I just use a basic rectangular tarp. I find the best way to do that is to get it staked out first. To do this you need to be a little bit familiar with your tarp as to know how tight to stake it before you put the poles up under it. That should make it, again, a one man operation. Now, with that being said, it greatly depends on the weather, the wind and precipitation as to how tight you want to pitch it and how high or low you want to pitch it. After you play with it a while you will find that there are many many ways to pitch it, again depending on your needs and the weather. Hope that helps and if you have any more questions I am sure that there is some one on here that can answer them...sabre11004...