has
a nylon core with a tightly woven sheath, a little less than the
thickness of a pencil.  It's dirt cheap to buy as well.  It lets you keep
a couple hundred feet in not a lot of space.  Besides for tarping I use
it along with carabineers and the odd pulley for tossing and hoisting
lines between trees for overnight pack hoisting.  You can also get small
net bags that can expand to hold a tremendous amount of light loose gear
for hoisting.

Normally I can the tarps and lines pretty tight and just tie off with a
clove hitch either back around to the line itself or an adjacent branch
or stump.  The half hitches are soo easy to do under tension with one
hand while the other holds tension.  And they come undone very easily
when needed even when wet or have been under tension for a long time, as
soon as you release some tension.

When you need a rope attachment point where you don't happen to have a
grommet hole in a tarp, you can use small smooth pebbles.   Wrap the edge
(or even the middle) of the tarp around the pebble, then loop/tie the
rope around the tarp where you gathered it around the pebble.  The pebble
prevents the tarp from slipping through the loop of the rope, and you can
attach the rope where ever you need it.  For example if you need a center
support somewhere and don't have a pole, you can instead attach a rope
from above, to that spot (even in the middle of a tarp) and spot suspend
it from above.

The main thing I find with tarps is pre-envisioning the water flow paths
when it rains (accounting for sag and pooling) and putting that runoff
where you'll want it so it doesn't come back under the tarp into the
people space.  Sometimes in addition to the tensioning of the lines to
angle the water where you want, even a small rock resting on top in a
specific spot can be helpful to create a valley and collect all water to
a particular runoff spot.


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