Diy tarp tie out locations

[sbilly]

I'm wanting to build a 12x10 tarp but I also want to put tie outs to pitch it in a manor that will make doors. I need help with how far to place the second set of tie out. If anyone has done this could you also post pictures of the setup please.

[CamoDeafie82]

The simplest math would be to make it quarters for the tie out locations; but this means that the doors would be 3 feet wide each, ergo, a square of approximately 6x6 when pitched in storm mode. Generally I think most people make the doors either 3 feet wide (3 feet in from corners on long sides) or 2.5 feet wide for 5 feet width and 7 feet side lengths. If you are making a Winter tarp with longer edges than ridge line, then that is a matter of geometry, and shouldn't be hard to find a happy medium.. if you are making a Cat Cut tarp, then you want to make sure that you would be OK with the width of the doors at the bases before cutting the cat curves. If you're making a Silpoly Rectangle tarp, then you can fiddle around with grip clips until you've found the locations of the 2nd set of tie outs for your doors.

In short;
Rectangle silpoly, no cat cuts, tie outs placed 2 feet-3 feet away from corners on long sides

Cat cut, generally good idea to place tie outs 2 feet 6" or so.

Winter Tarp, usually much bigger doors with a V cut out on the short sides when looking from above and laid flat (as simple as making three diagonal cuts on a strip of fabric)

[Snowball]

Apparently you have made your mind up regarding the seize.
I would recommend matching the seize to the hammock (ridge line length). If you have a long tarp and a short hammock the distance between the tarp ridge line and the hammock ridge line will be too big but that is just me. I like the have the two ridge lines relative close because it gives you maximum coverage. If you don’t match the length and try to raise the hammock you will get a conflict at some point because of the 30° hang angle on the hammock.
Also remember if you make doors on a rectangular tarp they will have an angle and not a straight line across in the ends.
It’s not about if it will work or not just something to have in mind.
For the tarp shape try to fold it in paper

Tarp 5.png

[sbilly]

I have a 11' dutch hammock and was thinking the extra 6" each side would be good but I see where you are getting your info. I hadn't thought about that I might shorten it up don't know yet.

[CamoDeafie82]

Snowball has a point. I hung my way short 104" hammock under a 12 ft tarp, it ended up having a lot of exposure simply due to the fact I had to hang the tarp way higher than I'd like it to be... with a longer hammock, I would hang tarp closer to the hammock, but this is also why my short camo Ogee tarp works great, it has a 108" RL and works awesome with my short hammock.

[Country Roads]

Apparently you have made your mind up regarding the seize.
I would recommend matching the seize to the hammock (ridge line length). If you have a long tarp and a short hammock the distance between the tarp ridge line and the hammock ridge line will be too big but that is just me. I like the have the two ridge lines relative close because it gives you maximum coverage. If you don’t match the length and try to raise the hammock you will get a conflict at some point because of the 30° hang angle on the hammock.
Also remember if you make doors on a rectangular tarp they will have an angle and not a straight line across in the ends.
It’s not about if it will work or not just something to have in mind.
For the tarp shape try to fold it in paper

Tarp 5.png

Agree about the length conflict of short hammy and long tarp. This is why I like to make my DIY hammocks and tarps to work perfectly together. I can put my tarp only a few inches off the top of the hammock ridgeline, so I get excellent coverage from a tarp that is only 7' 10" wide. If I were to make a longer tarp, I would go for the most width I could get: Such as 11' long by 9 to 10 feet wide. As for doors, I usually set up the doors to be about 28" more or less. I measure the tarp from the approx mid-point to make the base line about 7 feet (so 3.5 feet each way from the center line) and install my main pull outs. The rest is doors or I can set up like a rectangular tarp. There are no rules to DIY, except what works for your needs.

[Loaf]

So, I made a 12x10 silpoly rect tarp with no cat-cuts last year (here), and I set my side tie outs for my doors 30" back from each end of the tarp. As the others have mentioned and you can see in the pictures on my post, the doors angle inwards when deployed with this configuration, but for me, that's not an issue, as the doors are kind of an extra for me. I would consider putting a tie out at the midpoint on the side, or even better, get a 2QZQ-type pole pocket and use a pole in the middle for some extra space. For me, this tarp was all about having options, but you'll have to decide what is important/feasible for you.

[sbilly]

I agree with you about the doors but I'm thinking just line you as of right now I have a yukon tarp so the rectangle will give me options of doing doors because I don't have the money to but a door tarp and a hex. I think this will fill the bill till later

[Hammonkey]

I would recommend making a scale model out of paper.

[WalksIn2Trees]

You can also use the bottle cap trick to test out the best locations for them before you fully commit