I had a 12' x 5' piece of 1.35 oz per yard white silnyon and made this 1/2 pyramid with beak tarp. The tarp has 2" catenary cuts on diagonal seams and is tight as a drum.

Tarp ground coverage is 33" at each end, 57" wide at the center, and is a 108" long. The tarp weighs 9.7 oz with stuffsack and lines, 3.2 oz for 6 stakes with stuffsack, and 4.7 oz for 52" long .433 easton pole (I am going bicycle touring and will not have hiking poles).

The bug hut weighs 12.0 oz with stuffsack and lines and is 32" wide by 96" long x 44" high. I am 6'2" tall and this bug hut has room to spare. Since the head and foot end of the tarp are close to the edges and let in some spray during heavy rain, I put 10" of silnylon at ground level across the front and 5" along the sides and back for a bathtub floor. I used a 12' x 52" piece of no see um to make the bug hut and 9' x 5' of black silnylon for the bug hut bath tub floor and sides.

With all stakes, poles, etc these two together weigh right at 2 lbs. And I can leave the bug hut at home in the shoulder seasons/winter and bring my 8 oz bivy instead.







All comments welcome.

Edited by tpkanu on 08/29/2012 12:28:51 MDT.

I love the tightness of your tent. Looks like a piece of art.

Nice! i really dig the white sil. and good job on the cat cuts, i find it really hard to get a seam without puckers, but you nailed it!

where are you going bike touring?

Adie

Excellent job! Do you take orders? I wish I had those skills..

I want to thank Jerry Adams for his inspiration for this tarp.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=60461

I will be bicycle touring in Northwestern NC.

By the way, the bug hut was much more complicated to figure out, cut out, and sew.

Happy Trails

How did you do the reinforcement at the apex? That was always tough for me to figure out.

Open the link I recommended above and if you read down the thread you will see that problem discussed.

I cut a circle of sturdy fabric and used gathers (folds) to pull it together. There are no cuts in the fabric, but lots of holes from the gathers that need seam sealing. Looking up from underneath, it is not pretty, but it works well.

Best of luck,

Happy Trails

That looks great! Nice job!

Nice how the beak is short so you don't need a zipper - but if it's windy and rainy a little rain can blow in - but it makes it lighter and zippers can fail - this is sort lof like a Trailstar only lighter.

The 0.433 x 52 inch pole might be too light. That's what I have and when it's windy it flexes a little. I'm still deciding whether 0.625 inch is better.