Sil-nylon fabric

[JoshK]

Does anyone know where I could go about getting sil-nylon fabric in large sheets?

[lummox]

call a sail maker and ask them?

[rbw1966]

I think seattle fabrics has some. If not, give feathered friends a call and see if they will sell you some.

[JoshK]

I called seattle fabrics and they sell the 1.3oz for $11.50 a yard. I found the 1.1oz online for only $5.25 so that seems like the way to go.

[schnitzem]

Thru-hiker.com is awesome and has all sorts of raw material including down...titanium....and silnylon. What I still can't get my hands on is the new eVent Fabric that all the new single-wall tents will start to your. Check the site link below for the fabrics:

 

http://www.thru-hiker.com/materialsStore.asp?subcat=16-bottom&iLevel=2&txtCatName=2

[JoshK]

Yup! Thru-hiker is where I found it cheap. Great store! Now I am trying to think of something I can make out of titanium

[rbw1966]

thong?

[JoshK]

A titanium thong? Hmm...not so sure about that. Maybe I should make my GF a silnylon thong? haha

[foraker]

Has anyone here made there own single walled tent? just curious. the wife is pretty good with sewing, as is mom.

[fenderfour]

Yup! Thru-hiker is where I found it cheap. Great store! Now I am trying to think of something I can make out of titanium

 

My vote is for some new ti crampons.

 

One note - Ti is a severe bitch to cut. We played with it a bit a few years ago, trying to make an RC car chassis. We had to apply a lot of pressure on the bandsaw and wait fo rthe heat to cut the metal. IT chewed through bandsaw blades very quickly.

[marylou]

Josh, let us know how you fare with sewing the sil. I haven't tried it yet, hear it's very hard to work with due to how slippry it is.

[JoshK]

I ordered the fabric so hopefully it will be here in a few days. My project is to create a silnylon version of the megamid floor. I can't justify hauling the heaving floor when I got the lightweight canopy, so I'll try my luck on creating my own. Well, actually, my mom will probably do the sewing, but I'll help cut, etc.

 

I'll post some pics and a writeup assuming all goes well. I'm hoping it won't be a terribly hard project because it's all big right angle cuts...nothing much precision.

[foraker]

looking forward to it

[marylou]

Oh, dude, silnylon is so not what you want to make a floor out of. You ever sleep on a silnylon floor? It's slicker than cat snot on a wet silk scarf! If you are on ground that is even *slightly* tilted, you're sliding that way.

 

Send the sil back, and then I can put you in touch with a guy who has a roll of Tyvek House Wrap he's selling for a buck a linear foot. The roll is 9' wide, so with shipping we're probably talking 12 bucks for your new floor. No sewing, less slippery, wonderfully low-tech.

[ketch]

I havn't tried the Sil-nylon but I would expect the slippery to be a hassel. It may work if you have one of them tricky pads with the nonskid on the bottom, I don't. I must second the tyvek idea. I have the uber tech footprint, tyvek with duct tape gussets for the corners. Works great and considering I dirt bagged the scrap from a construction site for a gimme it's the best footprint I've tried.

Edited May 28, 2004 by ketch

[marylou]

It is MAJOR slippery. Thing is even if your pad were to not slip too bad on the sil, the sil's slick on both sides. It is so not a good floor fabric.

 

Ketch, why did you put duct tape on the corners of your Tyvek?? Did you then grommet? I think that would work for grommets, but otherwise it seems like extra you-know-what....

[rbw1966]

My bivvy has a silnylon floor and works fine.

[cracked]

It can't. Allison says so.

[cj001f]

My bivvy has a silnylon floor and works fine.

My Winter Bivy isn't as bad as my Betalight. Nothing with stay on that thing. Except dust, which never wants to leave.

[marylou]

Cracked, why not try and contribute something to the conversation!

[JoshK]

I think the super lightweight and waterproofness of the silnylon make up for the sliperyness. What about adding "dots" of the silicone sealent (quite sticky) to the floor every 12" or something? That might be enough so you could at least keep pads from slipping all over the floor.

[marylou]

That might work. I have a sil tent I have considered doing that to. Not sure if it will work, and of course it adds weight.

 

If you do that, and it works, let us know.

[JoshK]

it's true it adds weight, but I figurd even if I shot the entire load (hehehe) of the seam sealer on the inside of the tent it would only add 1.5oz.

[James]

i'd like to buy a few yards of this stuff to use as a tarp. however, i prefer to keep the sewing to a minimum, so what about using gromets along the perimiter instead of sewn loops?

[marylou]

You will need to do a bit of reinforcing to put grommets in. Plus in order to do it right, you're going to need to get your hands on a grommet kit.

 

With the hassle factor of dealing with the sil fabric and reinforcing the corners for the tie-off points, buying one might not be a bad option. They do get the used ones in at 2nd Ascent from time to time, and always have the new ID ones there.