Homemade Tent

“I'm looking to save weight from my 5# carcamping tent. I realize I could buy a 2 person Kelty Dart (hope my wife will get in the spirit), but spending $150 to save 2 #'s seems like alot. Anyway I'm looking at a tarp/tyvek combo system. Any comments, warnings, advice?”

“Tarps can be great, you just have to take care for bugs, make sure you get some sort of net system. A Sil Tarp with Tyvek combo is good.

I prefer hammocks myself.”

“My experience with making my own gear showed me that it is not cheaper than buying something off the shelf. In my case the quality was not as good either.

If it makes you feel better I spent $300.00 to save a pound.”

“Is a Sil Tarp a brand or a material. I'm not familiar with it.”

“A Sil tarp is a tarp made by Integral Designs using silicone impregnated nylon. The term sil tarp has become a generic word for any tarp that uses the material silicone impregnated nylon. It's very light, but strong and more expensive than coated nylon.”

“You can also get a Equinox silicone impregnated nylon tarp at Backcountry Gear. They cost about half as much (on sale now), but they use grommets instead of pull outs, and they don't come seam sealed. You can also buy your own at $5.50 per yard and sew it yourself. The stuff is waterproof and only weighs 1.1oz per square yard.

Tvek is expensive, and hard to get in small sections. I think there are some lightweight sites that can get it for you.

Another option is just to get one of those cheep mylar survival blankets at Wal-Mart for a couple of bucks and it only weighs 2 or 3 ounces. It would make a light, and easy to replace ground cloth.”

“There are some tepee shaped tarp shelters that are lightweight, roomy, and cheap...but obviously no floor. Some tarp shelters use your trekking poles for support. On the first Llama-Rama, Nigal used a tarp (tepee shaped). I was surprised at how well it worked against wind, rain, and hail.

I personally like the fully enclosed, critter-proof/rain-proof tent.

When it comes to going ultralight, I figured once that it costs up to $50-$100 per pound to light up once you start getting below 30-35 lbs. (e.g. from synthetic to down, from fiberglass to aluminum poles, from nylon to Gore-tex, from stainless steel to titanium, from maglite to Petzl Ticca, etc.).”

“bacpac is right. you don't always save money by making it yourself.”

“I stay away from self made stuff because:

1) the qulity of the workmanship ain't that hot.

2) the only reason I would save money is based on unpaid labor.”

“I'm mainly just looking to experiment. My current pack weight for a 3 day trip is about 32#'s. I have been toying with the idea of a tarp setup, but Phil's middle paragraph pretty much sums up why I have been sitting on the fence. I will add that two years ago I built an 8" telescope of comparable quality to a purchased one. I didn't save a dime, but I enjoyed the building process. I guess I'm a tinkerer. Thanks for the info. I'll post the results. I've got a three day trip in the Smokies in 3 weeks. PS. I'm also taking one of SGT Rocks stoves. I've got buddies with stoves as a backup in case I butcher mine.”

“If after all this talk and you still want to try making you own tent/tarp, take a look Henry's Tarp/Tent page. A little too complicated for me but you may be up for it. Or you can go the route of using a $5.00 tube tent which I'm using for my JMT hike tomorrow. Hasta!

Henry Shires Tarp/Tent Directions”

“Thanks for the link Pants. I couldn't find a tube tent on campmor. Could you pass on a source? I think I will probably try to build the tarp tent. When I built my telescope it took about 6 weeks to collect materials and work out the bugs. I figure it'll take about the same for the tent. I'll either use the tube tent or trudge on with what I currently have for my Smokies trip and then look to the tarp for the future. Thanks. PS. I'm an engineer, I can't help but tinker.”

“Thanks for the $/# rule of thumb Phil. So far my best result has been to change out my garden hand trowel for a backpacking trowel. 1# savings for $2.00. I'm also dropping 5#'s for about $40 on a sleeping bag. My old bag weighed about 7.5#'s. I'm slowing making the change from car camper and dayhiker to a BACKPACKER.”

“OK I'm an idiot. I found the tube tent. Also, I previously meant that I'm SLOWLY making the change.”

“If you go floorless, be careful where you camp. I set up under a pine canopy and woke up with slug trails all over everything. YUCK!”

“Yuck, ya big ole slug you!”

“A friend works in construction, and brought me a piece of tyvek. The tyvek (cut to fit the Warmlite)weighs 7 oz. Love it!”

“You may be able to scrounge some if you stop by a construction site and ask. A tent sized peice would be scrap to them.”