When I looked into going light, I saw that I would benefit most from a different tent. I had been using a conventional tent that weighed in at around five and a half pounds -- not a back-breaker, but I thought I could save a pound or two with a new tent. After looking at a number of different designs, I was drawn to the Six Moon Designs' Lunar Duo and the Nemo Meta 2P because of their simplicity and aesthetic appeal. Those two tents also met my only "must haves": (1) they fit two people and (2) they were fully enclosed tents. I backpack with my fiancee so any tarp shenanigans are out of the question.
During that time, I had also been poking around BackpackingLight.com's "do it yourself" forum. After some research and consideration, I figured making my own tent would be a doable project.
The first step was to draw up the design. I used Google's SketchUp and it was perfectly fine for my purpose. Here's what I came up with:
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Next, I went off to Ebay and snagged most the important materials: silnylon and no-see-um mesh. Here's the breakdown of materials and components:
Once completed, the seams need to be sealed using a silicone-based sealant. My personal preference is to use Permatex Flowable Silicone, which can be purchased at any auto-supply store. It's primarily used to seal windshield wipers, but it works great for tents because it's just the right consistency -- you don't need to dilute it with water or anything. I also use it to fix pinprick holes.
After a number of seasons on the trail, I'm very happy with the tent and my design. At 38 oz, it's reasonably light. The tent is also very spacious -- plenty of room for two and maybe three if in a pinch. The double entries and vestibules are great for accessing your items and leaving the tent without disturbing your partner. Here are a couple pictures of it on the trail:
During that time, I had also been poking around BackpackingLight.com's "do it yourself" forum. After some research and consideration, I figured making my own tent would be a doable project.
The first step was to draw up the design. I used Google's SketchUp and it was perfectly fine for my purpose. Here's what I came up with:
.jpg)
- 10 yards of 1.1 oz silnyon - $55.00 + $5.50 shipping
- 10 yards of no-see-um/mosquito tent netting - $17.95 + $5.00 shipping
- 2 x 6 feet sleeping bag zippers - $10
- Permatex Flowable Silicone Windshield Seal (to seal the seams on the tents and fix minor nicks) - $4.99
- Webbing/rope - free scraps.
Construction was fairly straight forward. As you cans see from my drawings, I chose not to incorporate catenary curves in the design, which made it a lot easier to sew. The most important thing about sewing is to make sure the pieces of fabric are folded over before being sewn together for additional strength, like so:
Another thing to remember is to reinforce all loading points, as shown below (thanks to Henry Shires):
Once completed, the seams need to be sealed using a silicone-based sealant. My personal preference is to use Permatex Flowable Silicone, which can be purchased at any auto-supply store. It's primarily used to seal windshield wipers, but it works great for tents because it's just the right consistency -- you don't need to dilute it with water or anything. I also use it to fix pinprick holes.
After a number of seasons on the trail, I'm very happy with the tent and my design. At 38 oz, it's reasonably light. The tent is also very spacious -- plenty of room for two and maybe three if in a pinch. The double entries and vestibules are great for accessing your items and leaving the tent without disturbing your partner. Here are a couple pictures of it on the trail:
Please feel free to ask me any questions if you'd like detail on any part of this project.
Posts
Great tent? Thanks for sharing the design and pattern, it's exactly what I'm looking for. Just a couple questions: how is the ventilation, being a single wall tent, in hot humid or rainy conditions? What about condensation? Have you had any problems?
ReplyDeleteHi Becky,
DeleteThanks for your question.
Regarding ventilation, I would say that it is acceptable. Of course, it will not vent as well as a double wall tent without a fly, but I think it is comparable to a double wall tent with a fly on. The tent's clearance was designed at 6 inches from, but in actuality, you can raise it by lengthening the support poles. This allows more air to flow through the bottom. In hot/humid conditions without rain, you can stake out the vestibules to leave them open. We recently did this in July in Hawaii (hot and very humid) and it wasn't too bad, although it did retain some heat.
In terms of condensation, that's never been a problem because of the bottom venting, but also because the tent is very roomy. It would take a lot for 2 people to create enough moisture for condensation to be a problem. We've used it in rainstorms, although nothing too heavy, and the tent held up fine. Let me know if you have any more questions. Thanks.
this is exactly what i have wanted to make. Wondering if tyvek would be a cheaper way to go instead of silnylon?
ReplyDeleteAlso, in heavy rain do you close the vestibules? if so, how do they close?
soooo excited you too the time to share this. I am looking into getting materials soon. I like tyvek alot but not sure which is better.
Hi Beth,
ReplyDeleteI've never worked with Tyvek, but I think it would work. From what I've read, the Tyvek fabric is better to work with than Tyvek paper/housewrap. I'm not sure if Tyvek fabric is any cheaper than silnylon, though. If you use Tyvek paper/house wrap, I've heard that you can wash it a few times to make it more supple to work with, but again, no direct experience.
We keep the vestibule closed most of the time unless it's really hot and we need the extra ventilation. There's a zipper that runs down the middle of the vestibule that connects the two sides. You can see it as a white stripe in the first picture of the tent. Let me know if you have any more questions!
Hi J.P. L
ReplyDeleteI looks really great, I'm wondering, what did you do with the bathtub floor, from the drawings it looks like its 5'6" wide, did you find such a wide piece of silnylon, or did you sew two pieces together lengthwise or across? did you keep the groundsheet in one piece and sew on the bathtup-floor-flaps (the vertical piece of the groundfloor).
I look forward to hear how you handled this, as its my biggest issue in my upcomming tent.
Hi Frode,
DeleteThe floor is actually 4'6' x 7'6", with 2" high walls, so the width needed is ~4'10". The width of the silnylon was 5'6".
I was able to keep the groundsheet as one piece and had to sew the wall corners vertically, so it's not a true "bathtub" floor but I haven't had issues once the seams were sealed.
Let me know if you have any other questions. Thanks!
Hi JPL.
DeleteI see, I didn't see the last image with the floor. Are you having trouble with wind and rain between the low floor and the wings of the tarp?
Best regards Frode
Hi Frode,
DeleteSorry, I was wrong: the floor height is actually 4", which is more reasonable. 4" still allows for the floor to be cut on a 5'6" roll of silnylon with room for error.
With regard to problems with the wind/rain, my experience is that you can adjust the height of the outer fly to accommodate conditions. If it's dry, I like to have leave a gap for ventilation. If it's raining, I can lower the trekking poles to prevent water from coming in -- but that's never been a problem.
Please let me know if you have more questions. Thanks!
Hi JPL.
DeleteThankyou for your reply. It sounds very resonable to lower the outer tarp if its raining, I didn't think of that. Glad to hear it never has been a problem, I'm not able to get such a wide piece of fabric, the with of my fabric is only 4'9", so I'll have to settle on a smaller tent, or a very low bathtub.. But, I'm less worried after talking to you, thank you for your help :-)
best regards.
Are you able to provide the sketchup file to download? I'd love to try and build this myself but would like to go a little less wide so only 1.5 person tent.
ReplyDeleteEvery week-end I used to pay a fast visit this site, because I’d like enjoyment, because this web site conations certainly fussy material. http://www.ultralighttent.info/
ReplyDelete