Mid bug proof design and bonding/gluing vs sewing sil nylon to mozzie netting?

[Ben Hicks]

I have always wondered why mid manufacturers do not add a foot or two of mozzie netting attached part way up the pyramid, and to a floor below instead of only having bug shelters as a completely seperate structure under the mid. has anyone played with this idea? I am thinking of trying it.

In order to avoid sewing through the fly, I'd prefer to bond/glue material. has anyone tried bonding mozzie netting to silnylon, or been successful bonding silnylon to silnylon? It would be easy enough to sew netting to a strip of silnylon to bond to the fly.

[Jim Colten]

Bonding bug netting to silnylon? I don't know but silicone glue is about the only thing that sticks to silnylon and there seem to be more than a few materials that silicone glue does not bond well enough to.

Silicon glue does a good job of bonding silnylon to itself.

I spread as thin a layer as I can make on both pieces (using a squeegee) then press the pieces together using a dry squeegee and put some weight on it for 24 hours. I've not (yet) done testing to know if the weight is important .

I may be posting an MYOG article about that within the next month.

[Ben Hicks]

I decided to go ahead and do a little test run gluing some scrap silnylon and netting. Hopefully the report tomorrow when it has set will be good.

[Scott Van Doeselaar]

I am creating a four person pyramid with cuben and I am doing just what you described. I am creating a bathtub floor with 6 inches of bug netting between the floor and the fly. The problem with bonding this joint are that the loads put into it will tend to peel the joint apart and all bond joints are relatively weak in peel. My as of yet unproven solution is too bond a narrow piece of grossgrain to the outside of the fly and stitch through this. This joint will be heavily seam sealed. I did it this way because the stitching does not work well in cuben. You should be able to stitch direct to the sil and then seam seal for leak proofness.

If you do try bonding my solution to bonding bug netting is to sandwich it between the main fabric and another 1 inch strip that overlays half on the mesh and half on the base fabric.

[Ben Hicks]

Thanks Scott. Indeed, the test I am doing is bonding the netting between layers of fabric.

I think it would be wise with the silnylon to also add an extra layer for strength at this seam if sewn, just like your cuben project. I don't much like the idea of adding a weaker horizontal stitch line around the entire fly without reinforcement.

Hey, what's your plan or design for closure at the entrance between fly/netting and floor?

[Jim Colten]

The problem with bonding this joint are that the loads put into it will tend to peel the joint apart and all bond joints are relatively weak in peel.

True … but it is easy to defeat that problem by applying the peel force at the center of the glue patch rather than the edge.

Here are diagrams of the cross section of two ways to do that. black is your tent fabric and the patch you want to attach, blue is the glue joint, red is stitching and green is skeeter mesh (or whatever you want to attach).

[Ben Hicks]

Nice details, good thinking! If my first try works at all, I might try your top version for test #2.

[Ben Hicks]

For the test I used and old tube of GE silicone II 100% silicone "household glue", and the stuff is not curing. It's been more than two days. I don't know if this tube is too old and no good any more or what.

Any thoughts?

[Jeff Cadorin]

Silicone out of the tube should tack up in about 20-30 min. It should be fully cured in 24 hours. Usually if the tube is bad it is hard already and you cant squeeze it out. I would buy a new tube and try again. Make sure you have it in a warm place to help with the curing

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