Superfly Door Tieouts

[Gruxxx]

With my Superfly, I have long loops of 3/16" shock cord on each door corner. (Perhaps slight overkill in thickness, but they were left over after replacing the deck rigging on my kayak.) They work well for staking the doors closed, and make it convenient to pop on/off a stake to enter/exit the tarp. When I want the doors open, the shock cord is just short enough that I need to stretch them to bring the ends together to clip with a mini s-biner. The heavy shock cord is actually nice when rigging the doors open in wind or in porch mode, since the tension of the cord beneath the tarp provides a bit of support to minimize flapping. This is just something I came up with, but I'm curious what others use for the door tie-outs. ???

[DanglingModifier]

Similar setup here.

I use shock cord with tato gear door hooks (sold by Dutch) on the ends. The door hooks attach to a prusik on the opposing tarp corner D-ring allowing them to overlap themselves quite a bit when in storm mode. I've also got prusiks on the side panel tie-outs which I hook the door hooks to when I want to be in porch mode. Having the prusiks on the opposing side of the tarp allows for great protection during inclement weather, as well as removing the need for a stake.

[ampersand]

With a Superfly on on order, I've been curious about this, too. Thinking I'll probably go with the setup Mr. Modifier describes above at this point, as it seems functional, easy enough, and it doesn't require extra stakes. Plus after a cursory search, I wasn't able to find anything I like much better.

There are, just to be nitpicky in the name of finding a better way, a few things I wish that setup offered (though obviously with no tarp I haven't tried it, so discount my opinion accordingly). I'd be curious if there are easy ways to address them:

- I wish the stowed doors would fold inside, not outside. As is, if it starts to rain as I'm off fetching water or climbing some hill and my doors are folded, the interior of the tarp would be rained on. Not the end of the world, but still. (Gruxxx's setup would avoid this but seems to require four more stakes.)
- I wish there were more options besides doors overlapping (coffin mode?) and doors stowed. And ideally those options wouldn't mean extra stakes.
- DanglingModifier (sorry to address you directly), the mini cord locks you're using just kind of strike me as inelegant (this is my neurosis, not your failing), and they don't seem like they'll fit the doubled-up 1/8" shock cord that I'd prefer to 3/32". I realize these are petty concerns in the scheme of things, but I'm just wishing here.

I know, I know, "wish in one hand..." but I can already tell I'll be futzing around at camp trying to figure out ways to re-rig the thing. Is there a best-of-all-worlds setup?

[Wraith6761]

With a Superfly on on order, I've been curious about this, too. Thinking I'll probably go with the setup Mr. Modifier describes above at this point, as it seems functional, easy enough, and it doesn't require extra stakes. Plus after a cursory search, I wasn't able to find anything I like much better.

There are, just to be nitpicky in the name of finding a better way, a few things I wish that setup offered (though obviously with no tarp I haven't tried it, so discount my opinion accordingly). I'd be curious if there are easy ways to address them:

- I wish the stowed doors would fold inside, not outside. As is, if it starts to rain as I'm off fetching water or climbing some hill and my doors are folded, the interior of the tarp would be rained on. Not the end of the world, but still. (Gruxxx's setup would avoid this but seems to require four more stakes.)
- I wish there were more options besides doors overlapping (coffin mode?) and doors stowed. And ideally those options wouldn't mean extra stakes.
- DanglingModifier (sorry to address you directly), the mini cord locks you're using just kind of strike me as inelegant (this is my neurosis, not your failing), and they don't seem like they'll fit the doubled-up 1/8" shock cord that I'd prefer to 3/32". I realize these are petty concerns in the scheme of things, but I'm just wishing here.

I know, I know, "wish in one hand..." but I can already tell I'll be futzing around at camp trying to figure out ways to re-rig the thing. Is there a best-of-all-worlds setup?

The system I use with my Superfly is a small-ish (maybe 12") piece of shock cord on each door with a mini-biner at one end. (the same kind that come on Sea-to-Summit utensils -- I keep taking the biner off cause I don't like it flopping around when I'm eating, then manage to loose the utensil...hopefully some brightly colored cord wrapped on the handle will solve this, those things are expensive after a while!) When I batten down the hatches, I just stretch the cord from one door to the opposite corner's D-ring tie-out and clip it on, then do the same with the other doors. You could just use a single mini-biner and clip the two doors together, then run a single tie-out from that to a stake...it's still staking them out, but it's only 1 extra stake per end of the tarp instead of 2.
You can stow the doors inside the tarp. If I want to stow the doors, I just clip the two biners together in the middle on either the outside or inside of the tarp. I feel like I'm not explaining it well, I'll upload some pictures of the setup when I get home today.

[DanglingModifier]

- I wish the stowed doors would fold inside, not outside. As is, if it starts to rain as I'm off fetching water or climbing some hill and my doors are folded, the interior of the tarp would be rained on. Not the end of the world, but still. (Gruxxx's setup would avoid this but seems to require four more stakes.)

This is definitely possible with long enough shock cord. I haven't tried it with my doors to see if I can stretch that far without seriously stressing anything. It wasn't something I considered when measuring my cord.

- I wish there were more options besides doors overlapping (coffin mode?) and doors stowed. And ideally those options wouldn't mean extra stakes.

Doors don't need to overlap. They can be attached to each other with a small biner, or attached to the opposing D-ring with loose shock cord so they barely touch and drape down a bit. That allows you to squeeze through without detaching things, but it is on the floppy side if there is any wind. There are a million options if you bring stakes or sufficient cordage to tie off to something else. Obviously if the doors ends point off at an angle away from the tarp body you'll be challenged to secure the end of those same doors back to the tarp, ergo the need for stakes or other tie-off spot.

- DanglingModifier (sorry to address you directly), the mini cord locks you're using just kind of strike me as inelegant (this is my neurosis, not your failing), and they don't seem like they'll fit the doubled-up 1/8" shock cord that I'd prefer to 3/32". I realize these are petty concerns in the scheme of things, but I'm just wishing here.

The cord locks are inelegant, especially when a loop of extra shock cord hangs out of one, but they do the trick. You can always buy regular sized ones to fit thicker shock cord. Frankly I would get thinner shock cord if I could find it easily.

If you come up with a better idea for adjustable door tie outs I'd love to hear it. I'm not married to this setup, but it's the best thing I've pieced together so far to manage the doors. I'm sure I got most of those ideas reading other people's contributions on this forum.

[ampersand]

If you come up with a better idea for adjustable door tie outs I'd love to hear it. I'm not married to this setup, but it's the best thing I've pieced together so far to manage the doors. I'm sure I got most of those ideas reading other people's contributions on this forum.

Thanks for walking through those points — all good ones. Like I said, I'm probably going with your setup myself, as it's definitely the best I've come across so far. I appreciate you recognizing that my nitpicking was in the spirit of finding that perfect solution, not badmouthing yours. Think I'll probably put in my order today

Regarding the mini cord locks, it's too bad you can't fashion whoopies out of shock cord.

[DanglingModifier]

Whoopies are kind of messy for guy lines. I have a set I made to test at my tarp corners, but I think they will be more fussy and messy than I'd like. Haven't tried them yet.

Have you looked at any of the posts about self-tensioning guy lines? You could fashion a door tie out with whoopie + a self-tensioning shock cord section, but I imagine that would be way more fussy than straight shock cord with cord lock. Lots of extra loops and cord laying around in that scenario.

[mrjaw14]

I use tarp door hooks from Dutch after I got tired of untying the doors to go pee and re-re in the dark. I attach that hook to a small loop prussic knotted to a piece of guyline attached to one of my corner stakes. I can easily unhook the door and keep the same tension on the door when I re-attach it. I do this for all 4 doors. If I don't use the doors, the loop that attaches to the stake attaches to the opposing door's hook and I use the prussic to tighten it up so the doors don't flap when folded under.

[DanglingModifier]

- DanglingModifier (sorry to address you directly), the mini cord locks you're using just kind of strike me as inelegant (this is my neurosis, not your failing), and they don't seem like they'll fit the doubled-up 1/8" shock cord that I'd prefer to 3/32". I realize these are petty concerns in the scheme of things, but I'm just wishing here.

The cord locks are inelegant, especially when a loop of extra shock cord hangs out of one, but they do the trick. You can always buy regular sized ones to fit thicker shock cord. Frankly I would get thinner shock cord if I could find it easily.

I want to correct a previous mistake I made in describing my door tie outs. After having just purchased some 3/32" shock cord from Dutch I realize my doors actually have 1/8" shock cord on them. The 1/8" shock cord I got at REI does in fact fit through the mini cord locks, but just barely. It's all jammed in there, and definitely inelegantly. I said I'd go thinner than 3/32" if I could. I wouldn't, now that I've seen and held actual 3/32".

[TrailBlaser]

What thickness shock cord would you recommend for tarp tie-outs?