Make tarp tauter by spreading the prusik knots away from each other<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\nPlow Shape<\/h3>\n\n\n\n One really cool thing about the plow shape is that you actually only need one anchor point above the ground<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/picture>Plow tarp shape. I really did a poor job on this one. The circumstances weren’t great but there ended up being a lot of sag in the tarp. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nIf your rope is taut enough, this is a solid shelter that will stay put, especially when the open end of the shelter is facing away from the wind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
How To Tie a Plow Tarp Shape<\/h4>\n\n\n\nTie a ridgeline from one anchor point above the ground<\/strong>. This can be anywhere from 4-8 feet. The other anchor point can be anchored into the ground. If you’re using a tent stake for a ground anchor, push the tent stake towards the opposite end of the ridgeline for more security. <\/li>Drape the tarp diagonally over the ridgeline<\/li> Fasten the two corners of the tarp ON the ridgeline to the ridgeline with prusik knots<\/li> Bring the two remaining corners of the tarp to the ground and anchor them directly with tent stakes or by tying a loop to the corners and anchoring the loop. <\/li> Make the tarp taut by moving the prusik knots away from each other<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\nHow To Tie a Ridgeline<\/h3>\n\n\n\n Before I closed out this article I wanted to give you a quick tutorial on how to tie a ridgeline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A ridgeline is essentially a taut rope between two anchor points. It’s a fundamental shape that’s a part of several shelters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are several ways to make a taut ridgeline, but this particular method includes a trucker’s hitch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tie a loop at the end of a rope<\/li> Wrap the end of the rope (with the loop you just tied) around a tree or other anchor point<\/li> Feed the opposite end of the rope through the loop to form a girth hitch around the tree<\/li> Now that you have one side of the rope anchored to the tree, wrap the other end of the rope around another anchor point (like another tree). <\/li> Create an anchor point in the rope by using a slip knot or some other loop, you are going to put the working end of the rope through this loop and make a pulley<\/li> Pull the (now) pully rope through the anchor point on the rope away from the first tree. <\/li> Tighten the rope as much as you can, and when it’s taut enough, tie off the rope to itself with one or two half hitches.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n <\/picture>An example of a trucker’s hitch.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nYou now have a taut ridgeline between two anchor points!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How To Tie a Prusik Knot<\/h3>\n\n\n\n A prusik knot is a way to make an adjustable anchor that you can attach to a ridgeline. With adjustable anchors you can tighten the tarp and make it taut by pulling the anchor along the ridgeline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To make a prusik knot:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Make a sling by tying two ends of a short rope to one another, forming a loop<\/li> Place the loop behind the ridgeline, hold the top of the loop in one hand during the duration of the tying<\/li> Take the bottom of the loop and wrap it over and around the ridgeline (passing through itself). Wrap it 3-4 times<\/li> Make sure that the wraps are causing the ropes to lie parallel to each other, the lines should not be overlapping. <\/li> Pass the top of of the loop you have been holding and pass it through the opposite end of the loop across the ridgeline<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
<\/picture>Look at this example of the prusik. Notice how the lines are all parallel to each other. If you pull on the rope at the bottom of the loop, the lines will bind and will prevent the prusik from moving. If you pull the prusik on the the wraps (around the ridgeline), you can move the prusik, easily.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Y’all, the feeling of being able to set up a tarp shelter with just a bit of rope and a tarp is awesome. But, it takes some know-how. Not as<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9204,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":61,"label":"Knots"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Plow-ridgeline-1024x768.jpg",640,480,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Peter","author_link":"https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/author\/outsidedecider\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":61,"name":"Knots","slug":"knots","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":61,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":24,"count":10,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0","cat_ID":61,"category_count":10,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Knots","category_nicename":"knots","category_parent":24}],"tag_info":false,"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9203"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9203"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9233,"href":"https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9203\/revisions\/9233"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}