wal mart sil nylon: $1.00/yard

Was that 60″ wide material?
In your picture it looks wider.

I think I see a ridgeline seam, although it is very clean. Nicely done!

I’m confused… did you buy this tarp at Walmart… or did you buy Silnylon at Walmart? $1/yard? That’s insane. You could make a classic TarpTent for like… under 30 bucks.

David,

Yep, it’s awesome – probably way under 30 bucks, if you could find the mesh cheap.

Ben

Hi Benjamin,

Can I buy this silnylon online? I checked walmart.com but I may have missed it.

Where were you able to find yours?

And BTW, nice find.

evan

Did you reinforce any of the tie-outs?

Evan-
The silnylon is available in-store only, and not every store will have it. The $1/yd displays are made up of remnants from various sources, and the stores don’t have any control over what they get. I have only found silnylon once, but have also found:

coated ~1.9oz ripstop
uncoated ~1.9oz ripstop
coated 2.6oz ripstop
coated taffeta (haven’t weighed it yet)

For a buck a yard, beggars can’t be choosers (the 2.6oz is almost a safety orange), but it’s great for tinkering and home projects. Heck, the wife and I plan on using some of the coated stuff to make stuff sacks to wrap gifts for our outdoorsy friends.

Also, someone mentioned making a hammock out of lightweight nylon meant for lining garments (also out of the $1 bin).

Just went by my local walmart to search out, and found nothing. Joann Fabrics has some ripstop, but its $7/yd.

Watch out for Joann; Their ripstop is almost always Nylon 6, not Nylon 66, almost always 70D – or 1.8 oz/yd. Nylong 6 is only 1/2 the strength of Nylon 66. Their stuff tends to be excessively calendered (hear set) – which also weakens it.

joseph,
Thanks a million for the tip!!! I just scored at my local walmart. they had one bolt of it, in white! Can you provide some close up photos or directions on how you attached those guylines/made it? I’m not much of a sewer but i want to try this :)

Mireille – just check everything really closely to make sure it’s actually silnylon and not DWR stuff. The walmart material’s coatings tend to be inconsistent, so sometimes it’s hard to tell which is which until you test it. Either use water, or try and breathe through it – the DWR stuff will allow you to breathe through easily, while the sil is pretty resistant to air.

Just a tip so you avoid the mistakes I made the first few times I picked up fabric from the $1 bin…

Ben

i really think it is, so far i’ve hung it (full of water) in a cup and no leakage at all, I tested both sides. I’ve squirted at it and tried to blow thru it it’s like a balloon or something, no air is going thru. I’m so giddy. I’m going back for more. Wheee!
now, the thread??? and guy lines? do i sew those reinforcement patches on?

Awesome! With the $1 bin, when you score you score! And, yeah, it’s a good feeling ;).

Use polyester thread – 100%, no cotten content at all. Guterman is highly recommended by most of the experts I’ve spoken to. If Walmart doesn’t have it, Joanne or Hancock fabrics will.

The guyout loops (that you tie the guy lines to) can be made of grosgrain ribbon – Walmart will have this too, if not in the color you want. The guyline can be anything – most 1/8 inch cord will work well. BPL sells some really nice spectra line, and you can find Kelty Triptease at most decent outdoor shops, online or local.

In my experience, the reinforcement patches are overkill, but others may disagree.

I also just scored some SilNylon at wally world, just under 5 yards!

If you haven’t cleaned them out, what cities are you in? I’m in the San Francisco Bay area.

I cleaned out the town center walmart on carson in long beach (so cal). I may check the others just to see what they got.
thanks! now what to make…hmmm…

I hit two Walmarts today, one yesterday. Still no luck. Not really any outdoor fabric at all.

Joseph Your The Man!

Thanks for the heads up on the Sil-Nylon. I picked up 15 yards at the Anahiem Walmart tonight.

Is the color all of you are getting gray?

Just visited another Walmart and couldn’t find any. Bought some cheap shoes with velcro lace ups though.

Dwight,

Yes same color material as what Joseph used on his tarp (see pictures at the start of this tread. Thats the only color of sil-nylon I found available at Walmart thus far.

Regards,

I found this at the Hood River, OR WalMart. The lady who was working in that dept. that day almost had a cow when i tried to push water through the fabril with a water bottle “to see if it was silnylon or DWR nylon” she had no idea what I was talking about. So I bought about 20yrds. of it.
I’ll take pics of the tie outs and post them. If you have Jarine’s book, you know what I did, I just used the pattern suggested.

Went to six Walmarts. Did not find ANY silnylon.

I did finally find some coated nylon, not ripstop, that was pretty thin. 1 yard weighs 2oz. One side slick, one side shows the weave. $1/yd. 15 yards.

Chocolate brown. Guess I’m going to make a fashion statement. Lots of them.

I figured I could use it to practice on. If I couldn’t get the real stuff, I was gonna get that because I was running out of options. Figure I could make a rain shell, or rain chaps, or stuff bags. Or a tent floor. Or bivy bottom.

And its not like you could call a store and anyone would know what the hell you were talking about.

Maybe I could make a poncho with long rabbit ears on it and masquerade as a chocolate Easter Bunny.

Dwight

7th Walmart I tried had some. Got 10.8 yards.

Now….

How are they labeling the Sil Nylon at Walmart?