Caterpillar CRL

[massis]

After a few iterations and helpful tips from likeminded member Sqidmark, I have arrived at my new tarp ridgeline setup.
The idea grew here: https://hammockforums.net/forum/show...tarp-connector
But it is now sufficiently different and useable that I found it logical to create it's own thread.

I have named it "Caterpillar CRL" because the UCR's used look like caterpillars crawling over the ridgeline when adjusting and releasing them.

The concept looks rather complex in diagrams or writing, but in practice I find it rather simple. It is an attempt to combine the adjustability of UH's 2-biner CRL with the stand-alone, tensioned CRL Dutch's wasp & Dutch hook create.

This is the basic idea (blue bits are UCR's as well):


The line attaches to the fixed end with a simple biner.
1 caterpillar-UCR replaces the prussik we know from the 2-biner CRL on the adjustable end.
Instead of clipping straight to the tarp, the adjustable end attaches to a dogbone UCR. The tarp connects to the other side of this dogbone.

At the fixed end of the CRL, the tarp is connected to a second caterpillar to keep the entire thing easy to center and tighten.

These are the Caterpillar UCR's, total length 3.5 inch:


This is the dogbone UCR (on the right) & caterpillar UCR (on the adjustable end on the left), combined to keep the line taught and attach the tarp:




As this is all rather hard to explain, I made a short video, albeit without sound:


Please ignore the giant biner on the fixed end, I only have 3 micro's at hand so I used one of the hammock biners over there Furthermore the caterpillar on the fixed end side of the tarp doesn't have the locked brummel yet in the video, I've added it since.

[Rekoob]

Looking good although I can't figure out how you were floating above the tarp upside down and able to set it up... Nice job. Looks like it will serve you well.

[massis]

Looking good although I can't figure out how you were floating above the tarp upside down and able to set it up... Nice job. Looks like it will serve you well.

I have NO idea why the video is suddenly upside down, I filmed it upright with my iPhone (in landscape mode) and it looked fine on my pc. Then I ran it through handbrake to reduce filesize and suddenly it's upside down... Right side up version is on it's way!

[massis]

New video is up and looks much better in the upright position :-)

Also, this is that same backyard less than an hour later:IMG_20160623_220726.jpg

These torrential rain storms really are getting out of hand... June 2016 is officially the wettest June ever recorded over here.

[massis]

Tarp is currently up for a night using the caterpillar. Went up in less than a minute and 8 hours later it's still tight as a guitar string.

Let's see what morning brings. I won't be spending the night out, as the yard's still flooded so there's no solid ground under the tarp, and I won't have my hammock for another 3 weeks :-(

[massis]

The night was relatively calm, slightly windy but not that bad.

The tarp stayed exactly the way I left it, and was still guitarstring tight in the morning. And the best part is taking this down. It's SO much easier when the CRL stays up and you can have the ridgeline of your tarp still suspended. Simply grab the 4 corner guylines and start stuffing it in the bag. Once it's fully in the bag, leave it hanging until you're ready to pack it.

I could even put it up this way on a dry night for quickdeploy. Yes, it will be slower than snakeskinned, but only by a few seconds. All I need to do is clip in 1 microbiner to the far end, pull it taught and guy out.

morning1.jpg morning2.jpg morning3.jpg morning4.jpg

[Phantom Grappler]

massis, your Caterpillar CRL looks like a winner. Does the UCR at the tree have a name, or is the whole thing named Caterpillar CRL? Now that is something to drink coffee over and tell lies. Except your creation looks like the real deal! Thank you sir!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[massis]

I'm going with Caterpillars for the small ones ( being the one on the adjustable end of the CRL and the one on the opposite end of the tarp) , because they're the ones crawling around ;-)
The third one is a dogbone UCR.

Together, they make up what shall now be known as the Caterpillar CRL.

Do take into account that one of the reasons this works so well, is that I've spliced a 1.8mm dyneema around a 2mm polyester braid/dyneema core. Since the 1.8 is stretched slightly, and the polyester is really grippy, I can get away with really a really short bury (the shortest one is less then 2"). If you're going to splice zing-it over lash-it or vise versa, you'll probably need a slightly longer bury to get equal grip, as proven by Sqidmark here

[GadgetUK437]

What is the minimum distance between trees, for a given tarp length?

You could get a 3:1 pulley advantage here,

by putting the loose tail through the karabiner and pulling back towards the tree, easy enough to slide the locking UCR along to hold it in place.

[massis]

That's actually quite clever with the 3-1 advantage, hadn't tought of that one, and took me a while to see what you ment. Will try next time!

As for minimum distance, it's slightly dependant on tree diameter, on a wider tree you can go slightly shorter because the adjustable Caterpillar will go sideways instead of straight.
Taking that into account, on a regular diameter tree you'd need about 13" extra: 4" for each caterpillar, 6" for the dogbone and some room for the biners/dutch hooks.

Should the distance be shorter though, you can simply clip the fixed end straight to the tarp, and the adjustable caterpillar straight to the tarp, and you'd only need your tarp + 1-2" (adjustable caterpillar against / round the tree, so only 2 microbiners taking up space)
But you'd obviously lose the standalone-crl at that point and fall back on a crl that requires the tarp to stay taught.