I've got a canopy tent, and I'd like to see if I can reduce the footprint of the lines (and the chance that someone will trip on them).
From what I understand, the standard way to lay out the lines for a canopy is with the lines going out from the corners at a diagonal, like this:
This is nice and stable, but this quadruples the footprint from 10x10 to around 20x20 (assuming 45 degree angles for the line).
If I understand the math behind it, I can split the force applied by those lines across two other lines which run the same direction as the edge of the canopy, and it should be at least as strong (at the cost of using more rope):
If that is the case, then I should be able to swap the ropes around a bit, as long as there's still the same number of ropes providing anchorage in each direction, and I can move most of the ropes inside the footprint of the canopy - with the exception of the two front ropes, which would otherwise block the side of the canopy we plan on going in and out of:
While all that seems to make sense, "it made sense in my head" isn't much help if it turns out this sort of thing doesn't actually work. Does anyone know if this line configuration is feasible?