out in the hammock right now!

[WesleyGalles]

So I just got my hammock pitched and I'm finally inside. I'm really enjoying doing this a couple of times a week to get some real experience in before my thru hike.

So here's the dilemma: I was setting up my tarp, and as soon as I was staking in the last side, a huge gust of wind comes along and undoes everything that I had just done. Haha, it was fairly annoying. Well, I finally got all the sides staked down (as closely as I could get compared to Shug's videos) but I'm still getting quite a bit of movement out of my tarp. Is that just to be expected no matter what when it is windy, or is there something else.I should try?

[Tijereyes]

Not an expert here, so feel free to ignore me. I'd think of 3 things to consider. First, how tightly are you staking down your tarp? Secondly, are you using tensioners on the lines, or just staking it down?

Third, how is your tarp oriented relative to the wind direction? That can make a difference.

In my experience I always get a little bit of "flap", but not a lot -- but all my guy lines are self-tensioning and I crank them down as far as they'll go, so that may help.

[lazy river road]

Where is the flapping happening and what kind of tarp do you have, is it cat cut or not? That could also make a difference. Also when I stake my tarp down I try and align the tie out cord with the tie out of the tarp as best I can with out off setting the cord from the tarp tie out. So instead of pulling the tarp line to the left or right I pull it straight out so their is no wrinkle in the corner. Hope this helps.

[OldRagFreeze]

What tarp? I use 'three-to-one' style knots for all my guy-lines, which help me to really wrench the tarp down nice and tight.

Check out the 'Basic Tarp Set up' video on the link below. I use the no hardware set up he recommends with my Superfly and it works very, very well. The 'three-to-one' knots on the guys (second method he shows) are super easy and allow you to tighten it down really well.

http://www.warbonnetoutdoors.com/setup.php

[WesleyGalles]

It's the larger Hex Fly that comes with Hennessy Safari. Maybe I just didn't have it staked down tight enough. I'll be able to try again either tonight or Thursday, so I'll use some of your tips and let you know. Also, what stakes do you guys use? I'm using some plastic ones I got from Wally world because they were cheap. Although, before I go on my thru I'd like to get some quality ones.

[Sailor]

For me, tarp set ups seem pretty simple. Just takes me a couple hundred practice times for each set up style to make it seem easy. Short of that, I look pretty weak and I hope the wind really doesn't come up.

[WesleyGalles]

I did it guys! I ended up taking the larger Hex Fly out of my HH Safari and throwing it in with me Expedition and got it all set up properly. I think my problem before was that I didn't have my lines out tight enough. Today I made sure that everything was tight and secure and I was fast asleep inside in no time. There was a slight whip to the tarp, but it was barely noticeable, thanks for all the tips guys!!

[packeagle]

I cant tell from he photo, but I could never get a tight pitch using the hennessy method. A dedicated tarp ridge line solved this for me.

[Dave-O]

I cant tell from he photo, but I could never get a tight pitch using the hennessy method. A dedicated tarp ridge line solved this for me.

+1 on using a dedicated ridgeline with a Hennessy. My son has tried and tried, but he could never seem to get a tight pitch. That stopped once he started using a dedicated ridgeline.

I'm also not an expert, but looking at the guy line in the forefront of the picture, you might want to move it more to the left so it "splits" the tarp in half at the corner. I learned that watching warbonnetguy's videos on how to set up a tarp on the Warbonnet Outdoor's site.

Congratulations on getting it to work.

Sincerely,
Dave-O

[WesleyGalles]

Dave-O,

Well I didn't use a continual ridge line. There's basically two triangle clips on the end (like in the Warbonnet video), with some guy line attached to them. I just tied those two ends from the triangle clips off to the trees. Is this an acceptable method?