winter silnylon tarp advice

[Taliesin96]

Alright today i got in my 10yrds of grey silnylon from noah lamport great place to deal with and fast shipping and customs clearance by ups. great for canadians. So anyway i am going to diy the winter tarp and i am looking for any advice or warnings or words of iwsdom

thanks in advance

[dragon360]

You may already know buy Scott at DIYGearsupply.com has some decent tarp tutorials. Might be helpful.

[Taliesin96]

You may already know buy Scott at DIYGearsupply.com has some decent tarp tutorials. Might be helpful.

yep i already printed the instructions i am just looking for little tips that people have figured out. don't want to screw up the sil. and order more

[Nighthauk]

Alright today i got in my 10yrds of grey silnylon from noah lamport great place to deal with and fast shipping and customs clearance by ups. great for canadians. So anyway i am going to diy the winter tarp and i am looking for any advice or warnings or words of iwsdom

thanks in advance

I just did one using a combination on directions from Scott's instructions as well as just looking at my own tarp. As to warnings using that much material you will need a LOT of space to work with. I will also suggest that you use mini binder clips instead of pins for most of the work. Quicker to put them on and clamp down then pins. Other than that take your time and be patient. Silnylon is slippery stuff to work with.

Here is my tarp that I did.
https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...ad.php?t=70944

[Taliesin96]

I just did one using a combination on directions from Scott's instructions as well as just looking at my own tarp. As to warnings using that much material you will need a LOT of space to work with. I will also suggest that you use mini binder clips instead of pins for most of the work. Quicker to put them on and clamp down then pins. Other than that take your time and be patient. Silnylon is slippery stuff to work with.

Here is my tarp that I did.
https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...ad.php?t=70944

awesome idea on the clips, should make it much easier then pins plus no pin holes

[HangLow]

I built a BWDD Winter Dream using silnylon seconds from Noah Lamport. I left the material at full width to make the tarp bigger. I figured I can trim it later if I decide it's too big.

+1 on the binder clips, they're very handy to manage the extra fabric while sewing.

I used a stapler to fasten parts that would otherwise have been pinned. I flipped the stapler's bottom plate so that the staples' ends folded outward rather than inward on themselves. They pull out quite easily like pins. I used them in spots where holes in the fabric aren't an issue.

I didn't find it necessary to staple or pin the fabric to hem the perimeter. I folded the fabric over as I sewed and went slowly through the curves.

I put the reinforcing fabric for the side pullouts on the inside of the tarp. It doesn't seem like it would matter, and I prefer the look.

I used 1.9 ripstop nylon for my pullouts rather than the traditional grosgrain. Check out this thread on backpackinglight.com about it.

I used Permatex Flowable Windshield Silicone (sold at auto parts stores) to seal my seams after reading about it on some other threads. Perfect consistency and much easier than diluting silicone caulk. I dusted the seams with cornstarch after drying to cut down on the stickiness, worked great. Pitch the tarp nice and taut while seam sealing so your needle holes are opened up to accept the sealer.

Nighthauk is right, you need a LOT of room for laying out the pieces. Good luck with your project!

[nuttysquirrel]

also use a roller foot!

[Jimbo3b]

I say this every time I get a chance: be careful with that ridge line seam so that you don't sew it into the middle of one of the faces.

I really don't want to talk about why I warn people.

[canoebie]

Keep the stitch ripper handy.

[doogie]

Two areas worth a read if you haven't yet

http://www.tothewoods.net/HammockCampingDry.html

and the BlackCat DIY PDF available here:
http://www.teamgunnparker.com/downloads.php?cat_id=1

Rough cut one of the end triangles and use the scrap to practice working with SIL....it can be a pain, but not too bad if you take it slow.