I can't imagine ever tightening the guylines enough to make it "fling" a stake personally...never had a problem with using shock cord myself. I guess it could happen though...
I can't imagine ever tightening the guylines enough to make it "fling" a stake personally...never had a problem with using shock cord myself. I guess it could happen though...
If you larkshead your guyline around your stake, it's not going to get flung anywhere. This is just "best practice".
While I'm sure there is some variance from product to product, I have tested 1/8" sc to failure. I don't remember the exact number, but the sheath failed somewhere in the neighborhood of 100#...the elastic bands were still intact. Remember, people jump off of bridges with nothing but shock cord to stop them, so the product is not necessarily weak by definition. I would use it for guy lines w/o hesitation, if that was what I wanted/needed.
Having said that, relative to almost all other choices, sc is heavy and bulky. There just isn't a compelling reason for even car campers to deal with that bulk and weight.
Dave
"Loneliness is the poverty of self; solitude is the richness of self."~~~May Sarton
I hardly use shock cord because of the weight. Just on my doors and on one side for my pull outs. Nowhere else. Cuben pitches tight, so I do not need anything extra to tension it.
-Jeremy "Brother Bones"
Originally Posted by FLRider
Been there, done that... Mine flew ~20 feet. It was a high wind and saturated ground situation but still and all it was enough to give me pause. I use straight static line now. I don't fixate over banjo tight tarps so it works fine for me. If the lines pull out my stakes are real close by.
I may be slow... But I sure am gimpy.
"Bless you child, when you set out to thread a needle don't hold the thread still and fetch the needle up to it; hold the needle still and poke the thread at it; that's the way a woman most always does, but a man always does t'other way."
Mrs. Loftus to Huck Finn
We Don't Sew... We Make Gear! video series
Important thread injector guidelines especially for Newbies
Bobbin Tension - A Personal Viewpoint
From what I understand while the stake doesn't fling it does pose a greater risk to damaging your tarp. I'd rather have my stake fly free than be tethered to a shock cord and eat my tarp. So I think "best practice" is actually to just use tensioners or go straight static line.
I may be slow... But I sure am gimpy.
"Bless you child, when you set out to thread a needle don't hold the thread still and fetch the needle up to it; hold the needle still and poke the thread at it; that's the way a woman most always does, but a man always does t'other way."
Mrs. Loftus to Huck Finn
We Don't Sew... We Make Gear! video series
Important thread injector guidelines especially for Newbies
Bobbin Tension - A Personal Viewpoint
I use them on my doors too, that way it steps out of the way instead of tripping me up and although it could go flying, the doors don't have the same structural loads that the tarp has.
Solids on the corners, 12 inch sections on the pullouts and just shock cord on my doors. I don't really hike yet so weight is not much an issue.
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