What gear have you made?

[Orion]

Hi Orion, nice work, I'm thinking of embarking on my own slippery slope of making an inner for a new tent and wonder where you got your materials?

Funny to see this come up! I just got that tent out of the closet for a quick overnight ski trip.

I bought the silnylon for the fly and floor from Outdoor Wilderness Fabrics. I bought zippers and pulls there as well. The heavier duty (70d) silnylon I used for pole and strut guides I bought from Bearpaw Wilderness Designs. I got the parts for the poles and linelocs there as well. The carbon fiber struts I got from hobbylinc.com. I should add that I'm in California and I'm not sure how easy it is to arrange shipping to Australia.

Is that painters drop sheet that you used for your mock-up?

Yes it is.

I'm thinking of using 70D for the floor, or heavier as I don't want to use an extra ground sheet, and maybe a 1oz silnylon or similar for the walls combined with some mozzie netting to provide some ventilation (no idea what types there are yet), YKK zips? (love to know what size people use or recommend) and some good quality thread, I've seen gutermann being used is there one thats ideal for tent making?

I suppose it depends on where you like to set up your tent. I used the standard silnylon for the floor figuring I could always repair it. For zippers I used #3 YKK. They are not the most durable but zippers are a heavy item in a tent. If you don't care about weight and want durability (replacing zippers isn't the most fun way to spend your time) go with #5 zippers or even #7 if you want burly zippers.

My wife has a sewing maching but I haven't done any since year 8 at school... am I biting off more than I can chew?

Nah, don't worry. It's not a big deal. And you'll learn quickly how to pull errant stitches. My girlfrind showed me how to use her sewing machine and off I went. She laughs at all the puckers in the fabric when I sew.

Good luck!

[phan_TOM]

Thanks Orion, theres another supplier (OWF) that seems to have a decent selection of stuff - too much maybe - for the DIYer as well as lots of handy info like the patterns and customer projects. I think the shipping costs from the states will be my main concern but I can't seem to find the variety of gear I need from a local supplier but I was sort of expecting that.

I've started putting together a list of 'possibles' now and I think I'll probably end up going for the #5 YKK as I'm only going to have one zip, well, at this stage anyway, once I've sewn in the first one its likely I'll never want to do it again haha

I just have to wait for the tent fly to arrive now...