How many

[720fly]

Stakes? Im not cool enough to have a sili tarp ( YET ) so I'm using a ww poly tarp, so question is how many stakes to do it right without overkill which I feel I'm doing

[gunner76]

Depends on your tarp. I can use as few as 4 and as many as 8 depending on how I rig mine. If nearby trees are in the right spot I don't need any stakes.

At a minimum you need to stake the 4 corners.

[raiffnuke]

I would guess 4-8 depending on your setup. But that is just a guess without knowing how you are trying to rig your tarp.

[djminnesota]

I usually dont bring any stakes- I use natural ancohrs such as rocks, sticks, trees and roots protruding from the ground

[720fly]

Well I'm going long corners on the tarp, I'm thinking 4 , 2 to spread hammock and 2 for bottom corners of tarp.
Yeah I can do stick stake and that most likely going to be the back up as they are a most always available

[timabababaluka]

I started with a Harbor Freight poly tarp (camo ), and I tied down every last grommet. I've since moved on to a tyvek tarp, but it's essentially the same thing--a rectangle with 12 tie-outs. I use 12 tie-outs, but only 4 stakes (a stake for each corner). Each corner guyline has an alpine loop about a foot or two down from the tarp, and two middle guylines attached to it with a tautline hitch so they can be snugged up (the result is kind of like a poor man's cat cut. Here's a rather crummy picture to help illustrate it:



And another to show the location of the loops and hitches (this time in porch mode--yellow arrows are loops, and pink arrows are the hitches):



I like this setup because I only have to worry about 4 stakes, but can still get the sides fairly tight. Should work with a ww poly tarp as well, but probably your best bet is to take it out back and fiddle with different methods till one of them clicks with you

[J.Andersons]

MacCat Ultra and 6 High peak stakes similar to MSR Groundhog. I do not have those tiny gram weenie scales but those stakes feels light.That's my setup.

[Roadrunnr72]

I have used a Kelty 9 in a diamond, with only 2 stakes. But had extra stakes in the bag, so if the wind/weather was too much, I could stake it down better. Now, most of the good months, I use my WL Tadpole, and four stakes.