Help on DIY tarp

[grich9860]

i was thinking of using ripstop and then using that spray seam sealer from WalMart and using it on the entire tarp. any suggestions? good idea? bad idea?

[Bags4266]

You need 8 yards of sil. Noah Lamport once again sells only 10 yards or more. So 10 yards of quality material is going to cost you approx. $40. You will probally spend more than that on sub-par ripstop and waterproof spray at Wally World.

Buy nice or pay twice

[shanewalker10]

yeah I may not have it all done this week...Do they sell any of these material or nylons and Hobby Lobby or Michaels..or any other stores like these? I feel like it would be much easier buying them at a store then somewhere online

[JayS]

i was thinking of using ripstop and then using that spray seam sealer from WalMart and using it on the entire tarp. any suggestions? good idea? bad idea?

I tried it several years ago with only moderate "success". Never got the ripstop as water resistant as sil and it was hard to cover it evenly. Luckily, I only needed the tarp for a few nights and it didn't rain, though it did snow lightly one night. I highly recommend using silnylon instead.

[rjcress]

Do they sell any of these material or nylons and Hobby Lobby or Michaels..or any other stores like these? I feel like it would be much easier buying them at a store then somewhere online

I looked everywhere I could think of within a 75 mile radius of my place (including a few major cities) and couldn't find sil locally. Finding the right material might be more challenging since it sounds like you have never had ripstop and sil side by side to compare. Many fabric store folks don't really know the differences in outdoor fabrics, so you could easily end up with the wrong stuff... but think it is the right stuff.
IMHO, better to order from a reputable supplier like the ones already listed, at least until you know how to tell one type of material from the other.

If weight isn't a big issue, then a polycoated fabric should be fine... again... just be sure you know what you are getting.

I've also read reports of folks soaking regular ripstop in a solution of thinned 100% silicone sealant with some success. You might want to search the forums for info on that... although for ~$4/yard you'll be hard pressed to find a more economical solution than ordering from NL. It will be "seconds" but most folks that I've read say they can't find any flaws.

[shanewalker10]

yeah I'll probably just order it then...I'm just confused on how much to order and stuff...seems like alot of sites say something like 1.1 oz/yd is $3. So does that mean a square yard is a three dollars? And how much do you need to make a 8x10 tarp?

[Cold Butt Stephen]

yeah I'll probably just order it then...I'm just confused on how much to order and stuff...seems like alot of sites say something like 1.1 oz/yd is $3. So does that mean a square yard is a three dollars? And how much do you need to make a 8x10 tarp?

The yard is the linear length. Most fabrics will come in 60" width (so five feet), give or take a few inches. It should say where you're buying it to be certain. So if you want to have an 8x10 tarp, you will want to get 6 yards of fabric. You'll cut it in half and then have two sections that are 9 feet (3 yards) in length and 5 feet across. If you then sew those pieces together you'll have a 9x10 and you can just cut off one foot off each length to get your 8x10.

Sorry that the explanation there was really overcomplicated. Hope it helped anyways. Post pictures when it's done and good luck!

PS: I really love backwoodsdaydreamer.com for materials. The owner is really helpful and is a member here. Awesome service, although in this case it is a bit more expensive at 5.50 a yard.

[Rat]

Just to add to the confusion...

The weight is given per square yard and, generally, before the coating or impregnation. So 1.1 oz Silicone Impregnated Nylon weighs 1.1 oz per square yard (36" x 36") before the Silicone is added: after it is added it is closer to 1.4-1.5 oz per yard.

Fabric is generally sold by the running yard. Which means one yard will be 36" x 60" (or however wide the bolt is). The bolt can be anywhere from 36" to 72" wide. So if you bought one (running) yard it would be 36" x 60".

In reality you get "more" than one yard (even though it seems like you are buying one yard), and it weighs more than is stated. You just need to do a little math to figure the weight. I convert to square feet for weights:
36" x 36" = 9 square feet
9 square feet weighs 1.5 oz
or 0.166 oz per square foot
36" x 60" = 15 square feet
15 * 0.166 = 2.49 oz
so, one running yard, or 36" x 60" will weigh 2.49 ounces. Multiply 2.49 by the number of yards you buy and this will give you the weight of your fabric.

In your case, an 11 x 10 tarp will weigh 18.26 ounces just for the fabric. This is before any is removed for cat cuts and any is added for gross-grain tie-outs and binding if you use it. You will also need to seam seal it which will add a little weight.

Making a tarp is a good first project; buy an extra yard to make stuff sacks and other useful stuff with as well. If you don't you will wish you had...

[wirerat123]

I made one DIY tarp, tested it out, then passed it along with a DIY gathered end hammock to a friend. Here is how I did it, some tend to over complicate things a little. For me this was the simple first time approach.

I had 10 yards of SIL, first thing first, I cut off 2 yards for stuff sacks and the likes.

I took the 24 feet of fabric left, folded it in half, cut the fabric at the fold to have two equal length pieces of material. I left the two sides stacked, and put several tack stitches down the end I was joining together to ease handling the slippery material.

Now I simply took the tacked edge made a fold about a half inch wide the length of it, tossed in a few tack stitches the length to ease the handling again. The stuff is slippery.

Then I made the second half inch fold. Opened up the two halves and ran it through the sewing machine placing two lines of stitching down each edge of the fold. VOILA, in about 30 minutes I had the tarp body cut, stiched together, and ready for reinforcement, edging and tie outs.

While I was doing this, my super awesome girlfriend was ironing 1" gross Grain ribbon in half, and cutting out corner reinforcements.

I laid the 10x12 rectangle out on the kitchen floor, marked the edges in 12", while leaving the ridgeline full length I straight edged to the 12" marks and trimmed it off making the tarp a mild hex cut. I then took the outer edges and measured a center line on each one. Measured up the fabric 2" took a flexible straight edge and marked the arc making a mild cat cut. Trimmed it off then started pinning on tie out reinforcements and binding.

By the time I got all of the corner reinforcements trimmed and pinned, then got all that grossgrain pinned around the edges I was at about an hour or so working on the thing.

At this point my back was crampy (I have 3 bad discs) and my fingers were all gimped up and mad at me. So I set it to the side for a bit, but felt I was making great time on it.

The next morning I woke early, and while my gals were still sleeping I grabbed it up, fired up the borrowed Husqvarna Viking and stitched it all together taking my time and going slow. I figured out on the ridgeline that the faster you go the harder it is to keep straight stitches. Since the edges were going to be the thing most noticable at a glance I wanted them to be good.

When all was said and done I had a nice 12' long by 10' wide Hex with minor cat cuts. It was Grey with brown edging, it from a distance looked like a mass produced product. On closer inspection, not so much. I seam sealed it by massaging silicone caulk into the stich areas on the ridgeline and whiping off excess.

Approximately 2 hours of labor. I hung it between my clothesline supports and let it sit for about 6 hours. Crawled under and let the girlfriend loose with the water hose.

I was so proud that no matter how hard she sprayed the thing no water penetrated to me. She was proud of me as well. She is an avid hiker as much as I am, so the idea of saving money on these items got us both excited.

We both had Hennessy Hammocks already, and used them most of the time. So we went camping with her family one night, and her brother just fell in love with the Hennessy Hammocks, so I walked to the car and pulled out the gathered End Hammock I had made, and the home made tarp, strung it up and told him to crash out in it for the night.

Needless to say, he woke up about the same time I did the next morning (5:30am) talked about how refreshed he felt and how good he slept. In a moment of weakness I told him "You can have it, enjoy.".

Since then I have only dabbled with more gathered end hammocks. But I plan to get some friends some hammocks made much like that one he got. He still uses it, and it's still holding up 2 years later.

Since then I have found Hammock Forums and see so many other things I want to do. You guys are killing me!

[BEAS]

Where do you get contact info on Noah lamport?