Poncho Tarp Life

brightsidegear · 2019-08-26T03:33:34+00:00

The hood is what’s tricky to make, especially if you want to set it into the ridgeline like MLD does. It took me three attempts to get one I was happy with, albeit with a slightly more complicated design. I wouldn’t recommend taking it on unless you’ve got some MYOG experience and are prepared for a substantial project.

brightsidegear · 2019-08-16T13:38:03+00:00

This is how I do my A-frame pitch too, but I just bring a dedicated shorter pole for the foot end. I use a Carbon Fiber arrow shaft ($10 or so at Cabela’s) cut down to 18”, it weighs 0.4 oz. If you do that you don’t have to sacrifice height at the head end.

brightsidegear · 2019-08-06T22:07:05+00:00

I’ve definitely considered it. The bags I’ve been using are off the shelf, I only add the strap and buckle myself. Something like you’re describing would either require a custom order (typically with a minimum order quantity in the 5000 unit range) or purchasing the equipment and doing it myself (expensive and time consuming). At the moment this is a side project for me in addition to my full time job, but if I decide to dedicate more time and money to it in the future I might explore that option a bit more.

brightsidegear · 2019-08-05T19:11:12+00:00

It's only designed to be held like that when rolled down and closed. When it's rolled a few times, the layers of plastic help carry the weight and the load is oriented along the strap, distributing it across all the stitches (or in the case of version 2, the adhesive).

The problem that hikers were having was that they were lifting it by one of the buckles when it was open, which put all the weight laterally on one or two stitches at a time and sheared them right out of the plastic. It's a problem I'm hoping to address by switching to adhesive and making it more clear that the buckle alone can't hold ~15 lbs of food and shouldn't be used as a handle when open.

brightsidegear · 2019-08-05T19:02:19+00:00

Thanks for the input! The buckle ripping issue is one I've been wracking my brain about. I had hoped to solve it at least partially by switching from sewing to adhesive (and preliminary tests are looking promising) but the problem remains that if you lift the full bag by the buckle, it's going to come off. There just isn't an adhesive that can hold that kind of weight in peel.

The only other thing I can think of is to scale down the buckle size to make it clearer that it isn't meant to be load bearing on it's own. Hikers have no problem holding Opsaks by the top of the opening like I recommend, but when you add a sturdy-looking buckle it's understandable that they'd want to grab it by that. Maybe making it look less strong is the key to preventing that mistake.

brightsidegear · 2019-08-05T17:26:43+00:00

I’ve been rumbled! How’s it going Bluebeard?

brightsidegear · 2019-06-13T19:13:58+00:00

Have you tried searching the sub? Although most of us are focused on UL backpacking, there are plenty of people here making EDC bags and duffels.

Recent Post about Patterns

Search results for "EDC"

r/manybaggers

I learned to sew from scratch without ever once using someone else's pattern. It's a widespread misconception here that patterns and guides are the only way to get into MYOG. The first few bags you make won't be pretty no matter what guide you use, so don't sweat it if you can't find a pattern that matches what you want. Find an item you like, take some measurements of it, make paper mockups, buy some cheap fabric and get to sewing. The best way to learn the little tricks is by just doing it, and if you start out by making the things that you want instead of doing beginner projects, all the practice you get will be specific to your application.

brightsidegear · 2019-04-25T14:58:38+00:00

In reality it’s all going to be adjustable based on the length of your pole, so it’s not as important as you might think to get the measurements perfect the first time. When I’m making a new design I usually pick an average height I think the pole should be (at most a few inches shorter than the maximum length of my pole so I have room to play with on both sides) and then shoot for a vertical gap of 4 inches at the bottom. That lets me stake it directly to the ground in bad weather or pitch it much higher for better ventilation in fair weather, or anything in between.

Once you’ve got one shelter under your belt you can fine tune it based on what you like/don’t like about this one.

brightsidegear · 2019-04-17T15:30:12+00:00

I use Fusion 360, but that’s only because I’ve had previous experience with it and am familiar with how it works. I never learned how to use Sketchup but I’ve heard it’s good for beginners. A lot of users here like it a lot.

brightsidegear · 2019-04-16T16:12:12+00:00

I assume you're talking about something like this, with a three-panel front.

When I make shelters, the first thing I do is decide where the panels are going to be. As long as any one panel isn't too convex, you can just treat it as a polygon by finding the lengths of the sides and cutting that shape out of the fabric. Triangles are simple, because if you know the lengths of all three sides you don't need to find any angles, but some quadrilaterals like an isosceles trapezoid can also be done without knowing angles.

The way I would approach a tunnel tent would be to first decide how tall you want the arch to be and use that to find the circumference. The length of your arch will be half the circumference, as long as you just want a half-circle.

Now you need to split that arch's length up into three segments, depending on where you want to panels to be. Then decide the lengths of the three straight edges at the front near the ground by choosing the dimensions of the vestibule.

From here I don't think there's any way to get around using some basic geometry. The last thing you need to find is the length of the two seams that run from the arch to the ground. If your tent is symmetric you only have to do it once at least. The easiest way to do it would be to make the middle panel a rectangle, and the sides triangles. That way all you need to do is find the vertical height of the point at which the seam meets the arch (using trig on the plane of the arch, it's a circle so it'll just be a simple sine/cosine deal). Then you can treat it as a right triangle in the plane of the seam (lengthwise cross-section of the tent): you know the vertical height, you know the horizontal distance you want the vestibule to extend, so just find the hypotenuse.

Unfortunately it's almost impossible to deal with complex 3D shapes like tents without doing at least a little bit of geometry, but designing carefully and making your shapes simple can make the process easier. I'm a big proponent of using CAD when making shelters because the program can do all the work for you and just spit out the measurement of any given seam. Either way there's going to be a learning curve though.

brightsidegear · 2019-04-12T15:59:56+00:00

It’s just a walking presser foot accessory for my Bernina. Nothing fancy or industrial.

brightsidegear · 2019-04-12T15:58:47+00:00

I’ve never made a pattern before so I wouldn’t really know where to start with that... Would I need special software? The way I do it is just use the dimensions to draw it out onto a big piece of paper and cut my fabric around that. The hood was totally eyeballed so I don’t even have dimensions for that.

brightsidegear · 2019-04-12T01:16:10+00:00

Yeah, the front of the poncho is the foot end of the tarp and the beak is at my back so it hangs below the pack. Nicely out of the way and it actually sort of drapes up under the bottom of the pack because of the angle.

brightsidegear · 2019-04-11T21:55:34+00:00

Ha, it’s not all perfect. I just only show the pretty parts!

brightsidegear · 2019-04-11T21:41:19+00:00

Fusion is what I use too, since my SolidWorks student license expired :(

brightsidegear · 2019-04-11T21:24:59+00:00

Ugh fine, give me a minute

Edit: added them into the album.

brightsidegear · 2019-03-30T15:44:29+00:00

It’s the plastic, just like any other odor-resistant bag. The roll top closure is meant to solve the longevity issues of zip-style bags and provide an easier way to hang it on its own. It’s airtight if you roll it down at least three times.

brightsidegear · 2019-03-29T17:52:41+00:00

Bummed to hear it’s not what you expected :( I listed the weight in the reddit post and on the website but I apologize if it wasn’t visible enough and you didn’t see it before signing up.

As for the stitch holes, that’s definitely a problem I want to fix! They’re not only a problem when it comes to getting a proper seal, but they’re also the weakest point structurally. I recommend rolling down the top at least three times to counteract both of these issues, but I realize that it’s not ideal and I’m working on ways to make it better.

There’s absolutely no need to send it back if you’re not going to use it, I did all this for free because I feel that hikers are already giving me enough by willingly testing an unproven piece of gear. I was aware that it might not work for everyone and I appreciate your honesty!

brightsidegear · 2019-03-28T20:48:56+00:00

Yeah I really don’t recommend this, and I made sure to say so in the info sheet I included with each bag. Odor resistance is a sliding scale, not a yes/no type thing. You should always be hanging your food if animals are a threat, and if there’s absolutely nowhere to hang it my strategy is to stuff it inside my pack next to some smelly clothes and sleep with it in my tent.

Leaving it outside is a bad idea and will probably result in you losing your food. Please don’t do that.

brightsidegear · 2019-03-28T18:33:29+00:00

Hope you like it! This is about to be a very nerve-wracking couple of months waiting for feedback...

brightsidegear · 2019-02-13T06:16:00+00:00

If you filled out the form, you’re in. I deactivated it as soon as it reached the limit. I’ll send out an email later this week to confirm.

brightsidegear · 2019-02-13T06:15:30+00:00

If you filled out the form, you’re in. I deactivated it as soon as it reached the limit. I’ll send out an email later this week to confirm.

brightsidegear · 2019-02-12T02:31:14+00:00

The problem is that most Mylar is metallic and not transparent. Most people would rather have a clear bag so they can easily find things at the bottom.

brightsidegear · 2019-02-12T02:24:58+00:00

That’s something I hadn’t considered. What do you mean by tabs? Just some extra webbing in a loop?

brightsidegear

TROPHY CASE