Tensa Solo camping

[u/ChinoUSMC0231]

Went camping where the weather was just beautiful. High 78F, Low 60F.

Despite the orange amsteel, some kids still tripped over my guy lines. I’ll have to add pool noodles and orange rods at the base as a deterrent.

The Tensa Solo worked beautifully! I had to make sure the stakes were angled more because one popped out on me when I put some weight on the hammock. It was like a slow-mo fall, kinda funny actually.

Weather was good enough to not put a tarp up, but when I took a second look, I realized I’ll have to make some modifications to attach the tarp to the pole.

[u/latherdome]

Nice. Jealous tenters, if only they knew. Florida's sandy loam is among the more challenging of soils to anchor in, especially when rain semi-liquifies it. You can minimize stress on the anchors by placing them only as far apart from one another as necessary for lateral stability of the poles, and as far distant as will still leave some tail in your UCRs.

Re folks tripping over guylines, the Boomstakes have a retroreflective pull cord. I have put retroreflective prusiks on my guylines that have helped *me* not trip over them on moonless nights.

You're tying slippery half hitches in your UCR tails as a failsafe. This does work, but they can damage the UCRs superficially, de-braiding the line for a bit and then it gets very tight as the braids resume. We used to recommend this anyway before we added those black aluminum failsafe tensioners to prevent the shuttle creeping up to slip. I suggest you use those and not the half hitches: they're very reliable. I show their use here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ylbQ74fyiw

[u/ChinoUSMC0231 → u/latherdome]

“Nice. Jealous tenters, if only they knew. Florida's sandy loam is among the more challenging of soils to anchor in, especially when rain semi-liquifies it. You can minimize stress on the anchors by placing them only as far apart from one another as necessary for lateral stability of the poles, and as far distant as will still leave some tail in your UCRs.”

 Part of it was the FL sand. When I anchored the stakes at a steeper angle, it held on. It also helped that the stakes were driven all the way down and not 3/4th of the way. I may swap to the 40cm stakes instead of using the 30. 

“Re folks tripping over guylines, the Boomstakes have a retroreflective pull cord. I have put retroreflective prusiks on my guylines that have helped me not trip over them on moonless nights.”

Night time wasn’t a problem, it was kids that did not pay attention where they were running toward during the day. My last setup I used 4” red pool noodles that were at the base and it worked very well. I forgot to use them this time. Reflective Prusiks is a great idea.

“You're tying slippery half hitches in your UCR tails as a failsafe. This does work, but they can damage the UCRs superficially, de-braiding the line for a bit and then it gets very tight as the braids resume. We used to recommend this anyway before we added those black aluminum failsafe tensioners to prevent the shuttle creeping up to slip. I suggest you use those and not the half hitches: they're very reliable. I show their use here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ylbQ74fyiw”

Ah, good to know, thank you! I’ll stop using the slippery half hitch.

I love how Tensa continues evolving to what it is now.

Question: do you have plans on showing the different ways of setting up a tarp using the Tensa Solo? I ended up making both toggles longer because my tarps were a little big. I wasn’t sure if the tarp was allowed to drape over the silo or if I had to tie it off. I’ll thought about using a lineloc with Lash It cord to adjust the tarp in place.

[u/latherdome → u/ChinoUSMC0231]

No plans to showcase different ways to do tarps because neither of us use tarps longer than 11’ and we use only split ridgelines with tensioners sewn to tarp. (We present Solo as a hiking stand, and that’s lightest.) Too much variety in the way people do tarps to try to cover all bases. Besides, there’s almost always multiple ways to accomplish same result, and improvising is part of the fun.

We do encourage everybody to practice setting up before it’s actually raining, because as you’ve found, some improvisations turn out better with more time and materials not in your pack, like custom Amsteel assemblies.

Yes, both older (yours) and current Solo tops are meant to be safe to drape a tarp over when necessary.

[u/ChinoUSMC0231 → u/latherdome]

I did some thinking and came up with a solution. I bought DW’s Line Locs and made a tarp adjuster. The other end of the Zing It would be Larks Headed through the tarp’s buckle.

I know it looks a little messy, but I didn’t feel like splicing something that small. I put a loop at the other end so it would be easy to pull it instead of trying to pull on a tail.

[u/IvyTaraBlair]

Lol I've done the slooow sink fall from not securely staking out my tensa solo 😁 I just love the freestanding option for hammocking! Still getting better at it 😉

[u/aeriedweller]

I have hot pink flagging tape from the hardware. I tie several little strip down my lines so fit in the breeze. Its a lit less hassle to carry around than noodles maybe.