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How To...
Set Up a Tarp
by Dana Dickson
A dining tarp can make the difference between cold wet misery and an enjoyable meal after a hard paddle. Like the other skills associated with paddle sports, setting up an effective tarp quickly takes practice. On kayaking trips I carry two tarps, one 10x10 and one 10x12. On days when camp is moved every morning, the tarp may seem like an unneeded luxury, unless it is raining. On one memorable trip, although we did not have rain after the first day, the second tarp was needed as a windbreak; steady 20 knot winds have a way of taking anything moveable with them.
I set up my tarps using a modification of the methods Cliff Jacobson describes in his book, Camping's Top Secrets. The tarps are made by Cooke Custom Sewing, these tarps have fabric tape reinforcements on the perimeter and fabric loops instead of grommets. The tarps also have a reinforcing patch and a 4-loop system to hold a pole in the center of the tarp. I have permanently installed doubled-over 16-inch pieces of 1/8-inch line to each of the fabric loops along the perimeter and on the face of each tarp. The 4-loop system in the center of the tarp has a 10-foot line permanently attached to it.
For rigging the tarps I carry two 50-foot lengths of 1/4 inch rope, 150 feet of 1/8 inch line cut into 10 to 20 foot lengths, and 50 feet of sacrificial 1/8 inch line. In addition to the ropes and lines, I carry 8-foot collapsible, nesting tent poles, two per tarp, and about a dozen stakes for pitching the tarps in a variety of configurations.
The lines and ropes that are cut to length have the ends either melted or fused with superglue to prevent fraying. The sacrificial line is intended to be cut for those situations where I just a bit more line for a particular tarp setup. I prefer to have a dedicated line for cutting instead of cutting one of the lines I have prepared for permanent use.
The first step in setting up the tarps is to fasten one of the 50-foot ropes between two trees, or if two trees are not available at the right locations, tent poles can be substituted. The 50 foot rope should be put up as high as you can reach and pulled tight. Maintaining tension on the rope is easier if one end is fastened with a taut line hitch or a trucker's hitch. Next, two corners of the tarp are tied to the rope. The corners are fastened using a version of a prusik knot. For this knot one end of the 16-inch line attached to the corner is wrapped around the rope clockwise 3 or 4 times the other end is wrapped counter clockwise. The two ends are fastened using a square knot or a shoelace bow. This modified prusik knot tightens when there is lateral pressure on the lines but it will slide when there is no lateral pressure -- this allows the tension on the tarp to be adjusted if necessary. The intermediate lines are fastened to the rope with a shoelace bow. The opposite side of the tarp is fastened to trees, again as high as you can reach, using a taut line hitch and pulling the lines so that the tarp is tight.
The center of the tarp is supported, and rain is diverted to the sides by installing one of the poles in the center loop and patch system. By installing this pole upside-down, the large butt end of the pole is bearing on the tarp and there is less chance that the pole will puncture the tarp. The pole is fastened using the line that is permanently fastened through the four loops. This line is fastened to the pole with a series of half-hitches with the final section of the pole having 3 or 4 adjacent half hitches to hold the pole together. Poles set-up in this fashion will not collapse or fall down if the wind momentarily lifts the tarp. The tension on the tarp can be adjusted by changing the angle of the center pole or by adjusting the knots at the corner of the tarp.
If the second tarp is used overhead the tarps should overlap in a way that will prevent water from dripping down through the junction. The second tarp can also be set up as a windbreak or as a shelter over a remote cooking area. I have also used the second tarp as a combination tent rain fly and vestibule, when the tent I was using had a small vestibule.
P.O. Box 80331 ~ Minneapolis, Minnesota 55408
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