Finished my 2p duplex type silpoly tent

[Marko M]

Finally finished and tested my 2 person duplex type tent.  used 20 d silpoly for the top, and 30d silnylon for tub, head and foot boxes 0.5 noseem mesh, and normal mosquito netting for the sides.  Total weight 34.5oz, and all in cost 106$.  Used it like 4 times now including 15hour rain test and held up well  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlzHrxMnLdw&t=29s

[Matthew / BPL]

lol @ the tub inspection!

tent looks great :)

[Christian K]

Very nice Marko! Seems like the ventilation is exceptional! Would love to see the tutorial video when you get to it. I’m thinking of making a triplex plus, if you will… 3 comfy, or 4 tight and cozy :)

Not sure on material yet. I want it to be light, but also durable. I’ve received pretty mixed opinions on the fly material (silpoly or silnylon), so that’s still undecided. How did you like the working with the silpoly?

My current “4” person setup is an REI Half Dome 3 Plus, which fits my wife and two small children fine, but is a whopping 7 lb 3 oz w/ the footprint and stakes! Hoping I can get down to about half of that with a single wall setup.

I like how the netting at the head and toe is vertical… seems easier to construct than how Zpacks does it. Did you sandwich the mesh between the two pieces of the fly where they meet?

[Anonymous]

Kudos.  Looks good !

[Marko M]

Thanks Christian.  I would go with silpoly for the top.  Silnylon known to sag when wet.  Silnylon is probably easier to work with though.  At spots silpoly was bunching up and moving.  I used mostly pins and sometimes clips, also creasing with iron really helped.

The foot/head box mesh is attached to a lip you create when stitching two roof panels together. I used “modified flat felt french seam” which leaves you with a 1/2 inch flap.

Yeah 7 lbs is not light it is not as bad if for 3-4 people.  I aimed at 1kg and ended up with 970g.  Could shave off a little more from using less thick reinforcement patch material.  But overall i am happy the way it turned out.  Dyneema would be best for weight but jezoos its $$$

[Christian K]

I think I’ve had slightly (just slightly) more comments in favor of silpoly for the fly, especially for how wide it would need to be.

Have you seen any issues with water collecting at that seam between the two roof panels (the lower, not the peak of course)? I wouldn’t want water to seep in down to the bathtub. Of course that’s why you seam seal, but still. The way you assemble the two roof panels is of course easier for attaching the mesh, but I’ve debated rotating the fabric 90 degrees to have one continuous (two, really) pieces for the roof, extending from the bottom, to top, and back down to bottom of the other side. It’d have fewer seams, I think, but it might be at the cost of some ventilation though due to how the mesh would have to be attached. TBD, but I’m leaning towards the way you did it.

Yeah, 7lb is heavy. It was ok with one kid, but idk if it’s worth it with two. Just doing some math, I estimate by our next trip in fall we will have two carry at least 50 lb just between our toddler, infant, and the carrier! Needless to say we likely aren’t going for long distances :)

And agreed.. Dyneema is extremely intimidating to me for such a large project, mainly because of cost.

[Marko M]

Have you seen any issues with water collecting at that seam between the two roof panels (the lower, not the peak of course)? I wouldn’t want water to seep in down to the bathtub. Of course that’s why you seam seal, but still.

No , not at all.  The seam is triple stitched, and folded in a way to no collect water.  Like I mentioned , i tested during 15hours of non stop rain and seams were good.  I should mention that I diluted silnet sealant with white spirits thinner to make it seep into thread well.  Took two days to dry but worth it

The way you assemble the two roof panels is of course easier for attaching the mesh, but I’ve debated rotating the fabric 90 degrees to have one continuous (two, really) pieces for the roof, extending from the bottom, to top, and back down to bottom of the other side. It’d have fewer seams, I think, but it might be at the cost of some ventilation though due to how the mesh would have to be attached.

Not sure what you mean by 90deg rotation.  But yes one continuous piece could work .  And you could still make the lip by just folding a bit , of course you will have stitched through material but one piece nevertheless.  Also, keep in mind that that connection adds some rigidity and adds tension to roof roof.  Not sure if roof would be too flappy as one piece especially if you want to make a larger tent.   One thing you could do, and for some reason I never thought of it at design stage, is to make an inner.  Basically instead of connecting foot/head panels to roof directly, you make tub with side mesh and head/foot mesh go all the way up to the crest of roof. Basically an inner tent. It would weigh more, but mostly mesh, which is not that much.  You would make some loops to attach to the roof at spots.  Hilleberg makes a new tent like that .  It would solve condensation issues.

 

[Jeff McWilliams]

Really nice work.  Thanks for sharing!

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