This tarp is incredibly roomy, comfortable in a storm, and dry. I’m really impressed with the silpoly material –> Membrane Silpoly PU3400. It weighs ~1.07oz/yard and is surprisingly durable (used as a floor for my bivy without a polycryo ground sheet) and waterproof.
The material doesn’t stretch very much when wet which is to its advantage over silnylon.
This tarp is “heavy” for me at this point but when it’s an absolute shitstorm outside, frankly this is my first pick.
The modular storm doors at the front of the tarp make it easy to enter and exit. I normally pitch one and leave one draped down.
It has a multitude of tie out points for optimal wind and wet breakage. I think this tarp could handle light snow but would be dangerous in heavy snow (any tarp that isn’t pitched fairly high would be suspect, though).
I spent a long time making this tarp in comparison to my cuben tarp, tbh. It was all designed from scratch.
In the future I would pitch the front/head tie out OUT to a pole and have the storm doors wrap around the storm doors in the front. This would create even more room in the front/head of the tarp, instead of being blocked by a necessary trekking pole (as opposed to a stick I find), which enables me to reduce the length the tarp, saving weight. This design is less susceptible to wind, though.
Overall, I wouldn’t make this exact tarp again but would model it when making a DCF version.
I absolutely love A-frames for their weather resistance but find they can be somewhat annoying to get in and out of. My 0.54oz DCF cat cut tarp is so light (3.8oz) that I find the trade off worth it. But I do really enjoy the entry and sitting up features of pyramid tarps. They are simply worse in wet storms (better in snow storms) and often a bit heavier. They also really don’t work well with a bivy. I’ll probably shoot to make a 6oz DCF pyramid tarp in the near future and have the front have both a beak and storm doors.
How has the Silpoly PU held up – particularly in wind? I’m building something similar and dithering between the Silpoly (low stretch) and the new RSBTR MTN 6.6 silnylon (much stronger). I camp in exposed places and am not totally convinced that the 20d silpoly will be strong enough.
It’s been super strong! I’d say be careful with pitching it too tight on a windy day or if you know it’ll be windy, use a cordage that can stretch ever so slightly to help reduce the chance of the silpoly ripping.
Hi Denny
Only just getting around to the build. Can you remember the colour you used? I like it, but I can’t match it with anything on their current range…
This fabric is gone from RSBTR unfortunately. It’s the olive drab
Hey denny,
I just laid hand on some olive drab 0.75 dcf. Half the price! I am going to make exact (more or less) the model you showed. What are the measurements you used? Lenghts of the ridgeline? The height of front and back. How long is the silpoly from side to top at front and back. I see you used a catenary cut at the ridgeline. What’s the offset you used?
The lenght of the piece I bought is 416cm. Just a little too little. But! I want my pack to get lighter so keep it simple fool!
Binne
I used a 2 inch offset but you can also use this guide here: https://dutchwaregear.com/2017/07/21/diyers-guide-to-cat-cuts/