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How to Pitch a Basha, Hootchie or Tarp
Submitted by An Outdoor Idiots Team Member.
Packing a Tarp
Before we get on to how to pitch the tarp, we'll mention some things about packing it.How the tarp is folded and packed can be quite important. Now that you have added a lot of cordage to the tarp, you will probably find that when you fold the tarp, all the cordage ends up in the same place. The cord can easily become tangled, making it difficult to deal with when it comes to unpacking and pitching it. Making a bit of effort when packing a tarp can make it much easier to pitch. In fact, it seems to take longer to neatly pack away a tarp than to pitch it.
First, deal with each loose line individually (the four corner lines, and the two ends of the ridge line). Each line should be gathered up into its own neat, tight bundle. Some methods work better than others for this. For example, simply looping the cord can result in kinks and twists in the cord, so we will avoid this. Some other methods seem to result in the cord getting tangled when it comes to unravelling the bundle. So here is a way which seems to work well on all counts:
At the tarp end (i.e. not the free end) of the cord, place a turn in the hand (Fig. 1).
... repeat (Fig. 2). Note that we are NOT creating loops here - instead we are essentially zig-zagging the cord ...
... until you get to within about a foot of the free-end (Fig. 3):
Now, tie the remaining cord around the bunch to hold it all together. The detail is quite important - if you don't do it properly, it can fall apart too easily. Start by looping the remaining cord around the centre of the bundle. It is important how this first loop is done. In Fig. 4 below, we've highlighted some of the cord to get the important points across. Notice that, after the first loop is wrapped around the bundle, it crosses back over itself in order to hold things in place. Then, the rest of the turns will be continued in the same direction, in this case from right to left.
So keep winding (from right to left in this case, Fig. 5) until there is just a small piece of cord left.
Now pull up a bight at the opposite end of the turns from the free end (this is easier if you haven't made the turns too tight). See Fig. 6:
Finally, feed the free end through the bight, then pull tight to hold everything in place (Fig. 7):
Once this has been done for all the lengths of cord, it makes them much easier to deal with, and much less likely to get tangled when packing and unpacking the tarp. However, they can still get tangled. One last bit of advice would be, once you have folded the tarp away, to tuck each individual bundle of cord between different leaves of the folded tarp. this helps keep them all separate.
One last note about packing away a tarp that has been rigged with Prusiks. To get the most out of this arrangement, it is nice to move the Prusiks quite close together, and towards the centre of the ridge line. That is, the tarp should not be taught on the ridge line, but rather, quite bunched together in the centre, as in Fig. 8:
This will mean you get a lot more available ridge cord when you next come to tie it between two trees, and the tarp is less likely to get in the way. Once you have tied the ridge line, you can then pull out the tarp and position it exactly where you want it.
Page 3 of 6 Previous Next [Top of Page]
Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: Attaching Cordage to a Tarp
Page 3: Packing a Tarp
Page 4: Tying the Ridge Line Between Two Trees
Page 5: Pegging out a Tarp
Page 6: Advanced Tarp Pitching for the Connoisseur
Page 2: Attaching Cordage to a Tarp
Page 3: Packing a Tarp
Page 4: Tying the Ridge Line Between Two Trees
Page 5: Pegging out a Tarp
Page 6: Advanced Tarp Pitching for the Connoisseur
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