Hello all. I recently acquired a MLD grace duo tarp, which is the first I've ever had. I've set it up about five or six times total. I've never been able to get it taught across the ridge line -- saggy in the middle. It is quite tight near each line, but there is no tension in the middle of the tarp. Does anyone know what could be going wrong here or know something that I could try? I'm leaving Saturday morning for a four day trip and would really like some modicum of confidence that in my tarping ability before I head out. :)

Thanks!
RK

the ridgeline should be taught before sides are staked out. stake out the back, pull ridgeline taught, stake front corners. Here's a video from GG on pitching the spinntwin; same idea.
http://vimeo.com/5467987

I actually just got off the phone with Ron from MLD who told me essentially exactly the same thing. I'm betting that this will work like a champ. Can't wait to get home and give it a whirl. Thanks for the input!

You're on the right track. When you get Ron's tarps tensioned properly they're perfect. I've had great luck with both his Duo and Solo. While you're at it you should practice setting it up with the edges elevated for ventilation and down on the ground for foul weather. You'll need both in the field and its 100x more annoying to figure it out in the field than it is on your lawn on a nice sunny Saturday! Have fun!

DM

This is good advice for all tarps pitched as an a-frame tent.
I figured it out the hard way:-)

My neighbor has written a facinating article about the skills he has developed about pitching his tarp

Edited by Ivo on 06/30/2011 16:39:47 MDT.

Well, I tried a few times this evening and this was the best I could do. You can see how it sort of flattens out toward the opposite side of the tent. Do my poles need to be at specific relative heights? Do the side lines need to be at a specific angle to the ground? I feel like I'm missing something crucial (and probably obvious)...

Very nice photos. It also appears that the tarp is consistently pitched with one end higher than the other. Additionally, in the video posted by brendon, the front pole is 13" higher than the rear. Perhaps this is the bleeding obvious key I'm looking for.

Hi,

You are almost there.

I PM'ed you some pitching tips based on the pics I see.

A little more practice and you'll be a tarp ace!

That may not look perfect and other than maybe slightly more flapping in stong wind, it appears to be a perfectly adequate shelter.

I'm using a friend's MLD pro solo (smaller than the Grace but concept should be the same) until my own arrives from Ron (no rush, Ron).

This is a bad picture but I'm at work and can't get a better one:

I should note that this exact picture was taken a few hours before I weathered a severe multi-hour thunderstorm with strong wind. Worked like a charm -- though the bivy definitely caught some spray when the wind changed directions.

Edited by evanrussia on 07/01/2011 08:57:55 MDT.

Here's a better one:

More photos would help to see whats going wrong but I think Ron is going to give you the best advice since its his design. Good Luck.

Can you post Ron's tips ? They may help the rest of us get better pitches too :)

I see three things that you'll want to try:

1. Drop the overall height a bit.
2. Pitch the ridgeline with the rear a couple of inches lower than the front.
3. Pitch the sides MUCH wider than you have them set up. It isn't intuitive initially but having the sides out at bit will help drive proper tension in the ridgeline.

Keep practicing and don't let it frustrate you. When you're up to speed you'll love the simplicity of setting up camp with a tarp.



DM

Edited by donmeredith on 07/02/2011 20:06:45 MDT.

The main thing is to get used to the geometry of the tarp; once you get that, it's easy to pitch and easy to tweak. What Dan suggested will get you the simplest pitch, though not necessarily the best one for the conditions. Once you have the tarp pitched though, adjusting it is easy, and I found that once you get used to the geometry of the tarp, it's pretty easy to pitch it the way you want to right out of the stuff sack without doing the simplest pitch first.

Lowering the pitch and tightening the ridge line before putting any tension on the sides seemed to help a lot (see results below). I was hit by two heavy thunderstorms that evening -- not a lot of wind, but a TON of water. Unfortunately, I pitched the tarp on a nice flat spot at the _bottom_ of an incline. Also, since the pitch was a lot lower, the serenity shelter was a little bit saggy in front. In the end, I got a little wet, but not because of the tarp pitch.



Just for fun, here's the serenity shelter standing alone when the weather was much nicer. That was good sleepin'.

Glad to see that you're getting the hang of it. I really like my Serenity / Grace Solo combo. Have fun!

DM