10x8 tarp.. do I

[Iafte]

I'm making both my boys 10x8 tarps*, question I have is do I catcut them or leave them straight. I know I can do a shallow cat-cut but with only 4' per side coverage I don't want to take to much away. Or do I leave them straight and hope to find more sil and add a cat-cut strip on later?

Right now I have a 9'x8' sil (non-cat-cut) and a 12'x10' cat-cut tarp. So I really only need one more for all 3 of us. But I don't want to have them fight over who gets the old tarp.


*Note: This is the 14 yards of sil I got the other day, I want to make both boys tarps so by splitting what I have in half this is the size I came up with.

[Doctari]

Just a thought: The blue tarps for covering stuff come in the 8x10 size (I think they are actually 7"10" x 9'10") why not get one or 2 of them & see if that is enough coverage for the kids before cutting your silnylon.

A cat cut do reduce that annoying flapping that straight cut tarps seem to have. If you do the cat cut, you can't (really) change it back, but if you do the straight cut, you can always re-do in a cat cut.

Doctari.

[Iafte]

I had bought some of those for the last hang because I didn't have anything for them, maybe I'll make it 12x10 cat-cut by sewing 3 pieces together instead of 2 then if I find more later make another one. I still have enough 1.9 coated to make a 10x9 tarp, not worried about weight as this is mostly for car camping or short trips.

If I do make it 12x10 I can use that when I go hiking as it will be lighter than my 1.9 coated 12x10.

[Bulldog]

Well, I think that a shallow cat ut on the sides (Similar to ED Speer's new Cat Cut 8x10) will give you plenty of coverage when using it as a hammock tarp, as well as a fairly good ground tarp should you so choose.