Marlin Spiking stakes for guylines

[Habitat]

Has anyone tried to marlin spike their tarp stakes? does it hold? I was in Linville gorge on top of Shortoff literally a week before hurricane Sandy hit. It was my first night there and I was accompanied by some unprecedented winds!!! All I had done was wrap the extra guyline around the stakes and surprisingly only one came undone...trust me i was awake when it happened Do you think a marlin would hold? Or would too much shaking rock it free...?

[bowl-maker]

Are you talking about doing a MS on the stake and that being the only attachment point? If so, I would recommend against it. The point of a marlinspike hitch is to have an easily removed toggle that can be easily pulled out after loading/jamming so that the knot can be collapsed. So, it is my opinion (worth what you paid for it) that the ground would pull the stake out of the hitch when under a load.

[Habitat]

Essentially the stake becomes the toggle...

[Tijereyes]

Another fast-to-tie method is the one I use... I just tie a clove hitch with the two-loop method and stick my stake through the loops. I use Ti nail stakes, so when I'm done I just pull up the stake, and slide the hitch right off the bottom.

Works like a charm, and it's simpler than some of the more exotic staking methods that some forum members've come up with. I've also tried it with Y-stakes (like the MSR groundhog); it still works OK but it's a little more effort to release.

[Tijereyes]

Essentially the stake becomes the toggle...

As long as the marlinspike's under tension I imagine it would probably hold? What I'd be worried about is when you set up your suspension with a marlinspike hitch, the whoopie is resting on the knot (or at least it should be) - so it's arguably being held closed.

If you tie the marlinspike right, though, I don't see why it wouldn't hold. Just make sure the "slipped" end is the one going to your tarp, so the tension cinches the knot closed (if that makes sense).

[Habitat]

I hear what your sayin, I dig the clove hitch...i'll have to try that! I pack the Y stakes as well and it seems like the clove may work better...i think ill have to try half the tie outs with a MS and the other half clove and see what happens...need another hurricane

[MAD777]

That's the only way I have ever staked out my tarp. I've never had one release from the stake. (I have had stakes pull out of the ground).

Edit: this is the Marlin Spike hitch I'm talking about.

[Habitat]

MS or clove?

[Bubba]

I've never had a problem with using an MSH on my tarp stakes. If you want to try another hitch, the pile hitch is a good one. Redoleary did a short video on how to tie it. You can do it like Red does in the video or just make a bight, go around the stake until the bight is under the line and then put the opening of the bight around the top of the stake as seen here.

[pgibson]

Yes folks do it and yes it works just fine. Here is a link to a thread with video that StormCrow: aka Adam of Hammock Gear put out some time back showing how to do it.