The tarp is doing exceptionally well. It poured most of the morning and early afternoon here and there wasn't a drop of water on the inside.
One of the stakes pulled out of the ground today, leaving a portion of the tarp flapping in 12-15 mph winds for at least an hour, with no signs of damage to the tarp.
I love this material
What's your impression on how well the material needs to be reinforced at the tie outs? I've come to love my two 4" pieces of 7/8" grosgrain. Would that work, or would I need the triangular panel for support?
I did a triangular piece in each corner, but only ones that are 2" deep by 4" wide.. I'm pretty certain you could use 7/8" x 4" without any issues.
For the tarp: I'm toying with the idea of binding the edges to get a really tight pitch.. That was my one complaint with setting it up.. it was hard to get a tight pitch. But that was a flaw of the design, and not the material.
I decided not to do cat cuts mainly because I wanted to try a rectangular tarp. Binding the edges should give me as tight of a pitch, with the sight weight penalty.
For instructions on making a CatCut hex tarp, please see the DIY with Fronkey Video
I'm interested. I need fabric with UV resistance for a shade tarp on a dog kennel. If it's waterproof, so much the better. Nylon doesn't do well with long-term sun exposure.
I was taught polyester is more UV resistant than nylon, if that's true or not.. I have no idea.
I had a free half hour this moring, so I bound the edges, and added additional tie outs for 1 set of doors.
Like I said.. not my prettiest work..
but it held up well.. We even had some freezing rain last night, and the tarp held up perfectly. With all the rain yesterday, it didn't stretch any noticeable amount. I even slept under it last night in the freezing rain, and it was great. Woke up bone dry.
I've got to reinforce those 2 corners where the doors merge off. I'm only putting one set of doors on because an 11' hammock fits pretty nice underneath it with the 1 set. I have decided against panel pulls. simply because I lack the time at the moment.
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It's not my best work.. and it was also a production sample.. but despite all that, the SilPoly took everything I threw at it, and is preforming wonderfully.
Thanks for all the work! If you don't mind, leave the two new tie outs for the doors the way they are. I'd be interested to know how the fabric responds to the long term stress point.
Originally Posted by Mouseskowitz
I'll leave it up for the next 2 or 3 days to see how it does with those tieouts the way they are. Then I'll reinforce them. I don't need another tarp floating around here, I intend on beefing up the tie outs, adding lineloc 3's all around (they're only on 2 points as of right now) and giving the tarp away by means of some contest or giveaway on the forums.
I'm sure with winter coming, someone out there has a need for it. I plan on picking up 8 yards of white or OD Green as soon as I can free up some funds. Bad thing with me and winter.. I get laid off after October.
Thanks! That should give a good idea if there's going to be any issues.
And for those looking at making one of the tarps like this.. here's the material list to make the tarp:
8 yards silpoly (go for 9 yards if you want to make a stuff sack, etc out of the same material)
1/2 yard 300d Diamond ripstop for reinforcements.
22 yards of 3/4" Grossgrain ribbon for RL and perimeter binding, Also used for tieouts.
8-10 pieces of tie out hardware. Tri-Rings or D-rings
I used Lineloc 3's for my tieouts, only because I had a bunch laying around.
Last edited by hk2001; 11-13-2014 at 12:52.
Great write-up.
Glad to hear silpoly is making a come back. It's spinnaker cloth, right? SpinnUL?
Mike
Learn to survive and thrive in any situation, for you never know what might happen. Love family and friends passionately. Suffer no fool. Know your purpose in life and follow it with all your heart.
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