Adding a floor to a floorless Cloudburst

[Chris Sawyer]

Hi All,
Like everyone else here I'm interested in shedding pounds from my pack. I'm considering buying a used floorless Cloudburst for its low weight and low cost. However, the wife isn't excited about the potential for bugs and water entering the floorless tent.
In my novice view, I should be able to buy some inexpensive (2nd) silnylon and make a floor. However, I'm not sure how to attach it to the tent: 1) sewing- with poor skills or 2) 4 or 6 squares of velcro placed around the perimeter?. Could I just add a couple of inches to the floor dimensions to create a bathtub like effect? Thanks in advance and pardon my naivety!
Chris

[Chris Sawyer]

After more research I'm considering not sewing the floor to the tent, but instead choosing one of the three following options and tucking the bug netting that surrounds the outer perimeter of the Cloudburst under the floor.

1)Making a silnylon bathtub floor following these instructions
http://www.backpacking-lite.co.uk/diy/make-an-ultralight-tent-bathtub-floor.html

Only trouble is I need a 70" wide piece and the larges roll I can find is 60". I'm not sure I want to sew a seam down the middle of my floor.

2)Buying a tyvek ground cloth through Tarptent for the Rainshadow 2, which is wide and long enough for me to make a bathtub floor for my Cloudburst. I could to use a rubber cement (Barge's cement) to glue the tyvek into shape using a similar pattern to the above sewing instructions.

If anyone has insights into the feasibility of gluing tyvek into the shape of a bathtub please let me know.

3)Simply buying the Cloudburst ground cloth through Tarptent and forgetting the bathtub. This would make the tent "bug proof" and give it some water resistance. Not to mention being the easiest option. But, I would hesitate to take it if there was a chance of strong rain, which in the NW is, well, always. :-)

I'll try to post my decision with updates in case anyone else out there comes across this situation.

Chris

[Troy Ammons]

Its probably easier just to buy a tent. A sewing project that big is time consuming. If you need a 70" floor you will need to seam it.

Silnylon is not 100% waterproof like coated nylon. Silnylon is an incredible PIA to work with. It is super slippery.

If you are going to buy or build a tarp, you could just buy or build a bug tent. Basically a net tent with a tub floor.

[Chris Sawyer]

Troy,
Thanks for the info about silnylon being hard to work with. I don't have the skills to sew cotton, not to mention something slick and difficult to use…I'll cross that off the list for now.

How about the idea of using tyvek to create a bathtub? I've read it can be glued or taped. Having never worked with tyvek I don't know if it will hold the bathtub shape like silnylon (option 1 above). But this is the option I'm leaning toward because of my poor sewing skills and if it doesn't work I can always use it as a simple ground cloth (option 3 above).

The Cloudburst (made by Tarptent)I'm buying is $80, add another $20 for supplies to create a bathtub floor and I've got a 2 person, bug proof, rain "proof", 2.5 lbs (approx.) tent, which shaves 4 lbs off my pack. That's motivating. :)

Chris

[Dale Wambaugh]

I think making a bathtub floor of tyvek is a great idea. Why not? Just tape inside and out with a neat application of duct tape. The tape will help stiffen up the corners too. They do sell tape for Tyvek that is like a think, high quality shipping tape.

[Troy Ammons]

IF tyvek, I think the house wrap stuff would be the way to go for a floor.

They sell tape made just for tyvek.

You can also glue it with urethane glue like mcnett aquaseal or several others. Do a search here on glue and tyvek. I think contact cement will work too.

I dont understand the net though. Do you have a net, did someone cut out the floor or something ??

Like I said before you could just make or buy a simple tarp
then get a bug tent for the inside.

[Chris Sawyer]

Troy,
Sorry about the confusion. The Cloudburst is a tent made by Tarptent. The model I'm buying is several years old and came floorless, as all of the early Tarptents did. Here is a link to a description (except the model shown came with the optional sewn in floor):
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/tarptent_cloudburst_gg.html

Thanks for the info/encouragement Dale and Troy. I'm going to go with the tyvek bathtub plan. I'll try to post once the project is done. Thanks again.
Chris

[Troy Ammons]

You might just want to get Tim to build a more integrated solution for you.

2#-3oz 2 person tent.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=11839&skip_to_post=176960#176960

[d k]

For my Cloudburst, I attached some small rubber o-rings on at the corners of my Tyvek groundsheet, and one or two along each side as well. Then I attached a set of o-rings onto the netting (in both cases I actually sewed a small loop of grosgrain ribbon about 1 1/2" long that passed through the o-ring). When I set up the tent I can squeeze one o-ring through its mate to attach the groundsheet to the tent. If it gets stressed, it will pull out rather than rip any sewing. I got the idea from someone on either this site or the TLB site (can't remember who). It doesn't require much time or sewing skill.

[Chris Sawyer]

Deborah,
That sounds like a good idea that I should incorporate into my plans. I don't like the idea of sewing the whole floor into place, as I may end up damaging both the floor and tent, but your solution is less invasive. Thanks.
Chris

[d k]

They seem to work pretty well for us. I used rubber o-rings that are probably about 3/8" in diameter, and 1/4" grosgrain. You don't have to reinforce the stitching or anything; I just ran across the ribbon layers a few times back and forth. I didn't want it to be too capable of ripping the netting; would rather have the stitching pull out.

Good luck!

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