First trip with the newly finished tarp

[Tim M]

So after finishing making this earlier this winter I was finally able to take it out in some nasty weather for the last three days. Other than a slightly odd pitch because of the ground where I was camped it worked out beautifully. I just need to do a little better job of sealig the seams as they just barely started weeping after 24+hours of steady soaking downpour changing over to snow.
Final dimensions pitched are 90" wide, 52" tall and 12' long, with 16 msr mini ground hogs (worst case senario for bad weather) all guy ropes and stuff sack it weighs in right at 23 oz.

 

[Trr15]

Nice job. Looks very similar to a mega tarp. What type of material did you use?

 

[Ironman8]

Very nice. What material? And if you don't mind, what was the total cost to make it?

 

[Tim M]

It is patterned after the megatarp and is made of 1.35 oz silnylon with all stake and guyout points reinforced with the same silnylon but with hypalon patches for the poles on the ridgeline.
if I remember I have less than $68 into it if you don't count the mini groundhogs (I had them from my other tents)
also tried out the new bivy bag too(patterned after the Tigoat Kestrel)

 

[Ironman8]

You've given me some inspiration. Great work!

A few questions...

It looks like your tarp only has one seam (at the ridgeline) correct?
How many yards of material total was needed?
Where did you get the material?

 

[Tim M]

Yes i has a flat felled seam down the ridgeline and a rolled hem all the way around. I got material from Bearpaw wilderness designs. I ordered 12 yds but that was so I had enough extra to be able th use it for reinforcement patches and to do some other projects too.

 

[William Hanson (live2hunt)]

That's awesome! Did you happen to keep track of your measurements on the pattern? What does it weigh?

 

[justinspicher]

That looks really good as does your bivy.

 

[Tim M]

it weighs 23 oz including stakes, guy ropes and stuff sack. I didn't keep track at the time but it was really easy and I could spread it back out to measure, pm me and i will get them.

 

[dirtytough]

Looks really nice.

 

[Jacob_Outdoors]

Did you create the pattern yourself, or find these patterns online? I'm interested in both projects, but without experience, I don't want to just start cutting and sewing.

 

[Tim M]

I looked at the comercially available ones and modified them to fit the way I hunt and camp. knowing what I want the end result to be helps. they are both easy projects but the bivy is the easiest... the tarp takes the most co-ordination since you will be sewing a flat seam about 9' long and there are some compound angles that you need to be aware of while laying it out.

 

[justinspicher]

Did you find it hard to sew the materials you used for either project? I have a standard sewing machine and sew some of my own things, mostly repairs, so I am curious on what your setup was and how many fixes you had to do during the process.

 

[Tim M]

I have a pfaff sewig machine and moderate experience ( 12 years in uniform sewing patches and maki g stuff) and the only thing I had to realize was silnylon must be sewn while under tension... as far as fixes there really werent that many (only as many as I would have sewing anything else) and it we t togethe pretty easily.
all in all it took me about three hours to figure it out and sew it.

 

[6t4nova]

Looks great Tim. I've got 20+ yards of silnylon sitting here waiting to be turned into a tipi. Need to pick your brain on the best way to cut out my pattern. I'll call ya.

 

[MountainTracker]

What kind of thread did you use. Looks really good btw

 

[Tim M]

Sounds good man give me a call and I will give you a hand on it. Did you see my note about maybe going out for some pack cardio today? Guess all the miles on the mountain this weekend weren't enough!

 

[Tim M]

What kind of thread did you use. Looks really good btw

I used Guterman Tera 80 MK in matching color to the silnylon. I have found that this thread is extremely tough yet tiny so the holes in the cloth are smaller, also it is a synthetic so it dosn't rot out as quickly because of sun and rain.

 

[elkeaterco]

Fine looking work. I would love to do some pack cardio and pick your brain. I have all the stuff but am a bit intimidated. My total sewing experience has been one meat bag.

jake
GJ

 

[JustOneMoreShot]

Looks really good. I had my mother-in-law put together a silnylon meat bag. It came out really good and should work well.