Tarp tensioners

**FanaticFringer** · 12-01-2007, 00:45

Originally Posted by headchange4u

I used surgical tubing for a while but know I just use 1/8" shock cord. It's lighter and works just as well.

How long is the piece of shock cord you use and what knot do you use to attach it to your line?

**Nudgeworth** · 12-01-2007, 09:59

Originally Posted by FanaticFringer

How long is the piece of shock cord you use and what knot do you use to attach it to your line?

heheh =oP

You read my minf FanaticFringer

Also how much do you strech the the shock cord? Um how far apart are the knots on the rope?

**Greg Dunlap** · 12-01-2007, 10:26

I cut the cord in 18 inch strips and used a figure 8 knot at each end to get the results I have. If you go to the Animated knots by Grog website and click on the boating index, you will see the figure 8 listed.
That website's URL is : http://www.animatedknots.com/index.p...matedknots.com

I singed the ends to seal the cord first and then slid them into the spring loaded coardlocks I got from REI: http://www.rei.com/product/611240 finishing off with the figure 8.

The shockcord was from REI also and is the 1/8th inch: http://www.rei.com/product/603003

Prior to threading both ends into the cordlock, I threaded one end through the connections point on the tarp and then attached the stake out cords to them by doing a simple double loop on the end and threading them through that as well. I then finished by going through the cordlock and figure 8'ing the ends.

When setting up I just snug up the tarp to the pegs and if I need to, I pull another inch or whatever through the cordlocks.

**Just Jeff** · 12-01-2007, 11:15

Remember to have a safety catch...the regular line is stronger than shockcord. You don't want a wind maxing out the shockcord and ripping it in two.

**JohnW** · 12-01-2007, 12:06

Jeff, what do you mean by a safety catch? Having a hard time imagining this... worst case the shockcord rips and it falls back onto the main tie-out line, right? If you have some ingenious way to avoid it ripping, I'd love to hear more details

**GrizzlyAdams** · 12-01-2007, 12:37

Originally Posted by JohnW

Jeff, what do you mean by a safety catch? Having a hard time imagining this... worst case the shockcord rips and it falls back onto the main tie-out line, right? If you have some ingenious way to avoid it ripping, I'd love to hear more details

I believe he's only saying what you know already.

When I attached a bit of shock cord to lines, I
a) afixed the shock cord to the line, so now I have a line with
a length of shock dangling off it up near the tarp
b) stretched the shock out almost as far as it will go, but not quite, along the
line, towards the stake, and note the place X on the line where the free end of the shock cord stops
c) attached the free end of the shock cord at X.

This way if the line gets pulled very tight, it runs up against the line before stretching the shock cord beyond where it will go.

Grizz

**2Questions** · 12-01-2007, 12:38

I had the blue Theraband tensioners and last year when it rained then got below freezing, the tensioners were stiff and no longer did the job. Maybe water got inside the cord and froze?? Still using them but am looking for a better idea for winter camping.

**JohnW** · 12-01-2007, 12:43

Thank you for the details, Grizz, that's actually a step further than I had in mind. Making sure the shockcord will run up against the line before breaking is a great little trick. I was just going to attach the shockcord in a similar fashion without making sure that would happen.

**headchange4u** · 12-01-2007, 12:49

I had taken some pics a while ago to post a tutorial. I'll post the info in this thread instead. Here's how I make my shock cord tensioner:

Start out with approx. 12" of shock cord and approx. 5 1/2 feet of guy line:

Tie a bow line knot in the end of the cord. This is what should attach the guy lines to your tarp. About 12" form the bow line also add a loop in the guy line:

Next take the shock cord through the loop in the guy line and tie a double fisherman's knot to form a loop:

To finish, stretch the shock cord loop toward the bow line end of the guy line. Once to have found the maximum stretch of the shock cord loop, tie it off to the guy line at this point. This will create a limiter that will keep the shock cord from breaking:

A set of 4 of these shock cord tensioners (about 5' long each) weighs about .9 oz.