Advice wanted – material for solid inner tent

[Mark Fowler]

I am after advice about suitable fabrics to make a solid inner for my SMD Haven.  I will use 1oz cuben for the floor and make the upper 30cm of the doors in mesh but am unsure of which fabric to use for the doors and roof.  I understand that an uncalendered fabric will breather better than a calendered one but is this important? I have hunted around the usual suspects and in the 1 oz and under fabrics it seems they are all calendered.

[Hoosier T]

I reached out to Kyle at RSBTR for this very question and he said this is his most breathable fabric and is what he sells to a lot of cottage vendors for walled-inners.

 

[Jerry Adams]

or, there’s a lighter fabric at RSBTR,

[Hoosier T]

Yea, the 1.0oz Hyperd is an option in Uncalendered but Kyle said it’s not as breathable as the 1.1 so choose your battle, tiny weight penalty or breathability.

[J-L]

I made a solid inner for my MYOG dome tent from the 0.66oz Membrane 10 taffeta nylon fabric from Ripstop by the Roll. It’s worked out great – held up for over 18 months with no tears, maybe 30-40 nights of use with my dog. Even when the inside of the outer fly is covered in condensation, I stay quite dry inside. I have not seen condensation form on the inner fabric yet

I’ve also used the lightweight Argon fabric that Dutchware used to sell at 0.67oz/sq-yd for a partial-solid inner on a pyramid tent. I think the Argon fabric is more breathable, but I went with the RBTR fabric for my dome tent because I wanted a bright and cheery interior. The Olive Yellow was perfect for that.

I think as long as you have some mesh along a vertical wall, the RBTR Membrane 10 fabric works great. It would be hard for me to recommend using any heavier fabric.

Here’s a couple pictures of my dome tent. The bright yellow fabric is the RBTR Membrane 10. I used Tulle for the mesh, which snagged a bunch when I tried using velcro inside (thus the patches). I can cover the mesh window with solid fabric based on ventilation needs or how cold/warm the night is.

[Mark Fowler]

Thanks everybody.  I think I will try the Membrane 10 and see how it goes.

[Author]

Posts