10×10 SilNylon Pyramid Design

[Jim Colten]

That's a nice looking mid!

Concerning: The only issue I had noticed was that the gray silnylon that I had just purchased from quest had been folded to fit into a priority mail box….which put creases in the material. This made it difficult to flatten without stretching.

I've learned that it's well worth the time needed to iron fabric before cutting. You don't have to make all traces of folds disappear, just eliminate most of the folding.

[Chris Roane]

Jim: That's a good tip about ironing the fabric.

I've started thinking about the next steps in finishing the shelter.

#1: Perimeter Netting

– I'm not going to use this shelter for winter camping, so I think sewing the netting to the tent makes the most sense.

– For the door, I was thinking about just using a small piece of velcro to attach the netting together. I thought about doing a netting door. But the times where bugs will be a major problem is probably the exception, so this wouldn't seem necessary most of the time.

– The only thing I am not sure on is how wide I should make the netting. It seems to be pretty heavy stuff, and I want to avoid taking as much as possible without making it inconvenient. My general plan is to use the floor to hold down the netting and use gear near the door to secure it there. If bugs are super crazy in an area, we can use other stuff, like rocks to help hold the netting down.

Would 12" of netting be too much when at most I probably would only have a 4-6" air gap? Would a 9-10" netting suffice with how large of a floor I am using?

#2: Floor

– In order to help with spray, I am going to use a bathtub floor. This also will give this shelter the same feeling as a normal tent. I am thinking about using the technique this guy used in this article (without the plastic supports) http://www.backpacking-lite.co.uk/diy/make-an-ultralight-tent-bathtub-floor.html

Do you think a 4" wall for the floor will be sufficient? I plan on keeping the shape of the floor by having a small string attachment to the two corners of the shelter. Probably use some kind of clip to do this.

I am not sure how large I should make the floor. Would I be able to get a way with having it be 9.5' wide and 7' long?

I understand that I don't want the floor to touch the tent walls in any way, since that will drip down condensation.

#3: Making More Room

– I think the current setup will allow plenty of width for sleeping. However, after seeing the new NEMO pyramid tarp, I'm thinking I might add side guy out points to increase the usable space. This is the shelter I am talking about: http://nemoadventureanywhere.blogspot.com/2010/10/2011-sneak-peek-pentalite-4p.html.

I wouldn't necessarily add the vents…but if after this year I think venting would help, this is probably the location I would add the vents, since I "think" that would add quite a bit of air flow that would prevent quite a bit of condensation.

Do you think it would be worth adding side pullout points to add room? I don't think it would add more than 2-3 ounces to add this feature, and if it would make a little more room when four guys are sleeping side by side, this might be worth it…

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!

[Elliott Wolin]

Years ago I made a bathroom floor for a tent using the same technique as in the reference, plastic rod sewn into a short fabric tube. But after a while the rod wore through the top and/or bottom of the fabric tube.

My recommendation is to reinforce the top and bottom of the tube somehow using webbing or grosgrain tape.

[Jim Colten]

Our scout troop bought a Golite Shangri-la 4+ and I made a silnylon floor for it

#1: Perimeter Netting

We're dithering over whether it'd be most useful to use it on snow or to use it in bug season so have done nothing about netting.

#2: Floor

I made a bathtub floor with 4" tall sides that sloped inwards at about the same slope as the roof. At ground level the floor is 6" smaller than the length of the lower edges of the roof (3" inset from each side).

The floor attaches to the roof at each corner and at the middle of each side edge via side release buckles.

#3: Making More Room
These are large panels and between wind load and sagging due to cold and moisture
adding guyout loops would be well worth doing

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