prouboy[/quote]
Make it a hollow core ball (like a tennis ball) and cut a slit on the other side.  Then after you've used it to toss your bear rope, you can squeeze the ball to open the slit and put it on top of a ridge pole to keep from poking a hole in your tarp.

dd[/quote] dd -- did you ever feel the need to add weight to the tennis ball (stones/sand, for eg)?  If so, how did that work?

prouboy