> You didn't have as much issue with tieouts made with just 8959 or did you not try that?

Hi Mike,

I used the 2120 (transparent duct) tape for the tie-outs on the tent I took to Philmont. I used 8959 tape on the ridgeline since the main tensile force runs through the ridgeline.

I tried to download Al Geist chair-e-it sling light backpack instructions from the website and it looks like his space has been removed from http://www.csm.ornl.gov/~geist/Philmont/Chair-e-it.pdf
Does anyone know where I might be able to find the chair-e-it construction information?

thanks!

Turn on your PMs or send me one and I'll see if I can help you out

Hi Scott,

The web site is down for a few days for maintenance.
The overview article Chair-e-it.pdf, pictures,
and the three documents describing the construction
will be back up soon. If you need the articles
before then, just let me know. I'm happy to shoot you
a copy of them.

Al

Thanks for getting back to me Al and Kristopher.

Al, I would like to get a copy of the documents from you if you don't mind, I'm going to Philmont this summer and would love to try to build this backpack as soon as possible so I can start using it on our training hikes. I already have a sling light chair and love it. I've updated my PM on my profile so you should be able to use that. Please let me know if you need more info from me thanks!!!

Scott

I made a wire stake out of throttle cable wire .0625" (1/16") diameter and 7" long to try out. After repeated attempts I was only able to push the wire into the ground about 4" before it wants to bend. We have some tough ground here since it's been pretty dry lately. Am I missing something or are these stakes going to be too flimsy to work? I do have a source for 100 feet of .070" throttle cable wire but I need to prove to myself that this will work before buying it and making stakes for the entire crew.

Donald,
The material I made mine from was clearly different than George's based on the weight, but mine are close to 1/16" and 8" long from some unknown wire that came with our house. IMHO, they are OK for secondary guyouts. I would not use them for primary ones unless conditions were calm. For an A frame that would be just the 2 ridgeline stakes and maybe the corners unless you put these every foot along the edge like George did. I went with a half-pyramid pitch.

Even pushed in to the max, the hook can still deform with strong gusts. I've not had issues with hard ground (I assume you ground or filed a blunt point of some sort). Rocks and roots will obviously stop it. I usually try a slightly different angle then. I've always been able to get past whatever was there. Sometimes that requires grabbing it near the ground also to help keep from bending and jabbing it in and out a few times to break around the object. I've not tried frozen ground.

FWIW, I prefer a decent aluminum Y stake. I only use these homemade wire stakes for the 4 secondary tieouts but I've rarely used them. You can make several of these for the cost of a Y, but if you're often going to be going into really hard (or really soft) ground, I'd go a different route.

As an aside for those now finding this thread, you can see what I've done with Prototype 2.

Edited by topshot on 04/20/2012 08:25:45 MDT.

Hi Don,

The wire stakes worked fine in the ground at Philmont. When the wire goes in a certain depth and stops, try rotating the stake back and forth while pushing down. This will often allow the stake to bend around objects underground much like oil drillers can adjust well directions underground.

It is important to sink wire stakes to the head. You don't want 2" sticking up out of the ground with the guy tied to the loop at the top. Last month a couple scouts borrowed my MYOG Philmont tent and set it up on top of Mount Rogers with 25-30 MPH gusts for most of the night. I was worried about the wire stakes holding, but amazingly the stakes held fine. They sank all of them to the head and used all the stake loops available on my tent.

Wire stakes will not work everywhere. I found they can't be pushed into packed gravel pads that are found in RV campgrounds.

Al