Messing with guy lines, your thoughts please

[trunks]

Over the years i have tried several different ways of rigging my tarp, yet none of them have been perfect - for me

I have tried bungee cords, mini line locks etc, but am still looking for something that is light weight & requires the minimum amount of guy-line, but is really easy to use - especially when winter camping and the fingers are cold, which rules out using prussic loops.

I had ten minutes play time in the garden today, and came up with two possible solutions, but was wondering what your collective thoughts & ideas were.

Idea 1.

Using a "dutch hook":

I created a spliced fixed loop at the peg end of some Zing-it, and fixed a dutch hook to the other (using a bowline). Quite a simple adjuster, i just looped the hook through the tie-out ring on my tarp, and pulled up the slack from the peg, than "clipped" the hook on:



It seems very secure and withstood me tugging on my tarp - infact the peg will pull out of the ground before the hook slips.

I'm just not sure how this will perform in the wet & snow.

Idea 2.

Using two rings:

I got this idea way back when i used to hang my hammock with rap rings. Basically, the zing-it is fed, in a very particular way, through the rings so that, under tension, the rings tighten "trapping" the guy-line.






This worked very well and was a doddle to adjust. A bonus being, i could tighten the guy lines from under my tarp

However, i did need to pull the peg out of the ground to free up the rings.


Anyway, there you have my ideas. What do you think? Any thoughts/ideas are very welcome

[^shane^]

Here is what I use. Works great for me in the cold. No need to take the gloves off.

[Shewie]

I think I'm sold on the marlin spike technique Dutch showed me, granted there's no adjustment needed on my new cuben loveliness but it's just so easy. No hardware to mess about with either.

I'm still searching for a neat method for my Superfly though, I think I'll try the prusik idea next time I'm out with it. I like the Line-Loks but I don't like the minimum length you need for the loop, I end up tying knots 9/10. The sliding prusik on the guyline seems to be the one for me, I'm not sure how well it will hold in blowy weather but I'll find out.

[Roe Ring]

For my superfly I use a short length of shock cord attached to the d-ring with a small lash-it loop attached to the other end of the shock cord. This lash-it loop is the prussic attached to a 6' length of lash-it with a fixed eye tied into the peg end. It's really easy to use, just hook the fixed eye over the peg and pull the tie out through the prussic until its tight.

This method has been better described by others before me, but it is by far the best I've tried and doesn't slip under load, even when the wind picks up.

Atb

Mark

[Roadrunnr72]

Here is what I use. Works great for me in the cold. No need to take the gloves off.

+1 This is the method I use and stand by. I have posted the same link in at least 2 different guyline threads in the last day. I set up my tarp today with a new DIY turtledog stand, and was thinking back to the threads asking about guy lines. I won't use any other now

Shane,Thanks again for posting the original idea.

[Bannerstone]

Glad to see another inovative idea for the Dutch hook. Very under utilized piece of tarp bling!

David

[[o]TTeR]

I was using 2mm Dynaglide prussic loops on 2mm guys but there are issues when the rope diameters are equal. In order to get it to “grab” the has to be a lot of tension in the prussic which makes it hard to adjust once its set ( I know I’m preaching to the choir). My plan is to move to 2 gages of Zing-it (& stick with the prussic method) but decided to try repurposing disposable chopsticks in the meantime.

[Cranky Bear]

I have been using the prussic method for years without issue. I have the prussic larks headed to the tarp tie out so if/when any adjustment is needed it can be done from under the tarp, the only thing that gets wet if raining is my hands.

Even when the lines are the same size, you just need to make a couple more wraps, at least it's worked for me even when using Dynaglide. FWIW it will be "VERY" difficult to get the prussic to work correctly when using a line like 1.25 Z-Line for the prussic (due to the properties of the line). JMO