"Polycryo" Winter Tarp

[4evrplan]

I was reviewing some of my old posts here the other day for the fun of it, and it occurred to me that I'd been talking about making a large window film ("polycryo") tarp for a long time. I finally did, almost a year ago in fact, but I never showed it off. Well here it is.

It's loosely based on the plans on diygearsupply, but I messed up the dimensions a bit. The ridge line is straight, but all the edges are cat cut. I used the 1/2" double sided tape that came in the window kit to "hem" the edges. The ridge line is clear duct tape. To make the tie outs, I embedded nylon washers in duct tape. I cut off a bit from one side of every washer to make a flat edge and folded the tape over the washer with the flat edge in the fold. There's also extra reinforcing tape on the edges around each tie out. I learned all this from posts of other builders all over the internet.

The lines are all catfish drop line, which is cheap and strong enough. Each one has a short length of shock cord tied between it and the tarp tie out, maybe 5 inches worth.

The pull-outs are just surface mounted duct tape so I don't have to put holes in the plastic or bunch it up. Each one has a very short second piece of tape in the middle of it, sticky side to sticky side, so there's a space where it doesn't stick to the plastic, and you can tie things around it. I have a short length of cord around each one that forms a triangle when you pull on it and helps to spread the pulling force across the width of the tape. Time will tell if these will stay on. I hope so, since the pull-outs probably don't need much force on them, and they're connected to the guy lines with shock cord, just like the edge tie outs, so that should help.

The weight with guy lines attached, but not including stakes, came out to 381 grams (about 13 1/2 ounces).

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[jms53]

Looks neat!

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[Floridahanger]

Looks great. I also hope it works out for the long haul. If not, you can just tie the ends to the guy line and use it as a light weight rain protection for your cooking area.

[4evrplan]

...There's also extra reinforcing tape on the edges around each tie out...

Actually, now that I'm looking at the pictures and thinking about it, the ridge line tie-outs are the only ones that got the extra edge reinforcement. Sorry, it's been a long time since I put it together, and when I've set it up, I wasn't really focused on construction details.

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[QiWiz]

Nicely done. I made a polychro tarp for ground dwelling that I no longer have. Very light. Lighter than cuben, actually. I was always worried that if anything nicked it, it would tear easily, though it can be repaired with most types of tape. Hope you get lots of use from yours.

[XJ35S]

Curious what the mil thickness is. There is a survivalist dude that recommends this type of shelter and even sells them on his site.

http://www.m4040.com/Selections.html

I would like a quick and easy emergency tarp to keep on hand. Looks great!!

[4evrplan]

Curious what the mil thickness is. There is a survivalist dude that recommends this type of shelter and even sells them on his site.

http://www.m4040.com/Selections.html

I would like a quick and easy emergency tarp to keep on hand. Looks great!!

That's an interesting site. He kinda seems like an opinionated guy, but maybe that's because he's trying to save lives. I like the idea of using reciprocating saw blades to make custom knives. It won't make for the highest quality knife, but it's cheap and seems like a really fun project.

Something he's obviously very skeptical of is the efficacy of divining rods. I agree 100% that the use of divining rods would be inappropriate in a survival situation, but I have personally witnessed them work for mapping out buried water lines. I don't mean to suggest there's anything mystical about them. I just think there's an unknown scientific principle at play, and we'll figure it out eventually.

That small point aside, he seems to know what he's talking about, and I will be spending some more time reading his articles.

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[Wetfoot310]

That's a really cool idea. I played around with a tyvex tarp but this seems to be a lot more functional.

[4evrplan]

I looked up the product page online to see how thick the plastic is. It's 0.7 mil.

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[Levi Tate]

I looked up the product page online to see how thick the plastic is. It's 0.7 mil.

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You can also purchase 1.5 mil thickness from some big box stores.