Tarpology

[Laurentius]

Having just come back from a week in Wales where the wind does tend to blow very strongly I am wondering what the best advice for making tarps secure is.

In my experience tarps can all too easily act like a sail and that puts a lot of strain on them. If you make the guy lines too secure several things can happen in a strong gust. 1. the tent pegs will pull out. 2. the guy line will break or come untied. 3. the tarp will become torn.

The third of these is the worst option and the one to be avoided as guy lines can be replaced and pegs put back in albeit with some cursing when that happens.

I personally find that having bungees somewhere in the system helps take up the strain and at the moment I favour those little loops with a plastic ball at the end, which I attach first to the tarp, and attach my guy lines to (standard off the peg bright yellow guy lines, not sneaky invisible paracord with which one ends up garroting oneself in the dark - does that make me a bushcraft heretic?)

At some point something has to be sacrificial a line of least resistance that can break ensuring no tears in the tarp.

That is my solution, what do others do? Maybe there is a wizard of knottery out there who can advise on the best knots to use.

 

[Ogri the trog]

Tarps are sails and sails are tarps - that's the conundrum within which we have to work!

They WILL catch the wind and there is precious little that can be done if your location is a windy one.

The best advice I can give is to find a location that shelters the general area rather than expect the tarp to remain unmoved.

There is no knot that will magically make the system wind resistant and, as you have already said, bungees can only soak up so much stress & strain before either tearing the tarp or propelling the peg at bullet speed across a clearing.

You might look to pitching the tarp "with" the wind rather than "against" it and maybe use the tarp as the rain-proof and something else as "wind-management" as opposed to wind-proofing"!

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[crosslandkelly]

I use the Diamond fly set up. I like it as it can be very quickly moved if the wind changes direction, and the wind tends to flow over and around it.

 

[C_Claycomb]

In wind, in an exposed location, you want the tarp low anyway, if you can. Agree with using bungy material in the guy lines. I use lengths of surgical tubing which seems to have better properties than the bungy cord type.

I have found the "Group Shelter" shown here to be extremely good in wind. The only downside is that you lose your stand-up head room, and you need two poles and three elevated guying supports (poles, trees, walls, paddles etc):

Setting up in sheltered spots, or so that the wind flows over or sheds off the tarp is the key.

 

[Paul_B]

I just pitch it with a pole at the front (raise or lower the height as wind dictates) with the opposite end down to the ground with the outermost pegs fixed into one tarp attachment point in on each side. This leaves the corners to tuck under at this end. Then I just use a lifter to another pole at the rear to create foot space inside. I then peg out all around.

This creates a shelter that can have headroom (even for a 2m tall bloke) or can be low to the ground simply by lowering the trekking pole and moving the pegs out a bit at the side (tighten guys as needed). I have withstood a strong storm on top of a Lakes hill and rather enjoyed the Hilleberg Atko getting the windward side blown down and into the hooped pole such that I could see the face of the person sleeping in it!!! That tent got more of a battering than my tarp purely because my tarp was more windshedding. I slept well that night and the tarp only slightly bowed in with the wind at the worst (boy was that worst noisy, I could hear it through industrial strength earplugs).

TBH there are two points i would add, one you pitch location is very important as you need to learn to gain as much shelter from what is around you, even down to pitching it over a bit of a depression or dry ditch (be sure it will remain dry though). Then you need to learn a good pitch style that sheds wind. The cave type I described works very well IME. At the end of the day pitch location and a low pitch style is your best option.

Another point is the right pegs for the terrain help a lot. If possible take v or Y shaped pegs along with the candy canes. Also I sometimes double peg any more exposed corner of the tent, especially if I have only candy canes. One in at the normal angle then another through the guy/tarp loop behind the first peg and at an angle from the side. It works ok for me when the single peg has been pulled out.

Then have a bug out option if all goes to the wind!!!

PS tarp for rain shelter and bivvy bag for wind shelter, makes for a two skin shelter system and at least the bivvy bag is a last resort. Just make sure kit is stashed if the tarp does go so you can just pick up and bug out if the shelter can not be salvaged.