Broken Guy Lines??

[cmoulder]

Micro cord with a loop made with a tautline hitch at the tarp end, stake end secured with a MSH.

Plenty of adjustability, zero bling, works fine.

[Watertooner]

The problem that I worry about with the split rings is .... What is the bending point for these little guys anyway?

For Warbonnet split rings (probably similar to any other split rings), WarbonnetGuy says, "Those rings fail at around 100-110 lbs."

[dirtwheels]

HR, here is a pick of my UGQ tarp guy line set up set up with Kelty triptease. In the pic the line from the peg passes thru the rings on the underside of the rings and then over the top back towards the peg but passing between the rings like you would a belt with 2 rings, then a slippery half knot is tied snug against the rings.

Hope this helps. As for the sharp edges they, IMO, are not a big deal due to the rings extremely small weight. The steaks present a bigger threat to damaging the tarp when slapping the tarp in a failure scenario.

22E1AD30-43B3-4086-B3C0-2677F32D2A61.jpeg

Oh, nevermind. I had it up for a while and it was windy and maybe I had it too tight as well, but the Dutchwire was already showing signs of abrasion on the ridgeline right where I clipped it to a Stinger. I’m gonna switch to orange reflect-it and Stingerz for all tie-outs.


This is what I’m curious about. Can someone elaborate?


I’m surprised no one else is. At least I haven’t seen anyone mention it. And the fact that vendors use them must mean something too. But look at that point! You can certainly do some damage with it if you wanted to.

[OCDave]

Micro cord with a loop made with a tautline hitch at the tarp end, stake end secured with a MSH.

Plenty of adjustability, zero bling, works fine.

+1 Seems like a lot of guys are putting in a lot of effort to make some thing simple overly difficult.

[cmoulder]

+1 Seems like a lot of guys are putting in a lot of effort to make some thing simple overly difficult.

Amazing what can be done with a few simple knots and hitches, and one needn't be a bona fide knot guru like Phantom Grappler (with all due respect!)

99.44% of our needs can be met with stuff as simple as bowline, tautline, prusik, clove, Becket etc. and a slipped overhand here and there... much simpler using non-dyneema cord, of course.

[MikekiM]

The problem that I worry about with the split rings is that they usually have these pretty sharp pointy ends. They can catch on cords, webbing, fabrics, and fingers from time to time. What is the bending point for these little guys anyway? How exactly is the double split ring system that UGQ uses suppose to work?

I’m thinking of just taking the rings off the ground tie-outs and only leave them on the RL for now. I’ll just tie a bowline to attach my Dutchwire directly to the webbing. Then I’ll lark some Dutch Fleaz in-line for tension and locking. Is there anything to be concerned about doing it like this? Like this, but minus the rings:

Why not replace all you have in this picture with a simple Dutch Tarp Worm? The functionality is exactly the same, less complicated and you go straight to the webbing with the tarp worms shock cord and ditch the split rings...

Micro cord with a loop made with a tautline hitch at the tarp end, stake end secured with a MSH.

Plenty of adjustability, zero bling, works fine.

Micro cord... I didn't think it would be strong enough for ground corner duty.

The other reasons I don't use it for corners are because I love to splice and I find micro cord tangles when I look at it.

[cmoulder]

Although I haven't had it out in gale force winds yet, Micro cord seems strong enough for the task.

I have developed a standard way of packing up the tarp that almost completely eliminates twists and tangles in the ridge line and guy lines. When decamping I leave one end of the tarp ridge line attached to the tree, fold in a zig-zag pattern along the ridge line, release the remaining ridge line (which was secured with a slipped bowline) letting all lines dangle straight. I then roll the tarp, with the lines finally securing the whole "package" and put it in a stuff sack. I've found that this works for me even better than snake skins.

My philosophy is "Keep simplifying things until they can be simplified no more."

[OCDave]

...My philosophy is "Keep simplifying things until they can be simplified no more."

This is definitely a philosophy to aspire to. I have a pile of titanium do-dads that I have experiemented with but abandoned because they offered no advantage over a tautline hitch.

My corner guylines are 1.5 mm Z-line from Zpacks. It holds a Tautline hitch exquisitely. With over 5-6 years or use (easily over 100 nights use ) it shows no signs of wear. High winds have pulled my stakes but never compomised my line. It is unlikely that there could be any option that would be notably lighter.

http://www.zpacks.com/accessories/spectra_cord.shtml

[nuukskywalker]

I have pulled the grommets from the plastic on cheap old blue tarps. I've never damaged gear by tripping on lines probably because nylon stretches quite a bit. However, a Dyneema tarp and polyester or Dyneema lines may rip after only 3% strain.

Most mason line found around my house breaks at the knot under 0.5 kN. Thicker >2 mm line holds 0.7 kN (a 160 lbs me) for several seconds before breaking. That's 50% more force than will slit tear 1.2 oz CT1.5HB Dyneema CF. Similar weight SilNylon may be 4x weaker but at least it will stretch 33% before ripping.

I just tightly tied a heavy tarp with thin mason lines at six points in the rain. Bowline, sheet bend, and triple taughtline hitches hold but many other knots slipped and all were difficult to untie in the rain. Maybe little loops of weak mason line at the connection points would be better, then bend and hitch longer lengths of whatever cord is easiest to tie and untie.

Shouldn't there be a specific Goldilocks line breaking strength for each tarp? Ideally our bends and hitches will slip long before breaking strength.

[cmoulder]

Far too many variables.

IMO, go with manufacturer-published tensile strengths as a general guideline. Even 1.2mm Micro Cord is rated 100 lbs, which suggests that in actual field use many popular guy line materials such as zing-it (1.75mm rated to 500 lbs) are going to remain totally intact long after stakes pull out and tarps rip.