Diy megatarp

[G5Archer]

What materials did you use for the guy outs and stake outs? About how many hours you figure you have on this project?

 

[William Hanson (live2hunt)]

What materials did you use for the guy outs and stake outs? About how many hours you figure you have on this project?

Gutted paracord. 20-25 hrs but I'm slow. I could probably do it in half that now

 

[Jake Leibke]

Here a pic of mine. I modified it a bit. Closed off both ends instead of leaving one end open.

 

[William Hanson (live2hunt)]

Looks good man

 

[elmcreek]

Here a pic of mine. I modified it a bit. Closed off both ends instead of leaving one end open. View attachment 32261

I have looked over this megatarp post for a while and just noticed your addition to it - looks good. I had the same idea to build it w/o an annex and just zipper both ends closed. Simplifies the construction, could reduce the number of guylines, and possibly lightens it up a little. In good weather, I plan to leave one half of each zippered door rolled up and tied out of the way. How do you like yours? Did you make any other changes to the plan in this post? Anything you'd do differently now? Thanks

 

[Dedicated_Elk]

Thank you for posting all this. Great to have some plans to mess with. elmcreek I am planning on doing the same. Just make both ends zipped closed. I think it will simplify the construction as well, and add a separate entry for 2 people. I was also thinking of sewing on some Lineloc 3 to make it a little easier to put up and stay tight. I have very little sewing experience, so I hope it goes well (will post results). The only question I have is what kind of zippers would you use or how would you construct them?

 

[drrice]

Are you guys using 20D or 70D? Calendered or Uncalendered?

 

[William Hanson (live2hunt)]

Are you guys using 20D or 70D? Calendered or Uncalendered?

20d calendared

 

[William Hanson (live2hunt)]

I am considering making another out of membrane but I'm going to call ripstopbytheroll and ask how well it will work first.

 

[Bkaufmann]

Man, I wish I was that skilled. well done.

 

[William Hanson (live2hunt)]

Man, I wish I was that skilled. well done.

Just takes a little practice. I have not been sewing that long. I just started making pullouts based on colonel's thread and then just dove in.

 

[drrice]

I plan on just diving in with hopefully a little help from family members on the sewing part.

 

[ndbwhunter]

For those that have finished this project....did you set the stake loops at specific points so you could measure to ensure proper stake placement, or did you just have to play with the pitch until it was right?

 

[William Hanson (live2hunt)]

For those that have finished this project....did you set the stake loops at specific points so you could measure to ensure proper stake placement, or did you just have to play with the pitch until it was right?

Just played with it

 

[elmcreek]

Thank you for posting all this. Great to have some plans to mess with. elmcreek I am planning on doing the same. Just make both ends zipped closed. I think it will simplify the construction as well, and add a separate entry for 2 people. I was also thinking of sewing on some Lineloc 3 to make it a little easier to put up and stay tight. I have very little sewing experience, so I hope it goes well (will post results). The only question I have is what kind of zippers would you use or how would you construct them?

Yes, the plans have been very helpful and much appreciated. I should say that I plan to use this shelter mostly in shoulder and winter seasons with a stove and that influences my decisions. I haven't decided on a zipper size/weight (?) yet and will seek some more experienced advice there. I plan to use plain coil zippers, not water resistant, probably w/o a rain flap. I don't plan to run the zipper all the way up to the trekking pole. I think I will add tie out loops at the pole in case I'd like to roll up both sides of the door (unexpected warm weather) and run a guyline to stake out the ridge. Cutting the zipper short of the peaks will leave a bit of a beak on the main body of tarp if both sides of the doors are rolled up. Shortening the zipper may help me get away with a little bit lighter weight unit. There will be stake loops on each side, so the zipper won't take all the strain.
I've been making some scale models out of graph paper to help get my head around how the zippered ends need to be shaped for everything to layout right. It's not perfect, but helping me picture everything. One thing paper doesn't do is stretch, so I'm not sure how to account for that. I may have to sew the ridge and pitch the tarp to get the proper dimension for the 'annex' zipper and angle for the ground hem. For winter use, I want a pretty good ground seal. Maybe I don't understand something in the plans?

dedicated elk - I usually just tie truckers or tautline hitches on guylines, but linelocs might be pretty convenient in the cold!

live2hunt - how wide is your tarp at ground level? If I use the fabric width to determine length of annex zipper from pole to ground, the main body of my paper models take on a distorted shape in order for the annex stake end to reach the ground. I'm assuming the ground level width of the sleeping area to be about 68" like the original model. I'm wondering if the slack I'm seeing will be taken up by the side tie outs and the ridge taking on a bit of curve when pitched. Not sure if I explained that well or not. Thanks for posting all this.

 

[William Hanson (live2hunt)]

Yes, the plans have been very helpful and much appreciated. I should say that I plan to use this shelter mostly in shoulder and winter seasons with a stove and that influences my decisions. I haven't decided on a zipper size/weight (?) yet and will seek some more experienced advice there. I plan to use plain coil zippers, not water resistant, probably w/o a rain flap. I don't plan to run the zipper all the way up to the trekking pole. I think I will add tie out loops at the pole in case I'd like to roll up both sides of the door (unexpected warm weather) and run a guyline to stake out the ridge. Cutting the zipper short of the peaks will leave a bit of a beak on the main body of tarp if both sides of the doors are rolled up. Shortening the zipper may help me get away with a little bit lighter weight unit. There will be stake loops on each side, so the zipper won't take all the strain.
I've been making some scale models out of graph paper to help get my head around how the zippered ends need to be shaped for everything to layout right. It's not perfect, but helping me picture everything. One thing paper doesn't do is stretch, so I'm not sure how to account for that. I may have to sew the ridge and pitch the tarp to get the proper dimension for the 'annex' zipper and angle for the ground hem. For winter use, I want a pretty good ground seal. Maybe I don't understand something in the plans?

dedicated elk - I usually just tie truckers or tautline hitches on guylines, but linelocs might be pretty convenient in the cold!

live2hunt - how wide is your tarp at ground level? If I use the fabric width to determine length of annex zipper from pole to ground, the main body of my paper models take on a distorted shape in order for the annex stake end to reach the ground. I'm assuming the ground level width of the sleeping area to be about 68" like the original model. I'm wondering if the slack I'm seeing will be taken up by the side tie outs and the ridge taking on a bit of curve when pitched. Not sure if I explained that well or not. Thanks for posting all this.

I don't think I ever measured it at ground level pitched but ~68" sounds about right. I over thought a lot too and in the end it was easier to just dive in and work it out as I went. The annex was kind of an after thought for me. I just built it with the Sam dimensions as the back side, sewed the zipper in, and matched the bottom hem to the tarp, then pitched it and had to adjust the angle on the hem a second time.

 

[drrice]

Do you think a piece of neoprene would work for the pole reinforcement points? I have an old pair of waders that are leaking so I was thinking of just cutting them up and using a couple pieces.

 

[ndbwhunter]

Do you think a piece of neoprene would work for the pole reinforcement points? I have an old pair of waders that are leaking so I was thinking of just cutting them up and using a couple pieces.

I wouldn't use neoprene for any type of reinforcement points. Not only is it too heavy, it's also not that durable. The 300D diamond ripstop from ripstipbytheroll worked great for my pyramid tent, and it only cost a few bucks.

 

[mdoolin]

live2hunt would you mind sharing a copy of the plans with me @ [email protected]? This is a project I would like to try.

 

[William Hanson (live2hunt)]

live2hunt would you mind sharing a copy of the plans with me @ [email protected]? This is a project I would like to try.

Those are the plans on the first page