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  1. #1
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    Winter Tarp w/Cord Management

    I like my current large tarp but when I use my RidgeRunner the overhang is only 6" which means I get damp if the rain isn't coming directly down. I wanted to make a larger tarp that has doors and more coverage. I looked at a lot of instructions for ideas and decided that I would base it on the Cowboy Cat Tangle Tarp by kitsapcowboy (https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...at-Tangle-Tarp) and make some mods to my liking

    Winter Tarp - 9 yards.jpg

    Ridge Line Length: 140" (11.7')
    Width: 116" (9.7')
    Weight: 488 g. (1.1 lbs.)

    Materials
    • 9 yards Xenon Sil .9 (Dark Olive)
    • 1/2 yard Xenon Sil 5300 (Dark Olive)
    • 10 Linelocs 3
    • 8 Beastee Dee Rings (1/2")
    • 2 Beastee Dee Rings (3/4")
    • 2 Whoopie Hooks
    • 7 yards Grosgrain (1/2", Black)
    • 20" Hook & Loop (Green)
    • 68' Lawson Reflective Glowire (2mm)
    • 1 Gutermann Mara 70 (Black)
    • 1 Gutermann Mara 70 (Forest Green)
    • 1 Gutermann Mara 50 (Black)


    With the exception of the Glowire (https://lawsonequipment.com/Cordage/...ire-p1024.html) and the hook & loop (https://www.ebay.com/itm/262483313330), everything else was from DutchWare (https://dutchwaregear.com).

    IMG_7240.jpg

    Construction
    I cut the two sides out of the Xenon Sil .9 according to the diagram as well as 8 triangles from the Xenon Sil 5300 to reinforce the side and door tie-outs and two rectangles from the Xenon Sil 5300 to reinforce the ridgeline tie-outs.

    I attached the side and door tie-outs Xenon Sil 5300 reinforcements with additional perpendicular stitching to provide additional strain relief.

    The two sides of the tarp were sewn together with a French Seam and then top stitching the fold. If I'm lucky this will be sufficiently waterproof, otherwise I'll have to seam seal it. I'm going to try a covered standing seam ridgeline for my next tarp as I think that may be more waterproof.

    I then attached the reinforcement rectangles for each end of the ridgeline and the line attachments.

    Door tie-out:
    IMG_7258.jpg

    Side tie-out:
    IMG_7259.jpg

    Ridgeline tie-out:
    IMG_7257.jpg

    A 1/4" double rolled hem was done all around the tarp capturing the reinforcement material.

    I then created 8 line attachments using 8" 1/2" Grosgrain, 1 Linelocs 3, and 1 small Beastee Dee rings. I created 2 line attachments for the ridgeline using 8" 3/4" Grosgrain, 1 Linelocs 3, and the larger 3/4" Beastee Dee rings. This is where the stress will be and it helps distinguish the ridgeline tie-outs.

    I attached the line attachments to the side and door tie-outs and the ridgeline tie-outs.

    I attached cord management to all the attachment points using 2" hook and 2" loop fasteners attached to each other with 1/4" overlap and then sewn to the tie-outs.

    IMG_7265.jpg IMG_7267.jpg

    10' of Lawson Glowire was attached for each ridgeline tie-out and 6' for each side and door tie-out. Each ridgeline tie-out got a Whoopie Hook attached.

    Reflections
    All sewing was done using the Mara 70 except for the line attachments were done using Mara 50 for additional strength. I don't think the 50 is needed because of the redundant stitching and the 50 is really pretty heavy. If I was doing this again I would use the 70 for the line attachments and Sew-all for the rest (and maybe Sew-all for everything).

    I shortened the hook & loop by about 1/2" on each hook and loop for the side and door tie-outs because the Glowire, while stiff, 6' does compact very well. I left the ridgeline alone because that was 10' and not 6' and the extra length was more appropriate.

    Cutting the material was a royal pain in the butt because Xenon Sil is so slippery that it slides everywhere. I've never worked with something this slippery. I used a wood burning knife with a chisel point to cut it and that worked really well. I did that because I was concerned about the fabric fraying but it appears that Xenon Sil doesn't fray so it was still good to use the hot knife but my rotary cutter would have been just fine.

    Sewing it however was surprisingly easy. It was no more difficult than any other lightweight fabric and it had the advantage that it was so translucent it was easy to see if any fabric was in danger of being caught in the seam. Also because even though it was almost a 12' tarp, it was easy to put half of it through the throat of the sewing machine.

    Conclusion
    All told it probably took about a full day to make the tarp. I didn't have any unexpected problems and it was not as difficult as I thought it would be. The only difficult task was cutting the tarp because I didn't have a large enough place to lay it out and I had to cut the two sides separately because of how I did the design to get maximum usage of the fabric. There was a lot of sewing but none of it especially difficult.

    There's a lot more room with my RidgeRunner. Even if the doors don't close all the way. I may not need to close them because of the additional room under the tarp with it staked out as a "flat" tarp.

    I didn't have much time to try it out because when I set it up it was blazingly hot and the mosquitos were eating me alive. I'll have to pitch it tight next time to see if there's any play when it's staked down. The color in the pictures looks funny but in person it's a really pretty color.

    I was shooting for a 12' long 1 lb. tarp and I got pretty close. I was restricted in size by using the 9 yards of fabric so it's not quite 12' but I don't think I'm going to miss those extra inches. It's a smidge over 1 lb. and I think it was the cord management and the Glowire that put me over by 1.2 oz.

    IMG_7246.jpg

    IMG_7251.jpg IMG_7251.jpg IMG_7263.jpg
    Attached Images Attached Images

  2. #2
    Senior Member old4hats's Avatar
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    Looks great, something to be proud of.
    If you prepare for failure you will probably succeed.

  3. #3
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    Well done! You might resign yourself to using some seam sealer on the ridgeline, just to play it safe, as cowboy had to. You may have better luck, but if it was mine, I'd expect it to leak and even if it wouldn't, a little extra peace of mind goes a long way. You pay for the peace of mind in the weight of the sealant, but I think it's probably a pretty fair trade.

  4. #4
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    Line locks are a good choice, and I like what you did with the hook and loop. Im sure it keeps things nice and neat. Well done!!

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Shagginwagon View Post
    Line locks are a good choice, and I like what you did with the hook and loop. Im sure it keeps things nice and neat. Well done!!
    The hook and loop are working well for cord management. It's takes a few moments to wrap them up but they stay organized and are easy to deploy when needed.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by alphabennett View Post
    Well done! You might resign yourself to using some seam sealer on the ridgeline, just to play it safe, as cowboy had to. You may have better luck, but if it was mine, I'd expect it to leak and even if it wouldn't, a little extra peace of mind goes a long way. You pay for the peace of mind in the weight of the sealant, but I think it's probably a pretty fair trade.
    I got a chance last night to take the tarp out in a thunderstorm. The ridgeline was almost perfect except for two places where I must have messed up the stitching because they would occasionally leak a drop or two. I might seam seal the entire ridgeline just to be sure but I might just seam seal where those two parts are and see if that clears up the problem.

    Otherwise the tarp performed better than I thought possible. Instead of the 6" overhang I now have about a foot and a half on each end. That makes it much easier to keep dry even if I'm not using the doors as doors and gives me a lot more space under the tarp.

    I deployed the tarp very high so I didn't have to duck under it but it did leave about a foot or so on the sides so I got some splashing (but my new DIY under quilt protector took care of that). Next time I'll probably pitch it lower and see how it is when the tarp sides touch the ground. I'd like to eliminate the splashing but I like seeing out under the tarp so... trade-offs.

    IMG_7301.jpg

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