CAMPING

TARPS AND TENTS

TARPS
A tarp is a large waterproof sheet often used on Scout camping trips as a dining fly o cover the camp kitchen. When the bus and the weather aren't too bad, tarps also make fine lightweight sleeping shelters.
Some tarps have metal rings called grommets spaced along the edges so you can the cords through them with bowline knots. If there are no grommets, you can still attach lines to a tarp. Start with plenty of eighth-of-an-inch cord and a hanful of smooth stones the size of golf balls.
Form a loop by tying two half hitches in the end of a piece of cord, or make the loops for a clove hitch. Hold a stone under the corner of the sheet. Work the knot ove the tarp fabric and the stone, then draw it tight (To tie a bowline knot, see page 149. For two half hitches, see page 36; for a clove hitch, seepage 139.)