Trip Tips
If you are a Registered Maine Guide and you have a Trip Tip you would like to post here (no charge!...keep'm short), send me an e-mail at:. I'll include your name with the tip that you provide.
- What do you do when a line rips off your tarp?
- What is a great knot to use when tying a tarp or tent rope to a stake or tree?
- What do you do when a line rips off your tarp? ...and its pouring, and the tarp is the only thing keeping you and your family from getting drenched in the middle of a "thumper" (thunderstorm)??
Take a rock about an inch in diameter, preferrably smooth but it doesn't have to be. In the area where the rope broke away from the tarp, bundle up the rock in the underside of the tarp, and scrunch up the tarp in your left fist so the rock (inside the tarp material) is sticking out above your fist. Now take the rope that pulled off and tie it where your left fist is scrunching the tarp. A secured clove hitch works well here, but, you can wrap the rope around the scrunch twice and do a couple tight half hitches too. Just don't do a square knot, because when you pull on a square knot hard enough from one side, it will untie. Now you have a rope reattached to the tarp that you can use to tie down your tarp again. Be prepared...in a thumper, by the time you finish retying this break, you might be pretty wet. The way to avoid this is to hire a Registered Maine Guide to do it for you!!
If you would like to know how to tie a secured clove hitch, send me an e-mail.
This Trip Tip provided by Stoney's Guide Service
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- What is a great knot to use when tying a tarp or tent rope to a stake or tree?
Since you are using the knot on a tarp or a tent, the knot needs to allow adjustment in the tension of the rope (after a tent or tarp sets for a while, lines loosen up and need to tightened). How about a "Taught Line Hitch". A Taught Line Hitch is simply three or more half hitches, enough to make sure that you have a slip knot that will hold tight, but can still be adjusted. The number of half hitches depends on what the rope is made of and how thick it is. Yellow poly rope is the most difficult to keep any knot tied in (don't using yellow poly rope for tarp or tent lines unless thats all you have...sometimes you've got to use what you've got!!). When I tie a line around a tree, I usually go around a full turn first, then tie the knot. This makes it a little harder to adjust, but it holds nicely.
If you need to learn to how to tie a half hitch, send me an e-mail
This Trip Tip provided by Stoney's Guide Service
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