So it was nearly 60*F today. I spent a lot of time playing with my new tarp. I made this one actually 10.6' x 10' tie outs every 20ish inches.
I made a mistake of not trimming one end so it came out with an odd corner at one end. I had to fold and hem and cut the extra off. Not real noticeable and the tarp works great.
I have Easton Nono Aluminum poles that work well but seem to warp easily. They fit tight to the 10' width but don't stay in place very well at all. I can run a ridge line under the tarp to connect the pole by Prussic but that tends to allow rain seeping in under the tarp. I know drip lines bu that doesn't always work either.
So I put both poles in and used the rubber band wrapped around them to lock then in an X shape. It seemed to keep the tarp tight even though they were not near the peak of the tarp. I hope it shows in the picture. I wrapped the rubber band around then put one end into the loop of the other end and just stuck a small branch in there. It worked good.


I moved the corner tie outs in one d ring and connected the corners together. I had to put a stake in under the hammock to get the doors tight. Not sure how full doors are going to work. I forgot to set it up that way.

Here you can see the X of the poles and the partial doors doing their thing.

Single pole flopped over onto the hammock ridge line. Full spread with the hammock inside nicely.

Partial doors and X'ed poles.

Here is the tarp inside the military compression bag that's big enough for my snugpak under blanket as well. The stake roll that has 20 aluminum coghlan's, 150 feet of Utility cord, all 5 tie outs figure 8 wound in their own little pockets, and the stake hammer. I didn't need the hammer today just pushed the stakes in with my toe. Then the small sac for the poles. I need to get a weight on all this stuff...

I'm going to put up a video that has way more details especially the tie outs and micro key chain biners from nite ize. It's uploading...