DIY Cuben hex tarp questions?

[jjr]

Hi, I am going to make a cat cut hex tarp with 0.51 oz/sq yd Cuben fiber. I am wondering if I should use cat cuts for the ridge line seam. Also I am unsure what depth to make the cat cuts. The tarp will have finished dimensions of 11' x 9'8".

I am thinking that I can use slightly less deep cat cuts than I would if I was using silnylon. What is the common wisdom here? I made a silnylon hex tarp with cat cuts on the edges but without cat cuts on the ridge. This tarp has no issues with floppy edges, or sags or wrinkles anywhere. Since Cuben fiber does not stretch like silnylon, I am wondering, if I forego the cat cuts on the ridge will I get some wrinkles along the ridge? Does anyone have any experience with this? Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

[SilvrSurfr]

I had an HG standard CF tarp with no cat-cut on the ridgeline - it was extremely hard to get taut. I dumped it and moved to an HG Winter Palace with cat-cut ridgeline and sides. I'm now a happy camper!

[jjr]

Thanks for the info SilvrSurfr!

Has anyone here made a Cuben tarp with a cat-cut ridgeline? I am going off of Sgt Rocks instructions. Is there anything I should know when joining the two sides together? I hope that the catenary curve on the ridge is so shallow that it won't really pucker much and there won't be issues joining the seam.

[Bannerstone]

That's the part that takes the most skill development, you might do some practice with some inexpensive double sided tape and visqueen.

David

[WV]

My DIY 9' x 11' cuben tarp with no cat cuts anywhere was fine when I hung it over a continuous ridgeline, but once I put the ridgeline above the tarp, and in a rainstorm water pooled in a concavity along the bonded ridgeline. I never figured out exactly why that was possible. My best guess was that I managed to stretch the cuben a little bit when I pulled it taut to bond the two halves together. I went back to using a ridgeline under the tarp, and never had any more problems. Some people have questioned this because of the possibility of the ridgeline abrading the cuben, but I've never seen any sign of it. My ridgeline is 7/64" amsteel with whoopies at both ends. There are two alpine butterfly knots that I hang my hammock from. The tarp is permanently attached to the ridgeline with short 3/16" bungee loops and prussics (actually klemheist knots).

I started to wonder if cat cuts on the tarp edges would be good, so I added them, but I don't think they improved it all that much. On my next tarp I didn't bother with cat cuts anywhere, and that's what I would suggest for most people. I definitely wouldn't use a cat cut on the ridgeline with cuben. Construction is a lot easier, and the tarp is slightly wider. HYOH.

[jjr]

WV thank for the input! On this tarp I am going to add strips to the sides because this tarp will be wider than 2x the width of Cuben fiber fabric, so if I were to use a cat cut ridgeline the loss of width is not an issue. I'm still on the fence with the cat-cut ridgeline. WV, your recommendation is noted!

Does anyone have experience making a cat-cut ridgeline on a Cuben tarp? I'm not sure how it would come together, but Hammockgear must have good reasons to do it that way with the Winter Palace.