Removable guylines?

[va3rbz]

Hi folks

Seems like every time I set up my tarp, there's a breeze blowing. And with that, tangled guylines as the edges flap together.
This got me to think that I'm going to come up with some way of leaving the guylines off the tarp until the last minute. Does anyone have some clever ideas of the best way to do this? One idea I had was a loop of line at each tieout, and then a dutch hook on the guyline (kind of like the tarp door hook in Ti).

Might secretly be an excuse to place an order with Dutch

[Short White Guy]

Sorry to ruin your excuse to buy some Dutch Bling, but you could also tie/splice an eye into the end of your guy lines and use that to larks' head them onto your tarp tie outs.

[Bannerstone]

I've toyed with the idea some, I use prusik loops at the D-rings to adjust my guylines so I thought I could make them detachable with those little metal s-biners that come with the Nite-ize steel keyrack. http://www.niteize.com/product/S-Bin...Rack-Steel.asp

I suppose it's a workable enough solution but I never worked out a simple tangle free way to stow away and organize my lines. I know some folks use those elastic bands girls use in their ponytails to wrap up their lines. It kinda goes against my rule for lose things getting lost easily. I'm keeping them attached for now.

David

[Floridahanger]

To answer your question first, yes, you can have a loop at the end of the line and use any hardware to connect the line. That includes Dutch biners, nitize S biners, soft shackles, etc.

Or...

...You can leave the guyline and wrap it up and secure with a rubber band or anything else to help you. That includes wraping figure 8 between your fingers and slippery half hitch the end or any other way so you don't have to add another connection to the: tarp-->guyline-->stake connection X however many tieouts.

Check out Shug's videos on tarps and it will help you with deploying in the wind.

Good luck and find what works for you.

[Bic]

you could just larkshead the line on

[TallPaul]

Mine are larks headed on, but I don't generally take them off.
I roll my tarp up in snakeskins and that keeps the tangle to a minimum

[old4hats]

All will work well, assuming that you remember to take said guy lines with you. Be a real downer if they accidentally got left some where else.

[OCDave]

Just shotgunning a few ideas-

Option 1; Consider getting some snake skins. Keeps your tarp controlled in windy conditions.

Option 2: Change the line your using. I really like the 1.5mm Z-line from Z-packs; Rarely tangles for me.

Option 3: Tie you line to your stakes rather than the tarp.

Good Luck

[onfire]

All excellent suggestions! Personally I have 4m or so of guy line larksfoot knotted at each corner of my tarps but carry another couple of wraps of cord if I was to us more tie-out points. I always tie each guy line up into a mini coil before packing away my tarp so they are still attached but are tidy.

My other little trick is that I keep the 4m guys doubled over so that I can have two stakes in different locations holding out each corner / tie down point. This means I don't have to tie a loop into one end, I just double the line and larksfoot it to the tie-off point...great for weak or shallow soil, high wind etc

[Bubba]

If you leave the guylines on the tarp and figure 8 hank them, they will not tangle and add a little weight to the edge of the tarp.