My Completed Mid – Thanks for the help BPL!

[Kyle]

 

Pitched kinda funky, as it was my first time pitching a mid, and I wanted it high so the weeds wouldn’t interfere with the seam sealing. I’ve been working on this guy for the past 4 weeks or so. Mostly followed instructions from the tutorial on BPL. I’d like to try making another with MEMBRANE 0.9oz material and a #3 zipper, which I think could get me < 1lb. Also I put one mid-panel reinforcement on the outside by accident, but was too lazy to put it in the inside.

Current Specs:

9’x9’x5′ (lowest height possible)
1lb 4oz without guy lines or seam sealer
2″ cat curves on the diagonals
1.1oz silpoly from Ripstop By The Roll
0.5oz No See Um for the vent
#5 waterproof zipper w/ two zipper pulls
Carbon fiber stay for the vent (attached w/ KAM snap)
1/2″ gross grain tie outs

TUTORIAL I FOLLOWED:

https://backpackinglight.com/myog_silnylon_floorless_2-person_tent/

 

SEAM I USED:

(from this post: https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/27585/#comments )

[Simon Kenton]

Awesome job!

 

I bet it feels great to finally post it here. Thanks for sharing.

[Kyle]

Thanks Paul! Now it’s time to take it around the world =P

[Jennifer Mitol]

wow – you’ve inspired me to get cracking on mine!  I’ve been making stuff sacks with the membrane to get used to it, and maybe now it’s time to actually start, ahem, cutting for real!

[DAN-Y]

Looks great!  I’d do sewing and stove tinkering before doing weeds;)

[Mario Caceres]

Looks good Kyle.

[jimmyjam]

Nice work Kyle!

[BlackHatGuy]

Nice job. I love the nice big vent at the top.

[Ryan Smith]

Well done!

[Kyle]

Thanks for the love you guys! I’ve made some projects before, but now I’m officially HOOKED!

[James Marco]

Good job! I would worry about the seams, though. That was for a flanged outer support. I usually use a flat seam (think two hands with your fingers curled around each other.) This puts about half the stress on each row of threads. But, it really isn’t a big problem.

 

[Kyle]

I will definitely be considering that stitch for my next project. I remember some discussion earlier about how to make it, but by the time I discovered that, I had already started down the current route. We shall see how this current stitch holds up. Fingers crossed!

[Lydia K]

Very, very well done!!

A pyramid will be next after my quilt.  Hope you don’t mind if I ask a few questions. :)

My pyramid needs to be big enough for 2 people and a 60 lb dog.  Do you think 9×9 would be big enough?

Are you using trekking poles for the support?

I’m also very interested in using the MEMBRANE 0.9oz material and a #3 zipper due to weight, but I’m worried about it being strong enough.  Has anyone used it for a build this big?

Would you mind sharing a close up pic of the peak?  Yours looks particularly tidy, and I like that you added a hang loop.

Did you “glue” and sew the reinforcement patches?

[Kyle]

Hey Lydia~ Thanks for the response! A quilt will be my next project. I’m going outside in, sounds like you are going inside out =P

I think 9×9 is big enough for 2 + a medium-large dog. I’m actually going to offset the pole support (2 trekking poles lashed together with 1.8mm cord) by about 1 foot, so that leaves a 5.5×9 foot floor space for me and my partner, and would leave 3.5×9 foot floor space for the dog + bags and whatever.

Peak pics attached – I put hyper D inserts in the inside middle just in case I want to use a stick or something and I don’t want it poking through. The top isn’t super pretty up close, I just ran a horizontal seam across all the panels when they were together to kinda seal things out. There is lots of room for improvement here, I’m sure.

You could be the first to do a big mid with 0.9 membrane! From looking around on the forums, it seems like if you did this, it would almost be mandatory to glue the reinforcements. Kyle Baker from Ripstop By The Roll just posted some cool pull test results with glued membrane reinforcements. I did not do this on my shelter, only out of laziness, and I hope it works out OK! I think a #3 zipper would be fine, but I’d add a reinforcement clip on the bottom, and in the center of it, just to protect the zipper from being pulled apart under higher forces.

Good luck on your project!
-K

 

 

[Lydia K]

Hehe,  yes,  I didn’t exactly plan to go inside out,  but I was waffling on the fabric choice and design of the shelter so much, I decided to proceed with the quilt instead. :)

Thank you for the additional pictures,  they are great and will definitely help with my construction planning.

I started playing with sketchup last night and am thinking I may increase the size to the max possible given the fabric width.  I’m only 5’7″, but my brother is 6’3″, and it looks like 9′ may be pushing it for him to have sufficient head and foot clearance when laying down on an air pad, if the mid was pitched tight to the ground.

Exciting to see Kyle’s test results,  looks like I’ll probably take the plunge with the 0.9 membrane!

[Kyle]

Oh yeah, for a 6’3″ individual, 9×9 may be pushing it… I’m 5’8″ and the 9×9 is reaching my limit. It all depends on if you use an inner net tent and what its offset from the mid wall is (which we do, with a nominal 6″ offset), and how high you pitch the mid off the ground. Good luck with the project, and I look forward to seeing your results!

[Mario Caceres]

Lydia, another option to consider is to make the base of your mid hexagonal (like the old Golite Shangri-la 3) rather than square.  A while ago i did a cuben mid similar to the Shangri-la 3 and i really like it.   I see a few advantages of the hexagonal base over a square base:

1) Its supposed to be a bit more wind-worthy (more angles deflect the wind better, i think), and more attachment points/stakes distribute the forces better.
2) If you do the math, uses less fabric (see grapic below) so its supposed to weight a bit less. (assuming same height and sleeping lenght)
3) If you occasionally need extra length (i.e when your 6’3″ tall brother comes along)  you can pitch it as a duomid (rectangular base).  There is a nice discussion about that in this thread.

Of course making a hexagonal base mid takes a bit more work / sewing and uses a couple of more stakes / pegs.

Here some pictures of my MYOG cuben hexagonal mid.

Here the same mid pitched in duomid mode (rectangular base, this makes the sleeping area much longer, but you loose width on the sides, so you may need to leave your packs outside if you have two people sleeping, but if you have your dog only, plenty of space)

I did a comparison on fabric used with sketchup just for illustration.  (Basically providing same height and length of sleeping area).  For this example you can increase the sleeping length of the hexagonal mid from 9′ to 10’4.5″ by pitching it in duomid mode.

[Kyle]

That is cool – seems like an elegant way to reduce material used. I REALLY like that each panel can be made from a single sheet of material (ie no center seams). Saves time AND weight =P

-K

[Kyle]

Updated with inner net! (5×8′ footprint =D)

I ran out of silpoly pu4000, so half is silpoly and half is pu4000, will be interesting to see which one fairs better after some use.

[Jerry Adams]

I didn’t see this before, nice job!

Have you used it in the rain?  Are the seams waterproof?

[Lydia K]

Looks great Kyle!  What type of mesh did you use?  Am I seeing correctly that you just offset your pole a little to accommodate the inner?  Looks like it provides plenty of headroom.   And of course I have to ask… how much does it weigh? :)

Mario-I forgot to thank you for the great input on trying a hexamid design instead of a pyramid.  I appreciate the drawings and design options.  I’ve been thinking about it a lot and am considering doing a hex design, but with a roof Ridgeline, like the six moon designs lunar duo.  Perhaps even making it an actual tent, using lighter fabric, and increasing the footprint a little to give me, my brother, and my dog enough space.  Still tossing around ideas, but I’d better settle on a plan soon so I can build something before our first trip this year!  Keep waffling between trying to keep my first shelter build as simple as possible,  and trying to figure out the perfect design… which I know won’t happen, so whatever I build I’ll probably want to modify and make another one… :)

[Kyle]

jerry, I’ve seam sealed it with urethane seam grip for the silpoly pu4000 part, and silicone for the silpoly portion, but for the seam in the middle that joins the two i used urethane. so i guess i don’t know how waterproof it is currently… i’m hoping “enough”

lydia, i did offset the pole, by about a foot. i used the 0.67 no seeum, which compared to the 0.5 is way stiffer/robust and easier to work with in my opinion. i also haven’t weight it yet to find out total weight (still drying from seam sealing). its theoretical weight, counting only fabric and zippers, is somewhere around 16.5oz. seam sealer, elastic, carbon fiber rods, zippers, is probably going to add a few oz.

also, i’d say +1 for trying out the hexagram, teepee style. its seems like good compromise of a unique, optimized design, without too much complication. i’d also wager that if each of the 6 sides is made of a single sheet of fabric, it’ll reduce your panel count, and thus sewing time, compared to a larger 9×9 mid (and would be less patterns to have to make compared to the lunar duo).

cheers,
-K

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