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Finished a new Cuben Tarp


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Viewing 13 posts - 1 through 13 (of 13 total)
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  • #1280215
    Jamie Shortt
    BPL Member

    @jshortt

    Locale: North Carolina

    Here are some pics of my latest project. It is a caternary cuben tarp made from 3 yards of .51 oz cuben. It tapers slightly from front to back (+12" wider in front). The ridgeline is bonded with Hysol U-09FL. The finshed weight including guy lines was 2.9 oz. I hope to have detailed instructions on how to reproduce the tarp on my website by the weekend.

    With some guidance from Steve Evans this project was much easier than I thought. My thanks goes to Steve for his time and especially his youtube video.

    Jamie

    Tarp 1

    Tarp 2

    Tarp 3

    #1787182
    William Zila
    BPL Member

    @ultralightwillinn-m

    Locale: Albuquerque

    as usual jamie great job

    #1787184
    jim draucker
    BPL Member

    @mtnjim

    Locale: Shenandoah Valley VA

    Dimensions?

    #1787191
    Ceph Lotus
    BPL Member

    @cephalotus

    Locale: California

    Looks great!

    #1787209
    Jamie Shortt
    BPL Member

    @jshortt

    Locale: North Carolina

    The finished dimensions are 106” x 57” x 45”. The sides are cut shorter 3" at the front and 1" at the rear. This makes the corners closer to 90 degrees.

    Jamie

    #1787217
    Michael Davis
    Member

    @mad777

    Locale: South Florida

    Looks fantastic Jamie!
    At that weight, you're going to have to put some rocks on it to keep it down, lol.

    What bonding agents/tapes did you use?

    #1787285
    Jamie Shortt
    BPL Member

    @jshortt

    Locale: North Carolina

    I did all the bonding with Hysol U-09FL. This included the ridgeline and all 8 reinforcement patches. I was a bit worried at first since after several hours it was still movable, but after 24 hours the bond was stronger than I could pull. I simply overlapped the ridgeline by 1" and glued in between. Not sure if a full 1" over lap was needed, but the end result was real solid.

    I was a bit skeptical of people saying Cuben is much easier to work with than silnylon. But once I got the bonding thing down I have to agree. Being able to see through it, cut with a simple exacto knife and the fact that it folds and holds the fold makes it real nice to use. It was far easier to hem the tarp edge than a silnylon tarp is to hem.

    Jamie

    #1787289
    Michael Duke
    Member

    @mpd1690

    Very nice looking tarp!

    #1787564
    Jamie Shortt
    BPL Member

    @jshortt

    Locale: North Carolina

    I finished the instruction set with details on how to construct the tarp. I put them on my site. Here is a link….

    LytW8_Cuben_Cat_Tarp

    Jamie

    #1787868
    Ernie Fuentes
    BPL Member

    @askernie

    The Mini Tent is my cup of tea…innovative modernization of the classic "orange" tube. Any chance of getting instructions/pattern on that one?

    Your website is the bomb.

    ernie the eyeball

    [email protected]

    #1787947
    Tom Clark
    BPL Member

    @tomclark

    Locale: East Coast

    Jamie,
    The cat tarp looks great. I didn't realize that you had a website, but you've done a nice job sharing what knowledge you've picked up over the years.
    Tom

    #1788440
    Chris Lucas
    Member

    @cheme

    Locale: SC

    I put this out there not so much for this project but to foster general awareness. Sewing grosgrain is way heavy compared to bonding cuben patches/tie outs. Picture an hourglass shape folded in half and bonded top and bottom. Triple reinforced patch area + tie out for essentially 0.0 grams. Times 8 or 12 that starts to add up.

    #1789123
    Robert Burke
    BPL Member

    @coastiebob

    Locale: Wishing I was Backpacking

    Very impressed. I must say that it is inspirational.

    Instead of sewing the bottom, is it feasible to bond the bottom? Or would the bonding agent be more heavy than simply sewing it? Also, I have heard that sewing weakens Cuben Fiber. Wouldn't bonding the edges maintain the strength?

    Also an interesting idea about the Cuben bonded tie outs for the supports. What about the ridgeline tie outs, though? Would you insert a grommet like piece of hardware in the pieces of the fiber for your pole end to attach to?

    Bob

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