Made my Own Tarp! Problems!!

[Gumbi]

I completed my first tarp over the weekend!

I bought ten yards of grey ripstop at walmart last week and wanted to try making my own tarp and waterproofing it myself.

Everything went pretty well. The finished product is almost 12'x10'
I chose not to put in any caternary cuts because I was trying to save time and cut corners (figuratively speaking). So I have a rectangle tarp with 3 tie-outs on each side. As you can imagine, it doesn't pitch as tightly as I would like it to. I am really wishing now that I had taken the time to put in the cat cuts when I was making the tarp.
Is there anything simple that I can do make it pitch tighter?

I really don't have the desire to rip out the grosgrain in order to make cat cuts.

What if I made a cat cut on the ridgeline? I could do that without too much trouble, but would it help?

On the hand, the waterproofing went way better than I expected! The fabric already had a dwr coating on the one side. I used a disposable foam paintbrush to apply the silicone/mineral spirits mixture to the other non-coated side and worked it in really well. Now water beads up and runs off like nothing and the ripstop nylon doesn't wet out or stretch out. I am extremely pleased with that aspect of it!!!

Pics coming tomorrow!

[canoebie]

Some pull outs on the side will really help create room underneath and tighten things up. I have a diy 10x12 rectangular non cat and I did this with great success. Pull outs deployed, ends shut, makes a roomy protected area in high winds, rain and cold.

[oldgringo]

Smokehouse uses a cat cut on his ridgelines. You might want to visit with him about that.

[jbryan]

I have a cat cut on my ridge line and I wouldn't do it again. It is a bugger to sew. Plus when I close off the ends it doesn't pitch as tightly. But making the rest of your rectangular tarp with cat cuts should be pretty easy. Just cut the sides they way you want them to look and then sew the edges again.

[Cutter]

I have a 8x10' with the same problem. I need to add additional ties. I only hemmed the sides, so I guess cutting that out and adding grosgrain would not mess it up too bad.

The next one will have cat cuts or be a diamond with small end doors.

Good luck and I would like to see your photos.

cutter

[Stavros]

Check this movie out how to set a tarp without cat cuts and get it really tight. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjMmla9DSzo

[Frawg]

My "pseudo-cat" DIY (5'x10', discussion here) is pretty simple:


Edit: just to clarify, I concur with working on the pitch first. If that doesn't get it for you, though, the above is an easy mod to an existing rectangular tarp.

Cheers!

[jeepcachr]

How many guylines are you using? If your just doing the standard A frame pitch with the 4 corners and 2 points on the ridgeline then it's probably not going to be super taught. 10x12 is a big tarp. With a tarp that big you might want to think about some extra guylines and or center pullouts.

[turnerminator]

Are you using dyneema for the ridgeline?
If this is taut, the saggyness is reduced a lot with a rectangular tarp due to minimised stretch of a dyneema ridgeline.
I have 5 loops stitched to the seam, and the middle one is shorter than the 2 adjacent loops, this gives a pretty taught pitch for me, and sag is pretty much eliminated.

[Gumbi]

Thanks for your responses everyone!

I currently have 3 guy lines per side, six total, not including the ridgeline.

Sorry, I wasn't able to get pics last night.

I really, really DON'T want to have to remove the grosgrain and put in cat cuts along the edges.

I will likely try adding more tabs along the perimeter of the tarp because six feet between tie outs is quite a stretch. I just wanted to avoid more guylines and stakes.

I am still wondering if making the ridge a cat cut would work... It would be fairly easy to do though