CRL.. guitar string tight or leave a little slack...

**MikekiM** · 09-02-2017, 08:48

I was browsing some YouTube vids last evening while hanging in back property and noticed something interesting.. One of the youtube'rs hung the CRL for his CF tarp leaving a small amount of slack in it, so the tarp in the snake skins hung with a little sag.. it was a standard CRL with Dutch hook/wasp setup and prussiks for centering/tensioning the tarp, basically what I use except I have mini-ucr's instead of prussiks.

Once the guy lines were tensioned the sag was a non-issue.

I usually tension the CRL as tight as I can get it, but always worry about snapping it (or the hardware) when it's windy and the trees are swaying.

I haven't tried this setup yet, but wonder if anyone else has. Any pros to doing it this way? Leaving a little room for tree sway is one I can think of. Second is being able to get the CRL up above the hammock suspension so they don't rub each other, while still being able to get the tarp down close to the hammock. I remember another vid where the hammock'r was praising having the CRL at a similar 30 degree angle as the hammoch suspension for this reason.

Any thoughts?

**MAD777** · 09-02-2017, 18:34

I shorten the suspension until the slack is barely there in the Ridgeline. Allows for a bit of tree movement.

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**sqidmark** · 09-02-2017, 19:52

If you leave a bit of slack in the crl it's much easier to rotate the wasp out when you take it down. Far better than the frustration and resulting cursing from trying to man handle the cord out from under the wing.

I suspect that the slack does allow for some forgiveness in the swaying of trees as you mentioned, especially so if you use shock cord loops for the tie-outs (I don't). If you leave the crl slack but pull the ridge line tight with the prusik's/ucr's (adjusters), then any potential stress is applied directly to the tarp rather than the crl/tarp combo. Of course it's possible that excess force could overcome the grip of the adjusters so they'll give, thus protecting the tarp somewhat. If this were in fact the case, then both tarp and crl could be spared a premature death.

**lilbear** · 09-03-2017, 01:26

Timely post, thanks. I've been wondering the same. I've been pulling mine as taut as I can get it, but the have to wrestle with my tato tensioners and to remove line from my wasp til I can barely feel my thumbs. Will try leaving a bit of slack tomorrow night when I'm out.

**GadgetUK437** · 09-03-2017, 06:21

Leave a little slack in your ridgeline, especially if hanging from young trees in winds. Their swaying can snap a ridgeline or tear a tarp.
when you tighten your guylines, the ridgeline will get a good shape, a nice catenary curve. And if you use some shockcord in your guyline system, then the whole tarp will be able to give some when the wind hits and the trees sway.

**MikekiM** · 09-03-2017, 07:34

Reporting back on this..

Pitched the tarp two nights ago with the CRL pulled as tight as I could get it, which is what I typically do. After posting this yesterday I re-adjusted so there was some slack in the CRL..

I left the four ground corners staked out (Tarp worms, shock cord, zingit) and the center pole mod installed. I loosened the Wasp and let out about six to eight inches of CRL, until the tarps ridge was just above hammock. Since I am using the shock cord at the corners & have the pole in the middle tensioning everything, the tarp popped right into shape, albeit a little flatter and now slightly off center over the hammock. Easy enough to slide the mini-ucr's to recenter the tarp over the hammock and pull up the slack in the ground points. The CRL was now parallel with the hammocks suspension.

Although the pitch is low and tight in storm mode and the tarp ridge is almost touching the hammocks ARL, there is no interference between the CRL and the hammock suspension.. I like this.

I did notice that this setup creates a pivot point for the tarp RL tieouts when it's windy.. Hard to explain. The ridgeline is no longer a straight tight line since the attachment points at the trees are about six inches higher than where the tarp is. When the wind blew hard the ridge of the tarp moved slightly around the pivot point. Not horrible or a show stopper. Time will tell if this setup becomes my go-to.

**sqidmark** · 09-03-2017, 09:01

At 6' or so above the ground I don't think there is an enormous amount of movement, even if both trees happened to sway apart simultaneously. I'm guessing 2-3" of slack may be sufficient.

I should probably run out and set up the taj to try this out, but at 7+ feet of circumference my trees aren't moving much anyway. It's pouring so it'll be a good test of my recent seam sealing of the velcro pole straps.

**MikekiM** · 09-03-2017, 10:58

Originally Posted by sqidmark

At 6' or so above the ground I don't think there is an enormous amount of movement, even if both trees happened to sway apart simultaneously. I'm guessing 2-3" of slack may be sufficient.

I should probably run out and set up the taj to try this out, but at 7+ feet of circumference my trees aren't moving much anyway. It's pouring so it'll be a good test of my recent seam sealing of the velcro pole straps.

The movement I spotted was less from the trees than from the wind, and fact that the tarp pullout was below the level of the tarp anchor point so there was a slight pendulum effect going on. I don't think it's anything of issue and I like the CRL & hammock suspension not interfering with each other. I've had thoughts of adding an additional tie out point to the 2QZQ pole pockets amidship on the tarp edge.. this is confirmation that these additional ground points could prove useful.

I recently lost one of the trees at the back of my property that I used to hang from so I've been using a steel pole at the top of the chain link fence. Zero movement there, but the cherry tree is my other anchor point and that sways a lot!

**GadgetUK437** · 09-03-2017, 12:19

I was hooked up to two trees on a windy night on the shores of Loch Ness. One was a big ol' oak I couldn't get my arms around and the other was a slim birch about the circumference of my thigh.
I was sheltered from the wind barreling down the loch by a beefy holly thicket, so my tarp had it easy. But I had an interesting night anyway. Every time a squall came through, I could hear it roar through the tree canopy, and about 1.5 seconds later I would bounce up and down as the slim tree waved in the wind.
I made sure I had some give in my tarp that night!

--
Gadget

**somniferous** · 09-03-2017, 22:39

I make mine taught, but I don't over tighten. I will make it so there is no sag in the line, but not so tight that I can't bend it a bit. I find if I leave too much slack, the tarp lowers too much when I tighten the guy lines. I've gone through some big storms this way and haven't had any issues.