First Project (Tarp). Question Regadring Tieouts.

First of all, NICE looking work. Its hard for me to tell from the photos but I know I have a habit of overtightening with those linelocs on my gear. I have to remember to take it easy on that final 'just in case' tug.

Forgive me, but …

The webbing will be plenty strong enough for most anything, provided you remembered to heat-seal the cut ends. But the connection to the silnylon is waiting for a strong wind to say bye-bye!

Yes, most definitely, you need to remove the attachments and to add some serious reinforcing. I would suggest at least some 4" triangles of silnylon overlaid on the corners and the side tie-outs as well. Two lines of spaced stitching would be good. Slightly shorter stitch lengths would also be good. Actually, a double layer of silnylon reinforcing would not be anywhere near too much.

At least you have identified this problem before any damage could be done. So … welcome to the MYOG club. We ALL go through this learning curve, but we do have plenty of experienced MYOGers here who will be happy to advise.

Cheers

Mmmmmm, green spinntex – NICE. Where did you order that from?

Just to add to Roger's advice, The reinforcing triangles should have the warp/weft at 45 degrees to the body fabric.

Great work Eric, very well done.

Were/are you following a pattern? If so which one? If not extra well done again.

Cheers

Roger,

All 8 tieout points have a second layer spinntex reinforcement (3×3" on side tieouts, 4×3" on corners) as well as the folded hem so in reality, there should be 3 layers on the side tieouts and due to the double folded hem, up to 6 layers on the corner tieouts.

Should I be looking to add more? Also, any reason to go with sil over spinntex (thinking stretch ratio between the two is significantly different)?

Overall, seems pretty stout in terms of the fabric strength. I might add a second row of stitching around the reinforcement patches per you guys recommendation, along with possibly seam sealing the edges. In my opinion, making the stitches closer is asking for problems with this fabric. Too many perforations that close will just act as a stress riser causing a fabric failure at the stitch.

Thoughts on the reinforcement? I looked over the grosgrain last night and it looks better than I orginally thought. It was all hot cut so no issues there. Might add a second open zigzag on the tieouts to distribute the load some.

In terms of the fabric, this is the std Thru-Hiker Spinntex offered by Paul. Looks like it has a touch of green hue to it but I think it's reflecting the grass color some. It's grey….

Mark,

No pattern. All mine. lol Not sure if that's a good thing yet or not. Time will tell.

Thanks guys.

Guys,

Would going with a top mounted reinforcement patch of say dyneema be overkill?

With the patches being so small, shouldn't add accessive weight as should be tough as nails…

Just thinking out loud.

Thanks,
Eric

Nice looking tent!

There's a recent posting titled "tarptent for two and a few others" that has some good pictures of attachments that you will find useful.

I think your attachment stitching is called a bar-tack. I see it most often where two pieces of cloth come together around an opening such as at the top and bottom of a front pocket on a pair of slacks. It serves to reinforce the end of a seam.

I don't recall seeing a bar tack used by itself for an attachment. What I see a lot is stitching that forms a box with an X made by aditional stitching on the diagonals that connects the box corners. The box is usually an inch or more on the sides. This makes sense because the forces are distributed over a larger area than they are with a bar tack.

My hammock attaches to trees using webbing that wraps around the tree. Then the hammock line attaches to loops sewn into the ends of the webbing. The loops are sewn with the box I described above. This stitching has to hold loads in excess of 200 pounds and it seems to do that quite well.