I've been reading all about ridgelines and various knots and hardware for a couple of hours now and I've reached the point of negative returns where I'm just getting more confused So I'll just post my thoughts and see what everyone thinks ...

I'm going to go with the separate ridgeline like Brandon recommends but want to simplify it and make it more adjustable than in the video. My thought is to run one end through the split ring on the tarp and tie a prussik back onto itself. The other end would run around the tree. This way I have a prussik on both ends so I can relatively easily move the tarp in either direction. And I can just leave those knots in there so all I'll ever need to do is worry about the end that goes around the tree.

Although weight isn't really an issue, I don't want to use more biners to connect the line back to itself. So my biggest question is what knot would be best to use there?

Any other comments on what I plan? I don't know that using something like a figure 9 would save me any effort or time would it?

Thanks, I appreciate any input. I've only hung two nights so far so I'm still way early in the learning curve.

Dave