Howdy makers and tinkerers.

I need a bit of advice for a tent project. I'd like to make a high tension hoop tent for ice fishing, but I can't quite get the thread/needle combo to work. This is a 3 pole hoop with conical ends. The floor is 10' x 14'. Peak height is 5'.

I've worked with tents and tent fabrics for 20 years now, but Sil-nylon has me a bit baffled. The whole thing works great in coated ripstop, but I want more. I've been using our needle feed machines with teflon feet, and monitoring the fabric feed carefully. My issue is the stitching itself. I can piece the panels well enough to let the fabric expand w/o stress along the test panels where the poles would lie in the structure. When I use B69 nylon, the thread breaks after repeated use. When I drop to B46, it saws through the fabric after some time. I've tried size 18 and 20 ball point needles thus far. Should I add something to relieve stress at the seams? Any suggestions are welcome.