Tarp lines and lashings

What you need

• Paracord for guys, thicker rope for a ridgeline
• A tarp with grommets or tie outs
• Two trees, or a paddle and a rock

How

1. Run the ridgeline first and get it drum tight before the tarp goes anywhere near it. A slack ridge makes a slack roof, and a slack roof pools water and tears out its grommets.
2. Tie one end off with a bowline around the first tree. Take the other end around the second tree, then throw a loop into the standing line to make yourself a pulley and feed the tail up through it.
3. Haul down on the tail, pin the tension with your thumb, and lock it off with two half hitches against the loop. That is the truckers hitch and it roughly doubles your pull.
4. Put a taut line hitch on every corner guy so you can slide it and take the sag out when the cord stretches in the rain.
5. Lash a cross piece on with a square lashing, three wraps and three turns pulled tight between the poles, finished with a clove hitch.

Watch for

Notes

Three knots cover nearly everything out there. A bowline for a loop that will not slip, a truckers hitch for tension, a taut line for anything you will want to adjust later. Tie them until your hands do it without you.