Finishing up my first mid

[Zak S]

I’m just about done with my first mid, and first large myog project.  I went in a slightly different direction than most, I used 1.6 oz silpoly from RBTR, I think this will mostly be a family camping tent, and sometimes a winter tent.  I didn’t mind a few extra ounces for a tent that would feel sturdy and hopefully last for many years- even with a toddler/little boy running around it.

I ended up right at 32 oz inculding guy lines for all lower tie outs and 10 stakes.  I still have to add some mid-panel tie outs and tie outs midway along the seams.

Lessons learned:

I used a 2″ caternary arch for the 8’6″ seams.  I figured I would have less stretch with the heavier material, and I wanted to preserve interior space.  I think I should have bumped that up to 3″ to get a tauter pitch.  I can live with it though.

Seams- I felt like I would be taking a shortcut if I did other than true felled seams.  Now that I’ve done that once on a large project, I’ll probably use a sewn down french seam or an inside-out french seam (with the allowance on the outside to pad the stitching) next time.  I find those seams easier, and with less pinning.

Fabric- I like this heavier silpoly.  I may try a solo tarp shelter out of a lighter silpoly, but my previous projects with silnylon make me kind of dislike how easy it is to compromise the fabric when it’s packed up.

 

Zak

[Ryan Smith]

Nice job!

[MJ H]

Very nice.  Will there be a matching net tent?

[Zak S]

Thanks.

Still not sure about a net tent for inside. I bought netting for a skirt around the tent, which I may still sew on, but I think I want to use it first, to see how high I want to pitch it, if we want to leave the door open often, and if I would want to use this for a summer tent when we would need the netting.

I’m considering whether it would be a better use of time to make a big cat tarp and net tent for that for midsummer backpacking with the family.

As you can probably tell, I like to make a thing, and then tinker with it. Sometimes I’ll make a new thing using what I’ve learned, more often my stuff is an evolving experiment.

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