tarptent for two and a few others
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well figured after bothering everyone to help find materials. i'll post the starting project thread. the goal was to start today, but between seattle sea fair traffic, driving past seattle fabrics a few times and spending too much time at rei testing out the jam2 and waiting for my dad to finish looking at backpacks for a carry on bag… we didn't get much done today, but all the materials are finally gathered.
i got 9yds of silnylon, 5 yds .9oz noseeum mesh, and 3/4" velcro from speer hammocks
the various widths of nylon webbing, some miniture camera clips, 1/2" grommets, #3 zipper and a bivy bag pattern from seattle fabrics.
from quest outfitters, i got 10 micro locks, a few yards of 3/32" shock cord and cord, mini cord locks, then some whistle buckles for the packs.
the plan:
building henry shires original tarptent for 2, installing a bathtub floor that is removable. it will clip to the inside of the tarp on the back of the tent guyouts via the camera clips and shockcord. the tent poles will be rei compact ul peak trekking poles. i ran some simple trig on the pattern to keep the interior room under the tarp the same with the 22" rear pole. we are planning on at least a front beak and possibly a rear beak since it rains so much here in the northwest. then various stuff sacks for the tarp. here's the start and hopefully over the next few weeks i'll be able to post some progress pics. the goal is to be done, and take the tarp for a test run on the weekend of aug 16 and 17th, either on the pct, mt rainier or the olympics.if this project goes well, i'll be personally making a solo tarp and bivy for when it's just me. this particular project my dad will be helping with most of the sewing on the tarp and teaching me how to use the machine, since i'm a noob with sewing machines and all.
well not a lot per-say but we got the main tent portions cut… we had to utilize the garage floor to have enough room to measure and cut out the 100" section for the main portion of the tarp. we then played around with scrap material and trying to get used to sewing the slick stuff. i figured out the felled seam from the tiny pics on bpl and showed dad how it was exactly sewn, then he sewed the 2 sections together. that's about as far we got done today. the thread lines may have their waves but it's looking good so far.
well progress on my first lightweight shelter is well on it's way. essentially everything up and to the setup point is sewn on, the mesh, the guyout points, the grommets, the reenforcement patches for the guyout points… the next step is to buy the trekking poles that i'm going to be using, set her up, pin out the zippers and the atachment points for the rest of the mesh, install the beak, and build the bathtub floor. here's some pics of the progress.
had to rework the beak to a 23" center depth instead of 24" do to space on the scrap material. ran the trig and kept all the angles and lengths to porportion.
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well, i got the trekking poles today. to my surprise they were $30 off… i didn't see a sign, but that's how they rang up even checked the reciept, and they were a sale price and had the astrik saying that they wouldn't appear on my dividend. also picked up a mini gerber para knife to replace my 6" blade i carry.
i setup the tarp and pinned the mesh to be sewn. the tarp is about an inch shorter on the sides than initially planned so there was some excess mesh on the front that got trimmed and when i accounted for the taller rear pole in the tarp material i forgot to account for it in the mesh. which leaves only 2 inches overlapping on the ground, so i'll have to add an extension when we sew the mesh corners together. it's not perfect, but it should work great. next steps are to sew the mesh together, add the zipper, extend the back, reinvent the sag fix on the back corner so that it's adjustable, the directions for the fix use a fixed length setup. then to add the attachment points for the removable bathtub floor, make the final measurements for area then cut and install the floor.
the beaks are still of concern. i'm curious how the reinforcment patch will hold up on the beak since the poles stick up so much and will contact the carbide tips. i'm wondering if i should just sew a slit in the top of the beak so it slides over the tip instead of resting on it… it'll still protect from driving winds but some water will run down the poles… since the rear is raised a good 3 inches, i'll probably design a small rear beak. nothing large, but enough to help protect the top foot of the rear section of the tarp.
well it's pretty much done other than some seam sealing and 2 more 3/4" x 3/4" pieces of velcro to keep the beak down secure. the grand total weight is 1 lb 9 oz after i switch to the 6" easton aluminum nail stakes. presently for setup i used some .6 oz aluminum stakes that came with my rei half dome tent, so i weighed it with only one of the 2 stakes to give a fairly accurate weight for the two .3oz nail stakes which i'll be carrying. The weight includes the removable bathtub floor that is shock corded and clipped to the tarp via mini camera clips, the beak and all other accesories. I do need to trim the main guylines to the shorter length that i tied them to, left excess to play with out in the field.
Also tossing the idea of velcro patches to secure the floor to the netting at the corners and middle of the long side. the scale i picked up was a $30 dollar up to 72oz with .05 oz accuracy. so now i can weigh all my gear. including my beast of a half dome tent. i want to see how much weight i really lost. according to the rei site it was about 6 pounds packaged. any tips for a good seal on the ridge line? i've read the article on diluting the silnet, and have the materials. debating whether to seal all the outer seams, but it's probably best to seal them to keep the girlfriend happy.here's the pics thus far, with luck i'll have some pics from the field next week…
well it's a bit late, but here's the pictures from the first trail run of the tarp tent at mt rainier national park on a 19 mile solo hike. it was the last overnight hike i got to do last season. there were a few modifications that still need to be done before this coming season approaches.
-velcro tabs at the 4 corners and midway on the long sides to help keep the floor and mesh together when the floor is in use.
-add the sag fix the back corner, the tarp experienced a considerable amount of sag on the higher lower corner and pooling of rain water that needs to be fixed.
-make a small beak on the rear of the tarp to prevent driving rain from wetting my sleeping bag.so here's the pics.
after these fixes for my tarp tent for 2 are done, then it'll be off to starting my solo 5×9 tarp for myself to be used with a tigoat bivy. the tarp should have no ridge lines to sew, or netting to be added, so it should be easier.
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