I haven't built a shelter in a while, so I decided to crank on out this morning before I started filling orders.. I started at 4am and finished by sunrise. I have always wanted a 3 sided tarp made out of silnylon but didn't have any on hand, so I made the shelter from some CT2K.08 that I have hanging around. Well the shelter weighs 8oz, the footprint measures 10' long x 6' wide and in the photos the front is pitched 48" high and the back is 36" high. I look forward to peoples thoughts..







Two 20"x72" pads showing how much room there is for two people : )

Edited by Mountainfitter on 03/01/2012 11:49:00 MST.

Looks like a neat shelter idea. How does having that second pole inside the shelter work in terms of sleeping space? Would you have to lay around it or to one side?

Cheers,

Rob

Wow. That's some serious coverage for 8oz! Really nice design, it's easy to mess the dimensions and design and end up with really saggy spots in this sort of shelter.

I think it looks awesome. I've pitched my 8x10 rectangular tarp in a similar configuration-


Using a ridge line eliminates the rear pole, but at the expense of being more difficult to pitch. And obviously, a shaped tarp specifically designed for that sort of pitch is going to set up a lot more cleanly. And it was pretty breezy when I took those photos, and with the foot end pitched into the wind it was very stable. Much better than a half pyramid pitch.

Is that a cuben material? Not familiar with the nomenclature.

BM

Diggin' it, Lawson.

The tarp is the size of a 10' long x 10' wide flat tarp so its HUGE.. As you can see, I tapered the shelter so it drops down in the back. The panel is 60" wide in the front and 50" wide in the rear where the panels meet. The bottom of the back panel is 72" wide which is the common footprint width of a 10' wide tarp after pitched.. Basically this is shaped tarp that can shed wind really good from 3 directions.. I think the design would be much better in Silnylon where you could stretch the panels drum tight. With that said, a silnylon version would be less then 16oz. In my opinion thats ALOT of coverage for the weight..

Edited by Mountainfitter on 03/01/2012 12:00:25 MST.

The additional pics with the pads in place really shows off the amount of room in there. That's incredible for only 8oz- my tarp is closer to 1lb with guy lines.

And What is also just as incredible is being able to knock it out in what, 3hrs? that's crazy...

BM

Yep. Just under 3 hours. I could of finished it faster but I had to make the panels 60" wide since cuben is 54" wide. So rather then have 3 ridgelines, I bonded six 60"x54" panels together which really slowed me down.. As far as the design goes, I did it as I went. There were no drawings, just a 6' straight edge, a 10' tent pole and a few clamps for the cat curves, a razor knife to cut the design, and calculator to make sure everything ended up right..

Here is a photo of the all the bonded lap seams. As you can see there are ALOT..

Edited by Mountainfitter on 03/01/2012 12:22:45 MST.

Its on the order of an MSR Twing, but at a fraction of the weight. (Twing is about 2 pounds) I really like it!

Have you thought about making a removable beak, like on the HMG Echo shelters?

Nice design Lawson. Any advantage to the slopped back wall instead of something more like the way MLD handles the back on the patrol shelter?...it's a straight triangle basically. Perhaps might limit any wasted space attributed to the angle...although at the cost of additional wind resistance from the back.

Haha its funny that you say the Twing because that's kind of what I was thinking as I was building it, but I was going for more tarp.. If I had some 63" wide silnylon I would of made more dramatic looking cat curves in the front, to really make the design "POP". As far as a flat back like a patrol shelter goes. In my opinion it looks better on paper since it doesn't help for wind resistance. I realize this means you have two poles slap dab in the middle of your shelter, but that's why I made it 6' wide.

Interesting shelter and fast construction time. It looks considerably similar to an MLD Trailstar except for the larger porch/entry. I find myself drawn to this closed end tarp design than a traditional a-frame. Keep up the innovation!

The other thing about the sloped rear is that it shortens the ridgeline, keeping the unsupported panel size smaller for a stronger structure in the wind.

I was actually thinking of going with an extra point in the rear to make the size more versatile since the back has a pretty static size of 72" wide. I just didn't want people to think, that I stole the design of the trailstar. Maybe version 1.1 will have that feature : )

Ok I decided I am going to sell it and make another version. I want $275 for it since it used so much cuben fiber.. If anyone wants it, post SOLD..

Thanks,
Lawson