Knot free, self-tensioning tarp ridgeline

[Redoleary]

Now that I've got your attention, it is technically neither knot free nor is it self-tensioning. However, you do only need to tie the knots once, and after you tension it, in theory, it should take care of itself there after. Time will tell, but at the moment this seems to be working.

[Knotty]

Essentially a tarp ridgeline tensioner.

I think you would need to keep the bungee doubled, as you show, to have enough tension.

[JayS]

Good idea, Red. I am interested in how this works long term - both as multiple consecutive nights and over individual hangs over several months. Also how it does in the cold.

Thanks for posting.

[Redoleary]

Essentially a tarp ridgeline tensioner.

I think you would need to keep the bungee doubled, as you show, to have enough tension.

I think you're right. I've played with it a little bit w/o it being doubled and it seems to be ok but you also have twice the strech.

Good idea, Red. I am interested in how this works long term - both as multiple consecutive nights and over individual hangs over several months. Also how it does in the cold.

Thanks for posting.

Thanks, I am also curious to see how it does in the rain...time will tell.

[Redoleary]

I have also tried different variations on the same theme where I replaced the bungee with webbing on each prusik and used a ladder lock buckle or ring buckles etc. to connect them. All seemed to work, I just prefer the bungee at the moment. Plus, all I had laying around was 1" webbing so it was all a bit of overkill.

[BER]

I tried something like this recently when I was playing with my DIY bridge. I was seeing if it would work to attach both the hammock and the tarp to the elephant trunks on my tree straps. I used a couple extra whoopieslings.com self-tensioning guy lines for the ridge line of the tarp. Because the distance between the elephant trunks only changed a slight amount when the hammock was loaded, the tarp stayed perfectly taut.

[Redoleary]

I tried something like this recently when I was playing with my DIY bridge. I was seeing if it would work to attach both the hammock and the tarp to the elephant trunks on my tree straps. I used a couple extra whoopieslings.com self-tensioning guy lines for the ridge line of the tarp. Because the distance between the elephant trunks only changed a slight amount when the hammock was loaded, the tarp stayed perfectly taut.

That sounds pretty cool, have any pics?

[BER]

Red, I did not get a picture of the the tarp with the self-tensioning guy lines on that day. But...

Here is a picture of both of my other tarp attached to the elephant trunk with a figure9:


I have my hammock stung up in the "fabric cutting center" (AKA: the "proving grounds", AKA: the basement), so I took these two pics this morning to show the connection with the whoopieslings.com self-tensioning guy line. The old green pad behind the lines is just to provide contrast for the photo. Note the angle of suspension is a bit larger than I use outside.


The self-tensioning line is larks headed onto the ridge line tie out.


The upper line goes to the tarp. The prusik loop is attached to the elephant trunk. The lower line is the hammock suspension whoopie.

I could get better pictures outside with the tarp fully staked out if you need them, but I think this shows the idea. If I were to change this, I would use the tensioner on a whoopie sling for adjustment rather than using the prusik to prevent the possibility of slippage (had this happen only once). Note that once the tarp is staked out on the sides it rides a little lower and closer to the hammock than is shown here.

[Cranky Bear]

Red may I ask what was the reasoning behind this? Were you getting tarp sag? Tarp ridgeline sag?

You mentioned in the vid that after an overnight you see this happen! I found that with a sil tarp and a over the tarp ridgeline overnight the tarp would stretch which would cause some sagging! On my sil tarps I use self tensioners on the tie out's(got them from whoopieslings) (JRB has them also) and I switched to a under the tarp ridgeline and the sag in the tarp was pretty much gone because the tensioners took slack of the walls (sides of tarp)! I also added another wrap to my prussics as I found that they had a tendency to slip (or slide) in the night, and the extra wrap stopped this from happening!

Now one option for you is to use the self tensioners on the tarp ridge tie out points then attach them to the ridgeline? The silicone tubing that is used on the lines is very good at keeping tension on the tarp!

I set up my significant others tarp and she finds it very easy to set up, and she is hammock camping challenged!!

What I did for her was get a continuous ridgeline set up from Whoopieslings and then I put the tarp on it and put it in snakeskins! This was all she has to do is string up the continuous ridgeline with the tarp already attached in the snakeskinns, deploy tarp center over hammock and then stake it out! Then with the tensioners any sag that starts to happen is taken up by them!

Not sure if this help's ya???

[Cranky Bear]

I see BER beat me to the ridge tensioner in his second pic! But that was what I was talking about!