DIY Tents & Tarps

Papa Dragon wrote: A couple of weeks ago there were some pics on fb of some guys using tarptent shelters on a GT, one of which was a Trailstar..

If anyone knows who used this, please could I ask for his/her contact details. I would like to hear their impressions of the shelter in 'Berg conditions..

Cheers

Hi Papa D. A friend of mine did the DGT a few weeks or so ago with his dad. He used a white hexagon style shelter and his dad used a white a-frame tarp setup. Both used bivi bags. From what I could gather he was super happy with the hex tarp setup due to it being very light. Although I think his dad might be able to help you with more technical inputs.

I will inbox you my friend's number.

Thank you Gerhard, I appreciate your trouble..

I want to get back behind the sewing machine, so I made this drawing on Sketchup (amazing program), with a cutting list in the background:



I got a MSR tent on the Sketchup forum and I used its size for my tarp tent.

I bought the same material as PapaD from Galvanor Fabrics I want to use.

EDIT:
The two poles holding up the tent will be hiking poles.

@Papa D - Any feedback on that silicone treatment results?

Coeta, I still haven't tried on the second lot of fabric..

I am undecided on the design of shelter that I want to make, and also toying with making up the shelter first, and the doing the siliconising..

Thoughts?

From what I understand sealing a finished product has it's pros and cons.
sealing the raw sheet before working on it will require a seam sealer type routine to get those stitches sealed (unless there is some other solution for this I don't know of)
sealing the finished product will sort out seams, but comes with the risk of missing small sections due to creases, folded sections due to design.
BUT, it is also a pain to get it dry without buildup or sides touching.
I'm for post-production sealing, do it once and then make triple sure every inch and seam is properly permeated and have a rig prebuild to hang dry it

I plan to use my Galvenor fabric as the proof-of-concept and later use something that is more waterproof.

Isn't there a waterproof off-the-shelf fabric? Our local fabric store in Johannesburg is quite large (Chamdor) but they don't have something suitable.

GerritHuman wrote: I plan to use my Galvenor fabric as the proof-of-concept and later use something that is more waterproof.

Isn't there a waterproof off-the-shelf fabric? Our local fabric store in Johannesburg is quite large (Chamdor) but they don't have something suitable.

Chamdor Faktry (yes that is how they spell it) is great but not for technical material. I have also looked for stuff there and at their Northlands Deco Park branch but no such luck.
Seems we need to import this stuff:
www.zpacks.com/materials/waterproof-fabric.shtml

Grandeur wrote:

GerritHuman wrote: I plan to use my Galvenor fabric as the proof-of-concept and later use something that is more waterproof.

Isn't there a waterproof off-the-shelf fabric? Our local fabric store in Johannesburg is quite large (Chamdor) but they don't have something suitable.

Chamdor Faktry (yes that is how they spell it) is great but not for technical material. I have also looked for stuff there and at their Northlands Deco Park branch but no such luck.
Seems we need to import this stuff:
www.zpacks.com/materials/waterproof-fabric.shtml

Thanks Grandeur,

But at +-$30 per yard (its about R400 per meter ) it is very expensive. It will be cheaper to buy a high quality tent off the shelf...

www.owfinc.com/

An American supplier of technical fabrics, and other cool stuff!!