canvas tarp

[david32cal]

just picked up an 6X10 tarp to use as a shelter but it is kind of off sided to use as a diamond fly,wich was my intention. does anybody know of a site with diagrams of other styles of shelters i could make with it

[jbullard1]

I have more ideas but can't find them

[Mitch]

6x10 will make a good lean-to....stake down back corners, I like to use 2 short poles and a pole all the way across the front, if you put your front pole set-up a couple of feet back from front corners, you'll have a bit more protection, you can have a small reflector fire in front....to keep the overlapping front from just "hanging down", use a guy rope from each corner....just one of MANY ways to set up a shelter from a tarp..hope this helps

[Three Hawks]

You might do what I did when I was a kid.  Go into the back yard with a tarp, a hank of line, some poles, tentpegs and go for it.   I must have pitched my tarps, ponchos and army surplus pup tent a thousand different ways.

One of my favorites for many years is what the old Scout Books called a "Trail Tarp".   A chunk of fabric about 8 or 9 feet square with a set of ties in each corner, three between 'em on the sides, one in the center, and one midway between the center and each corner for a total of twenty one.  My Mom helped me sew my first one out of  unbleached muslin.   I treated it with some kind of waterproofing crud from the hardware store.  I put grommets in it, a mistake.  After they tore out, I sewed in ties of lightweight cotton webbing.

That tarp taught me the necessity of a good steep pitch to a cloth shelter by the simple lesson of waking up sopping wet in a light rain.  I also learned about seams aligned like shingles so they shed water.  I played with that thing in the back yard for many hours pitching, then testing it by setting the lawn sprinkler nearby to see if it stayed dry underneath.  Doing that also helped me learn the quickest pitching method for any given scenario.   I carried my tarp in the Cascade Mountains for many years.   In later years I found it's  descendant in the Campmor catalog, made of coated nylon and priced at nearly $50.   Even at that price it's a good deal.  Not PC by any stretch but a good lightweight shelter.  

6x10 is a tad smallish in width, but will work.  I'd put ties on the long side where the short side folds square to it, that will make pitching it as a diamond much less hassle.  

Pitch it then cut a ridge pole to fit.  After that pitching will take only a few seconds.  A "jill poke" or slanted upright made to fit under the ridge will make it much more stable.  

My favorite tentpegs are 3/8" x10" or 12" spikes.  They cost less than half a buck each, are unbreakable, and being round don't cut peg loops or guy lines.  

Three Hawks

[david32cal]

Three Hawks,thats just what i intend to do,take it in the back yard and see what i can come up with.if it ever stops raining

[Mike Ameling]

6x10 is a tad small for many possible ways of setting up a tarp.

A diamond or plow-point is generally made with a square tarp.  That then works out when staked out.

The most common way would be as a simple leanto - but with a steep pitch to the canvas to help shed rain.  You can use the whole length, or have a little on the front flap over like a small awning, or tuck a little under in back.

Many many years ago, I picked up a 9x12 painters tarp to use as a simple shelter.  To set it up in that Diamond or Plow Point configuration, I tied on loops so I could tuck under 3 feet of it - making it into a 9x9.  But I still have the whole length when I set it up as a leanto.  It works for me.

Of course, now I know that the Diamond or Plow Point way of setting up a tarp just isn't documented before the late 1800's or early 1900's.  So I seldom set it up that way anymore.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands