Sewing bathtub floor onto Hexamid

[Monte Masterson]

Like many Hexamid owners, I yearn for a solid floor instead of the full bug netting.  Awhile back I asked Joe if he’d modify my Solo and he said no , and that I might consider selling my Hexamid and buying a Solplex .  I love Joe but IMO the original is still the best. Better symmetry than the Solplex and Hexamid Twin. The Solo Plus has too much surface area for just one pole.

So my question is this: Has anybody out there ever sewn a cuben floor onto a Hexamid?

I have a 1.0 cuben floor off of an old Solo Hexanet I can use. I understand the pros of the detachable floor such as quicker drying and use as a cowboy camping groundsheet, but the net floor still bothers me. Plus I could knock off 1.5 oz with the modification.. I just hate to hurt the resell value of the tent.

[Scott Nelson]

I did it once.  I ended up selling it on the forums here but I can’t find my photos.  The Hexamid was too small for me.  Sewing the mesh wasn’t that hard.  I think I looked at how six moons designs and tarptent attach their mesh and floors.  I sewed the mesh to the tarp and then went back with everything set up and marked and measured for it to attach to the bathtub floor and at the corners of the mesh panels.  I think I put a main vertical zipper at the entrance and had the mesh overlap the bathtub floor by several inches at the entrance but had it unattached across the bottom.  Velcro will make a mess of the mesh by snagging when packed.

[Scott Nelson]

Actually you can see pictures if you go to my profile and see where I sold it.  Scott

[Monte Masterson]

Thank Scott, I’ll take a look. I thought I’d just secure the cuben floor (that’s already hemmed) to the netting floor with safety pins, inside of the tent. Then take a light grey Sharpie marker and draw a line on the netting about an inch below the hem on the cuben floor, After that I could unpin the floor and the netting, then cut the netting, Next step would be to fold the netting over 1/2 inch twice and sew each time. Lastly I’d sew the hemmed netting to the cuben floor.

[Ralph Burgess]

I just don’t get it.   Why do you want to do this?
Come to that, why did Joe want to do it?  (I doin’t think he did, really.  He secretly hates the sewn-in design).

The removable groundsheet is the best feature of the original Hexamids.    You can:
(a) take your time pitching securely in pouring rain with the groundsheet safe and dry in your pack;
(b) dry it more quickly and easily;
(c) use it to cowboy camp;
(d) replace it when it wears out quicker than the tent –  as a cuben groundsheet surely will.

The under-netting is the best and simplest engineering solution.

You want to do a bunch of annoying sewing, to lose all these benefits, in return for an ounce?
Just get a haircut instead.

 

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