So now that I'm at home and able to type properly (iphone keyboard isn't very good for long posts!), I'll say this...
I LOVE my custom OES 12x10 tarp!!!!
The basic design of the tarp goes like this: Take a Speer Winter Tarp, but make it 12x10, instead of 10 x 11, and add six extra tieouts - in the center of each of the largest cat cuts, as seen in this picture. The BLUE tieouts are the ones that I had added, which are not on the Speer tarp, and add tons of flexibility in pitching options
So, that gives you four extra tieouts in the centers of the left and right sides, and two extras along the long side.
What do all those extra tieouts do for me? Why, I thought you'd never ask.
They let me do things like this:
So what you see there is two hammocks, hung from four trees, but it would work even better with a three-tree hang. On the narrow end, where the trees are close together, or if there was only one tree at that end, I tied the main center ridgeline tieout to the tree. That's the end farthest from you in the picture.
On the other end, where the two trees are spaced farther apart, I tied the two tieouts in the centers of the cat cuts to the trees, so the roof of the tarp formed a triangle between those three tieout points. This makes it absolutely cavernous inside, and I was able to stand fully upright in between the two hammocks with plenty of space to spare.
Add some hiking poles and ground stakes to make walls on each side of the tarp, and we've got a good bit of rain protection with a huge space in the middle.
In fact, there was so much space in the middle, that we hung the Blackbirds with their openings facing in towards the center, rather than out. That means, during the storm, I was able to set my Clikstand and Trangia burner up on the ground between us, and we could cook breakfast together, while chatting and sitting comfortably in our hammocks. It was absolutely awesome!!!!!
Here's another view of the tarp, with the two-tieout end to the right and the single tieout end to the left, to make it a little more obvious how it's pitched:
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