Tyvek Tarp for Two Terrific Tykes

[timabababaluka]

Just to show you how wonderful this place is, last summer in a thread about tyvek I mentioned that none of the builders in the San Joaquin valley seem to be using tyvek housewrap, and so scrounging enough of it to make a tarp was difficult. Three months later I get a PM from a generous member (who, for the time being, I am keeping anonymous for fear of embarrassing him) saying he got a hold of some and remembered that I was having trouble getting it. Less than a week later it was on my doorstep--only on Hammock Forums do you find people who can remember a need from an obscure thread that went dormant three months before! My two oldest boys are Cub Scouts and were really excited about the prospect of hammock camping, but didn’t have a tarp. Thanks to the Hammock Forum Hero, now they do:




It is roughly a 9’ x 11’ rectangle with 4 corner guy lines and 6 side guy lines. They are young hangers, so I wanted to keep it simple with only 4 stakes to pound in and tie to. The side guy lines are connected to the corner guys about a foot or two down through an alpine butterfly loop (yellow arrow), and are tautline hitched (pink arrows) so the sides can be pulled snug:




The tarp is connected to the ridgeline with two paracord “acorns” that are wrapped in the ridgeline and semi-permanently tied off so that my boys won’t have to fiddle with (or, rather, lose) them during set up and take down. The “acorns” are just diamond (or knife lanyard) knots with both sides cut off and fused. Small, lightweight, and work like a charm:





Here’s a side view in porch mode:




Finally, a shot of the two young hangers when they found out that this tarp was for them:




A heartfelt thank you to the members of HF whose experience and knowledge make projects like these possible for so many of us. But a special thank you to the member who made two young hangers so happy, and also provided them with a wonderful example of selflessness and generosity. When they saw their tarp and asked where the tyvek came from, I told them that a member from the forum gave it to us because it looked like we could use it. The gesture left an impression on them that is far more valuable than the tarp itself. Thank you.

[doogie]

Great going...loved the last photo.

[timabababaluka]

Thank you. I like the last photo as well. For a few reasons: first, smiling kids are awesome--those are my favorite kind (they can be somewhat elusive at times). Second, the one on the right looks like he's throwing gang signs but has no idea he's doing it. And perhaps my favorite reason is, if you look closely, you can see layers upon layers of camp dirt on those smiley faces. My children attract it like it was magnetic--this photo of my #3 son was taken (and I swear I am not exaggerating) not ten minutes after we set up camp:



Happy camping all!