So one of my next DIY undertakings is a 1.1oz Multicam Intruder Silnylon tarp. This will be my "final" piece of matching multicam gear for my setup and with the premium cost of the fabric, I want to get it top notch.
I've come across numerous ideas on edging tarps, especially a pair of ideas recently from Snowball and Wafflebox, that had me intrigued. Creating my own bias tape from the fabric and rolling a piece of 1/4" grosgrain inside the fabric. Both seem like great ideas.
What I'm most curious about, is hearing from someone who has worked specifically with this fabric or has a tarp made from it.
My original plan was creating a RSBTR 12' Winter tarp, following the plans there pretty closely. I'm finding myself more and more indecisive of how to proceed the closer I get to actually starting the project.
At first, I had planned on cat cuts sides and roll hemming everything on the sides. Now I'm not sure.
I've worked with other silnylons, silpoly, xenon sil and plenty of pu coated fabrics, but the intruder sil is a little different from any of these and unique in a few respects. Instead of a more traditional 15-20d silnylon, intruder sil is a slightly more robust 30D. I understand the fabric density differences, but does it make a noticeable difference?
Could I get away without cat cuts, as I could with xenon sil or silpoly, or would the base fabric get overly floppy when wet? Then comes the question of actually edging the tarp sides. Does a simple rolled hem with this fabric provide enough toughness to avoid stretching, or would grosgrain or bias tape make a very noticeable difference. In the past, with other silnylons, I've always grosgrained the edges to add durability stretch/floppiness prevention. I've also been completely happy with just rolling hems on silpoly and xenon sil. I'm more concerned with functionality than I am weight, so if grosgrain or additional edging (bias tape) would make that big of a difference, I would probably add something additional. However, if I can cut the weight of all that grosgrain and have success with just rolled hems, I'd probably go that route. I'd like to lean towards rolled hems alone, but if they're going to be an issue, I'd like to get it right from the start.
On the cottage industry side, UGQ turns out beautiful Winter Dreams in the intruder sil. As with most of their tarps, they all appear to be grosgrain edged and cat cut. I have a lot of respect for the vast amount experience of that many of our cottage vendors have, so anytime I make gear, I tend to look at their products as well. Not saying that a vendor's way is always right or their way is the best, but I'll always at least take their products into consideration and I've seen some wonderfully crated UGQ gear.
I know many of these questions can be chalked up to personal preference, like many other questions in our hammocking field, but I'm hopeful that some have personal experience with the Intruder sil they could share. I know, I'm likely just overthinking things, so feel free to tell me that
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Originally Posted by Firesong
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