Superfly in a storm

[Shewie]

It's been a while since I last posted on here, I hope everyone's doing okay

I'm just looking for some advice on how to make my Superfly more stormworthy, a blustery trip to the Scottish highlands last week meant I packed the Superfly rather than my smaller HG cuban tarp, one of the nights was pretty windy, gusting around 45-50mph at a guess. Although it was well anchored on short guys there was still quite a lot of movement in the tarp during the heavier broadside gusts that came through, without going down the pole mod route (don't really want the extra weight) is there anything else I can try?

My setup is ..

12ft dyneema tree lines (going to Stingerz at either end of the tarp)
Extendable guys with LineLocks (no tensioners)
4ft shockcord on side panel pulls (looped on a trekking pole and staked out)
3ft shockcord on door tieouts

It's first time I've used the separate tree lines, I usually have a 30ft CRL with Dutch Hook and a Flyz or trucker hitch, Prusiks hooked onto mini biners at the tarp. Luckily I'd been messing about with some leftover bits of dyneema cord so had thrown it in my tarp bag along with a couple of Stingerz to try one day on the trip, on the first night my new Niteize CRL fell to bits, I don't think it liked the heat and friction from the truckers hitch and bust the sheath wide open, useless when you need to use Prusiks - maybe there's more movement than I'm used to with separate tree lines?

I don't think having shockcord on the side panels is helping either, I think I need to switch it out for a static cord instead? I did manage to get some decent uplift with my side pulls though for a change, one went to a convenient tree behind my tarp and the other to a pole on top of a pile of rocks.

I had my guylines pretty short, maybe 2ft, is there any mileage in reducing this length as much as possible in rough weather? Dropping the tarp sides down steeper and nailing to the deck would reduce inside space which I don't really like doing if I can help it, is the alternative to drop the whole shelter during a lull?

I've been out of the loop for quite a while so not sure what folks are using these days, I did try to search for wind and storm setups but couldn't find much.

[Carrico]

Instead of using a pole mod a stick that's about 3/8" diameter at about 5 feet long works just as good. As far as the shock cord goes just tighten your guidelines down until it's extended to its Max that'll help stiffen it up. But if you get things too tight with no give strong enough wind will rip something apart. I forgot a pull mod one time and was a little apprehensive about using a stick, worried about abrasion had no problem whatsoever though.

[cougarmeat]

You may want to consider this from a Point of failure view. What would you like to break first! I put split rings on guy out points (found in hobby and fabric/sewing supply shops), not necessarily real heavy duty ones you might find on a key fob. The idea is, if something is going to fail, I want it to be the cheap split ring before something on the tarp tears. If the wind is fierce enough to bend/open the split ring, I can reconsider how much I want to expose the tarp to it. Like I might re-rig it to be much lower or re-orient the direction (if possible) to be parallel to the wind (breakage usually happens when wind is broadside to the tarp).

This summer I played with elastics on the guy attachments for a more springy/taut tie-out. But there was any real sever weather.

Remember, if something (like a split ring) fails, you have an opportunity to consider a different set up. If your tarp tears out, your shelter options are more challenging.

[TrailSlug]

Jettison all that shock cord as it's simply not designed for conditions this windy. Most of these large winter tarps need a center tie down and could benefit from 3 (on each side) tie outs. Just like tents designed to handle wind of this velocity you may need some kind of internal frame to keep it off of you.

[weaver2469]

I just took a trip with about 3 hours of the strongest winds I have encountered. I sat in my hammock, chair-style the whole time, holding my hands up against the tarp wall, trying to keep the pressure off. I had static pull out lines, but they had a 6 inch loop of shock cord attaching them to a mitten clip, then to the pull out. I had shock cord tarp tensioners on each corner. I am considering getting rid of the shock cord loops and tensioners. The amount of play made the tarp move like crazy. I think a static line would hold better, and I will just rely on the quality of the workmanship of my tarps.

[brutalguyracing]

I too am ditching the shock cord on my superfly soon


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[zukiguy]

I'll keep an eye on this thread. My cord is the "fuse" in my system as I don't want a corner or other tieout to be the first thing that fails in high winds. I got caught in a microburst this past spring and the small diameter cord I was using to attach the ridgeline tieouts to my CRL snapped. This same cord I have as tieouts snapped in one corner and my tarp turned into a sail. Luckily, I was in the edge of an orchard with my truck about 40' away. I'm not sure about the gust speed but my friend was sleeping in the truck when the storm rolled through and it shook whole things so hard as to wake him up....about a minute before I made a mad dash for cover.

Even with the snapped cord and maybe 30 minutes of wild flapping the tarp came through unscathed. In the morning I retied the cords a few inches down from where they'd snapped (at the knots) and was back in business. It's Atwood micro-cord, rated for 105lbs. I wasn't happy to get wet and spend the night in my truck but it was better than shredding my tarp. However, had I been miles from my vehicle on a multi-day trip the outcome would could have been much worse.

[MikekiM]

Perfect timing.... I got hammered last night and have been pondering what I want to change to reduce the movement in the tarp.

Superfly. For ground corners have zingit to Dutch Tarp Worms on a short shock chord tensioner. Doors are tied out with half Atwood micro cord half shock cord. 2QZQ under tarp pole. Zingit CRL.

I've reduced the shock cord in the doors to about five inches. Anything longer was a waste.

I'm planning to add additional tie out loops to the 2QZQ pole pockets. I stake out the corners until the shock cord has no stretch left in it. So nothing I can change there..

The ridge tie outs have split rings as 'fuses' and the shock cord in the corners is the weak link there.

I was down low and tight with only a few inches of guy line. The does were closed on the head end only. I was taking the wind broadside so other than adding the extra tie it points on the pole pockets there was nothing left for me to do...

Sometimes you do all you can do and after that you cross your fingers..


Sent from somewhere east of Montauk...

[TrailSlug]

These could help in the most windy of scenarios.
https://dutchwaregear.com/clip-on-tarp-pull-outs.html

[OutandBack]

No amount of ty-outs or pole mods is going to keep your tarp off you in 50 mph winds.
And when you need a tarp the most you sure don't want it or any of the equiment to fail.

I do a lot of backyard and high altitude testing here in Colorado and what I have found that works the best is a lash-it (2.2mm) frame and you lay your tarp of choice over it.
Here's a couple picts of what I am talking about.





Some picts from my backyard lab.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/outand...22638444/page1