Bevy of SUL

[Peter McDonough]

I got bored yesterday so I sat down and sewed all this stuff that has had my name on it for a couple of weeks. And then I cut my packweight several pounds.

First Project- Spinnaker Poncho/Tarp

Note- For the tarp I used blue polyester thread to sew it together, A) because it looks cool and
B) because I can easily tell when a thread pops.

[Peter McDonough]

I have not installed a hood as of yet, and I will do that this afternoon. I think I’ll just install some sort of seal for around the neck and then wear a baseball cap.

A side note.
The Yellow guylines above are tensioned using the evil tautline hitch everyone on this site seems to despise so very much. I just don’t get it–how on earth is it easier to adjust a stake than to adjust a not???

A picture of the Evil Tautline…

[Peter McDonough]

I also created this Ti Trowel, aka Bill Fornshell. I used a dry erase marker to mark on the sheet as that just rubbed off after I was finished. I used regular old tin snips to cut it out, and did’t bother making a hole because all I do with the trowel is throw it in the ziplock with my TP. I still need to file down the edges and will do that shortly. I also didn’t bother using a blowtorch to heat/pound/bend/however the heck BF did it–instead i just took two pairs of pliers and then bent it. It was pretty easy. It weighs .55 oz, which is what I had calculated before beginning the project, so I have no idea how some other people made a .3 oz model. Perhaps their handle is smaller or something.

[Colin Parkinson]

Nice stuff. Is that green grass? I haven’t seen green grass since november.

[Vick Hines]

—I have not installed a hood as of yet—

Before you mess up that beautiful tarp with a hood, consider turning it into a cape instead. All it takes are a couple of tabs with velcro or buttons and button holes 20 inches apart and 6 inches from a long hem, bracketing the middle of a long edge. One tab on the outside, one on the inside. That’s it.

Cape ‘hood’ area lined with bug net and attached net storage bag. And Cape with hood up:

[Michael Martin]

Peter writes:

>> The Yellow guylines above are tensioned using the evil tautline hitch everyone on this site seems to despise so very much. I just don’t get it–how on earth is it easier to adjust a stake than to adjust a not???

Peter. You’re right. The tautline hitch does have its place. It’s easier to adjust than moving stakes (which may be hard to relocate in rocky ground), and lighter than the line tensioner gizmos available.

The tautline hitch does have two drawbacks, which might explain the perceived bias against them:

1) The super-light spectra guylines used by many ultralighters are too slippery to hold this knot.

2) *Any* intricate knot is not fun to use with numb fingers in cold weather.

Cheers,

-Mike

PS — beautiful job on your tarp!

[Vick Hines]

And I might add, Michael, lots of folks are just plain scared of knots. It’s sorta like math anxiety.

[Peter McDonough]

1) The super-light spectra guylines used by many ultralighters are too slippery to hold this knot.

–I figure the advantages to using KeltyTriptease outweight the weight savings here, namely avoidance of the guyline tripping syndrome(more guylines attract more clumsy onlookers) and also gives me the ability to use the hitch. The weight savings for two six foot pieces of TripTease compared to that of say AirCore or similar is too small to be significant.

2) *Any* intricate knot is not fun to use with numb fingers in cold weather.
–You’re right, knots are a b**** to tie in cold weather(luckily I live in Texas so this is not a problem), but I don’t need to tie them everytime I go out as I have them pretied, with a carabiner tied to the other end for quick clipping.

Vick–What if you are walking straight into wind blown freezing rain?? Will the cape still protect you then??

[Ken Helwig]

I’m with Vick on that one!

[Vick Hines]

cape in the wind
Yep. It protects as much as you want it to. In the pic, it’s open for purposes of illustration and ventillation.

[Peter McDonough]

Hmmmm…

OK I’m 5’8″ and the tarp is about 52″ wide, and when I wrap it around myself the corners seem to drag on the ground.

More pictures perhaps to educate me??

[Michael Martin]

Peter writes:

>> I figure the advantages to using KeltyTriptease outweight the weight savings here

>> You’re right, knots are a b**** to tie in cold weather

I’ve switched from pure Spectra lines to Gossamer Gear EZC line for both my Summer and Winter setups for the reasons you mentioned — the easy handling and ability to hold any knot outweigh (pun intended) the miniscule weight penalty. I use the standard combination of taut-line hitches, trucker’s hitches, bowlines, clove hitches, sheet bends, etc.

For Winter, I use pre-tied loops and slipped half-hitches for my tent tie-downs. I’ve successfully used this setup with mitts in sub-zero (F) weather!

For you Spectra purists out there — note that you *can* use a trucker’s hitch with pure Spectra if you take an extra wrap or two around the standing end before the final tie off.

Cheers,

-Mike

[paul johnson]

Deleted after posting and reading other posts which had already made the same point about Spectra guylines. No value added by this one even before the edit.

[Peter McDonough]

OK, after almost finishing the tarp(should I make it a poncho or a cape??), I decided to go ahead and make the bivy sack to go with it and a new stake bag out of the envelope the materials came in.

The Bivy Sack weighs 5.27 oz, which is lighter than the Vapr Half zip.

There are seven tieouts on the bivy for various purposes- 1 at the foot, and 2 on the corners of the foot pocket, 2 at the head of the bivy, and 1 each on the opposing faces of the head flap.

Above you can see the tieouts at the head of the bivy.

View from the side demonstrates bathtub bottom and closure system of head flap.

Cordlocks used to cinch down opening in bad weather, view of zipper, and head flap overlap of body portion.

Carabiner clips the head flap and body portion together, and the bivy zipper can still be fully opened with a propstick in position.

Size Comparison

Note that for the stake sack I sewed a loop onto the bottom for the purpose of attaching carabiners/guylines I use for quick setup. The stake sack is closed by tucking in the flap of extra material into the opening.

[Michael Martin]

PJ-

Sorry if I stole your thunder…

-Mike

[Ryan Faulkner]

nice job on your gear
a few questions:

what are the dimensions of your tarp.
where did you get the spinnaker?
what fabrics did you use in the bivy?

thanks

[Peter McDonough]

Dimensons of tarp: 52″x106″

Spinnaker Source: Friends with a sailmaking shop’s owner–Free

Fabrics on Bivy- Spinnaker Bottom(same as tarp) with 1.1 oz DWR Ripstop Nylon, with 1/2 grosgrain pullouts(same as tarp)

Oh yeah, and the reason for two cordlocks, for those who think they are unnecessary, the zipper opening prevents a connection between body panel and head flap. I chose to use two cordlocks instead of simply sewing one edge of the cord in because it was easier to adjust(notice ball of thread where I tore out the failed attachment point). It seems as if the two cordlocks operate almost independently, even though they are on the different ends of the same cord.

[Vick Hines]

Peter, boy, you are FAAAST

[Peter McDonough]

Heck yes… if procrastination is your game you had better be able to write 3 page papers in 5 minute passing periods. :D

[Ken Helwig]

Peter what is the weight of the tarp and the bivy. Oh and by the way, quite impressive there!!

[Ken Helwig]

oh never mind I just the saw the weight.

[Peter McDonough]

I will post a weight for the tarp after I decide to make it a cape or a poncho, and then finish it off.

[Peter McDonough]

Oh well, I got curious to the weight of the half-finished tarp and it was 5.075 oz.

Vick–Can you post some more descriptions of your cape??

[Miguel Arboleda]

I’m curious about the fabrics you used to make both the tarp and the bivy. I take it the tarp is made of spinnaker cloth? And the floor of the bivy, too? What about the top portion of the bivy? What is that green fabric? Epic? Pertex quantum? If it’s quantum, may I ask where you purchased it?

Thanks.

[Peter McDonough]

Miguel–Please see earlier post.

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