im sick of working with 15-25 foot lengths of tarp cord. untangling them. sometimes being just a little too short. many times being way too long...and not wanting to cut it.

i came up with this (maybe some of you do something similar already).

i cut all my cordage into 6 foot lengths and tied a loop on each end. now its easy to add sections to get the correct length, with little waste. just loop one loop thru another...ta da, another 5 feet. repete as neccessary.

it should be alot easier dealing with many five footers instead of a few twenties.

K- I do the same with all lenghts of cord and then snap them into a two sided brass snap link to keep them from tangling. I color coded lengths so I know how long each are. My lean 1 take a lot of cord to get a taunt set.

VERY GOOD!!!!--i read lots of whacky-ways on camping sites but
that looks like one i would really use..and it sure beats holding
the end of the line in your teeth and trying too unknot your
bandana so you can make that last four inches to a branch--

You can also attach one of these pre-tied loops to a guy out loop on your tarp in the same way that kanoes has joined the two ropes together. No additional knots to tie. Another advantage to this system is that this loop to loop knot remains very easy to untie, even when wet.

I hate knots. I use bungee cords.

I use 2mm rope for my tarps, strong stuff, and lighter with less bulk. Good idea Kanoes, I would go with 4-6 20 footers and maybe 10 6 foot extensions. How many times do you actually get within 3 feet of a tree on all tie out points.

And if you braid the rope when you put it away, you will never deal with tangles again. it only takes about 5 minutes to do it.

This was a great concept that I have used for many years! I highly recommend this great idea!

I can see this working.

Been doing this for quite a while. Most of my tarps have two 10 footers and two 20 footers on them. They are looped onto the tarp the same way so I can move a longer one to another corner and so on. I then carry a couple extra fifteen footers in the tarp bag.

Geniously simple ... one of those why didn't I think of that moments for sure.

quote hopalonghowie: "Geniously simple ... one of those why didn't I think of that moments for sure."

Come on, let's not say kanoes is a genius too loud. We don't want his head to get too big to fit in his bwca.com hat!! LOL.

quote pswith5: "

quote hopalonghowie: "Geniously simple ... one of those why didn't I think of that moments for sure."

Come on, let's not say kanoes is a genius too loud. We don't want his head to get too big to fit in his bwca.com hat!! LOL."

I would normally agree with you Pete, but this method has worked beautifully for me over the past 4 years from this original post. We have had a lot of new members since then that have joined. Many more can benefit.

Nice idea. I have so many 20' hanks of rope its silly. Looks like i'm cutting rope and trying knots today. Thanks K.

All my ropes have at least one looped end.
For tarp tying, I will put a looped end around a tree and the tag end back through the loop. At the tarp side I will use a Figure 9 biner on a grommet - no knots ever needed it and makes it very easy to setup and adjust.

Thanks for raising this!!

I was gonna look for a tarp-tying 101 thread before my next trip. I am definitely "tarp-tying-challenged". Wacky zany contraptions have gotten me through, but so many here can make tarps of beauty that I know I can do MUCH better.

This is a start.

I am so tired of too short or too long ropes getting tangled up every time I take my tarp down. I made 25 sections of cord for around camp. I put the loops in a caribineer to keep them untangled. Now I have the cord I need and it is controlled, not a big mess. Thanks Jan.

Great idea! My tie outs that I keep in place are always too long or too short too. I'll try this.

Cool beans Kanoes!

Cool idea Jan! Did you use a bowline knot for the loops?

quote AndySG: "Cool idea Jan! Did you use a bowline knot for the loops?"

no, just a simple overhand.

Really useful idea, Thanks!

quote kanoes: "im sick of working with 15-25 foot lengths of tarp cord. untangling them. sometimes being just a little too short. many times being way too long...and not wanting to cut it.

i came up with this (maybe some of you do something similar already).

i cut all my cordage into 6 foot lengths and tied a loop on each end. now its easy to add sections to get the correct length, with little waste. just loop one loop thru another...ta da, another 5 feet. repeat as neccessary.

it should be alot easier dealing with many five footers instead of a few twenties. "

This is a great idea. I remember thinking that when you posted it originally and it makes perfect sense.

Used this a few times last week.

quote canoe212: "I hate knots. I use bungee cords."

I love ropes and knots. One of my favorite parts of BW trips is rigging gear, setting lean shelter, and tying tarps.

I sit there all day thinking how my tarp could be better. I am constantly messing with it to optimize the setup for current and expected wind/rain.

Great idea! I just got a new roll of reflective line, so that's what I'm going to do.

I think quick release sheet bends would be much quicker (and lighter). They are easier to tie than loops also.

quote jeroldharter: "I think quick release sheet bends would be much quicker (and lighter)"

some knots are heavier than others?

If you are into reducing weight (I am) then the loop is at least twice as heavy as an equivalent straight piece of rope.

I use a CCS lean and a tarp. So all of the rope adds up. I tried swapping out everything for Zing It which is about the lightest option. But I find the Zing It to be pretty slick and I don't like it for routine use. In the end, I went back to the CCS rope. I just leave a 6 inch piece of rope attached to each tie out. A quick release sheet bend is very quick to tie and untie. I too use multiple lengths of shorter rope for convenience.

The loops work well if you don't like to tie knots. I use loop-to-loop connections for fly fishing for that reason instead of a nail knot. In that case, the quickness and convenience of loops outweighs the extra bulkiness for my purposes.

a piece of cord weighs a certain amount. knots dont add weight to it.

i do follow what you meant though...loss of length. you just didnt explain it clearly.