Square knots?!? Not only is that not the proper knot to use, you didn’t even do it right! I just loved how you glared over at the camera as you stated “that’s just how I do things…”

I’m gonna hafta learn ya good now, son…

By ryanc on Mar 4, 2008

I feel much more comfortable under my tarp than a tent, especially in bad weather, than a tent. And there’s no better feeling than rolling over on a cold winter’s morn, watching the sun rise, sticking just your hands out of your bag to light your stove and make some hot cocoa, then drinking it, getting your temp up before bearing the frost and snow. Obviously, you’d not want to do that in bear country. But, better ventilation in winter means that your bag insulation doesn’t get wet from condensation, keeping you warmer. And, of course, you really can’t cook like I mention above in a tent (if it didn’t burst into flames, you’d die of carbon monoxide poisoning). I only use a tent in the summer (bugs, donchaknow), and I rarely backpack in summer.

There are a lot of things you can do to your tarp to make it both more flexible and more weather resistant. I won’t get into all of them in this comment but I think the biggest thing that would help you would be knot improvement. I also cannot tie fancy knots. I work with our boy scout troop here on campus, and they can all tie lots of fancy knots - they just can’t un-tie them. I would think your knots would be quite difficult to un-do, and also keep you from getting a really taut pitch. The tighter your tarp is, the smoother it is, so water rolls off quickly, and can’t soak through (with a heavy tarp like you used, probably not an issue, but I use a lightweight tarp).

If you learned to tie a “truckers knot,” you can use that to tie to the trees, and get basically a little pulley giving you a 2:1 mechanical advantage tightening the rope. Then you can get your tarp drumhead tight (you probably could tighten it enough to tear it). You can tie it off with a quick release, so in the morning you just pull on the loose end and it comes un-done. I’m sure there’s a nice tutorial somewhere on the net showing how to tie it.

I use that knot any time I tie a rope from my tarp to something else, so I can adjust the tension very easily. Very handy for when the wind picks up in the middle of the night unexpectedly, and usually from a different direction than you expected, and accompanied by rain or sleet.

By Chad on Mar 10, 2008

“Ryan is a master knot tier and someday soon we will get together and do a full knot tying episode.”

Yet another aspect of my character you can blame on the Boy Scouts

By ryanc on Mar 11, 2008

Yeah, when I was a kid, the Boy Scout troop master had issues my parents couldn’t put up with - I don’t really recall what they were. Thus, I was never a boy scout either, and I accept your excuse.

I only know how to tie 3 knots (well, and the one you use for you shoes), but most importantly, I can un-tie them all easily.

While the guy is a nut, and no one could backpack with the load you’d have to carry to do the stuff he suggests in the video, there is a Cliff Jacobson video called “The Forgotten Skills,” in which he shows the three knots I know (heh, that’s why I know them), and a nifty 2-tarp setup that lets you build a fire at the edge of a tarp, and vent the smoke out a hole between the two so you don’t get smoky. I’ve never tried it, but have always thought it’d be something worthwhile if one were with a group and going to spend a full day in one site.

By Chad on Mar 12, 2008