[pct-l] homemade tent

[CHUCK CHELIN]

Good afternoon, Erika,

I’ve made several SilNylon shelter tarps -- one of which had the added
complication of a poncho hood in its center – plus lots of little items
such as stuff sacks, rain chaps, etc.  I will second the comments about
SilNylon being thin, slick, and difficult to align and sew.

I especially suffer in this regard, not only because I have 10 thumbs, but
because my hands are chronically dry which exacerbates the slickness
problem.  Finger stick-um helps but I avoid using it near any seam that
needs to be sealed – which is almost all of them.  I think the solvent in
the sealant will dissolve and remove the stick-um but I’m not certain of
that so I avoid it.  I find that it is also useful to keep an adult
beverage close at hand to calm the nerves.

One thing that helped me greatly was I eventually lowered my expectations
of having perfectly straight and flat seams.  Once the item is complete and
all the seams have been double-dosed with sealer, no-one will even notice
or care about a few tiny tucks and wandering stitch lines somewhere.

A net-search for seam sealer will bring recommendations to make your own
sealer with cheap-o GE Silicone Sealer mixed with just enough petroleum
distillate to thin it to a spreadable consistency.  A little patience is
necessary, but it will mix and thin – eventually.  That’s what I’ve done,
and it has worked perfectly for all my tarps and rain gear.  It is
considerably less expensive than the ready-made sealer, and one can apply
several coats liberally.  I use petroleum distillate, i.e. “real” paint
thinner, because there’s a milky-white paint thinner product on the market
which contains little or no petroleum distillate.  That stuff won’t work to
make seam sealer.

Enjoy your planning and your trip,

Steel-Eye

-Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965

http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye

http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09/


On Tue, Dec 11, 2012 at 10:18 AM, E Fischer <fisch.lover.21 at gmail.com>wrote:

> Hey all,
>
> I'm an avid sewer as well as a poor graduate student and thus, am hoping to
> make my own tent.  I've read all the design options from
> http://www.backpacking.net/makegear.html and am leaning towards the 18oz
> Henry tarp tent.
>
> Before I dive into this project I wanted to see if anyone else has done
> this and if they have any words of wisdom both for the sewing process as
> well as for trail use.  Any advice is greatly appreciated!
>
> ~Erika
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