Guylines - What do I need for my new tarp?

[Theosus]

I trip on my lines a lot. I bought bright orange reflective line, and added line locks and mitten hooks. Loop around tree and clip to itself, or clip to a stake. Grab the line lock end on the tarp and pull. Quick and easy, and I don't trip over my stuff.

[octagone]

Z-line is fantastic!
- light weight
- no stretch
- high visibility
- grippy (great knots)
- stiff (no tangles)

[robv60]

Wow! The z line has alot of options! Im interested in their reflective line. Ill have to do some digging to see how it compares to glow wire from Lawson and the Kelty line. All great recommendations here. Im using some poly rope from wally world that has turned out to be great , albeit not very light compared to some.

[Dylanc95]

Wow! The z line has alot of options! Im interested in their reflective line. Ill have to do some digging to see how it compares to glow wire from Lawson and the Kelty line. All great recommendations here. Im using some poly rope from wally world that has turned out to be great , albeit not very light compared to some.

I use the 1.25 mm z line for my tie outs, and I love it. The only thing I can say about it is that it's very slick and a little stiff. I tried using a taut tarp hitch to guy out my tarp and it wouldn't bite at all. Now I either use a trucker hitch or a marlin spike.

[Gruxxx]

While I like, Zing-it / Lash-it (whatever Dyneema) for ridgelines, I prefer Nite Ize rope and especially Lawson Glowire for the tie-outs. Reason being, is that they hold a taught line hitch extremely well (whereas slippery Dyneema does not) which makes them more versatile to tie off to vegetation than "hardware" attachments, they are relflective, and the stretch factor is totally negligible for these short lines.

[SpitballJedi]

I just got my new HG cuban fiber tarp with doors. Now I need to rig it up with lines. What line and hardware would you all recommend? I am used to using my ENO tarp with the line locks which made setup and adjustments very easy. I did get some Dutch wasps for the ridgeline. What should I get for the side lines? What type of line is best? How long is a good length. Any advice on these questions or anything else you think I should know would be much appreciated.

So many options. I like having ~8' guy lines because sometimes I like to put my tarp up high.

I currently use Dyneema with a fixed eye at one end. It is larksheaded to my tarp pulls. The other end has a prussik long enough to double wrap around the stake. The lines stay attached to the tarp and the stakes get packed separate. I find this to be easy set up and take down while easily adjustable and easy to switch to another tarp.

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[TominMN]

So many options. I like having ~8' guy lines because sometimes I like to put my tarp up high.

I currently use Dyneema with a fixed eye at one end. It is larksheaded to my tarp pulls. The other end has a prussik long enough to double wrap around the stake. The lines stay attached to the tarp and the stakes get packed separate. I find this to be easy set up and take down while easily adjustable and easy to switch to another tarp.

This look pretty slick.

I'm one of those anal guys who doesn't like having guylines or hardware hanging off my tarp; I like to pack the guylines with the stakes.

I can imagine a modification of this set-up that would do that:

Dutch Hooks on the Prusics and the guylines tethered to the stakes (or maybe not.) Small Zing It CLs on the tarp corners to hook to.

Of course you might want to be able to easily "un-tether" if you wanted to tie off to vegetation or whatever.

(Just a thought expanding on a very nice idea.)

[B-Square]

I like SpitBallJedi's - its the KISS principle - no extra hardware to lose or break. Question do you use 8 foot all the tie outs?

[SpitballJedi]

@TominMN:That works. Until recently, my set up was exactly like you described. I decided I'd rather keep the lines on the tarp and not have the hardware because I forgot to pack my stakes and lines once. I can always make stakes.

I don't bother rolling up my lines anymore because they don't really get tangled, which was the main reason I liked wrapping them around the stake.

[SpitballJedi]

@b-square: Yes, they are 8'.