Finally got my tarp shelter setup dialed in after 3 years of trial and error

Last weekend at Red River Gorge, my ridgeline held perfect tension through 30 mph gusts for the first time ever, no sagging or flapping. I swapped to a 1.75mm Zing-It line and added trucker's hitch knots on both ends, which made all the difference. Anybody else struggle with getting that perfect taught pitch in high wind?

2 comments

2 Comments

anderson.spencer8d ago

Funny how that works. Getting something dialed in usually means you changed just one small thing but it took forever to figure out. Reminds me of how people try to fix everything in their life at once and get nowhere, but if you just tweak one piece everything else falls into place. Ridgeline tension is like that in camping and in life. Three years is a long time to be patient with a tarp but now you got it.

spencer_wood7d ago

Not sure I buy that, @anderson.spencer. Sometimes you need to change a couple things at once to see real progress. If you just tweak one piece, you might end up chasing the same problem in circles. Take a tarp - sure, ridgeline tension matters, but if your stake angles are off or your tie-outs are too short, that one "perfect" tension wont save you. People who fix everything at once sometimes get it wrong, sure, but I've seen folks spend three years on a tarp setup that was doomed from the start because they ignored the bigger picture.