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Grandma L
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First of all Welcome, Dave! Where you from? I have been around this site for some years and live in Minneapolis western suburbs. I sew a lot and do some canoe Challenge Coordinating. Glad to have you with us!
Gross Grain around the edges might be nice but not necessary. It might also pull and not be a good flat edge. The nylon tends to need a close watch on the tension of the upper sewing machine thread - it wants to pucker and tries to gather a little if you are not careful. I would do a fold over edge - I/2 half inch and a second fold of 1/2 inch and top stitch. Tie outs - doubled Gross grain or light weight nylon strapping. I do reinforced corners too. fabric triangles on the corners top stitched with corner loops.
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schweady
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Local34North: "...I actually have the privilege of living about 10 houses down from Dan Cooke of CCS fame..."
Oh, man... I don't think I could afford to live there. :-)
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Local34North
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Thanks for the continued info. I decided against the grosgrain around the edges. I ended up using some thicker/stronger silnylon that I had left over from other projects as my tieout reinforcement. I will be using 1" thick nylon strapping (leftover treestrap material) for my tieouts. Seeing as I don't have the tool to add grommets to the tieouts, I won't be adding those. Is this a mistake? Are they needed? Thanks.
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goaljohnbill
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Local34North: 1 thick nylon strapping (leftover treestrap material) for my tieouts. Seeing as I don't have the tool to add grommets to the tieouts, I won't be adding those. Is this a mistake? Are they needed? Thanks. "
If I had it to do over again i would most likely skip the grommets. When I made the tarp I was using expandable poles for the ends and that was the original use case for the grommets (pole points in grommets). I think i read adding them in some random DIY blog. If it didnt have grommets now I would likely throw fixed loops in the ridgeline to hold the poles in place. I dont use the grommets very often anymore either since longer ridgelines and better knot skills have really opened up how I hang the tarp. Finally the way my grommet kit works it can leave sharp edges that could puncture the tarp. I covered pointy spots on the grommets with sealant and try to have both end grommets sticking out of the ridgeline sack after I pack it just to be safe.
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Jaywalker
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I’ve made two 1.1 oz silnylon tarps. On my first, which is just 7x7, I did not use any grosgrain anywhere except for the tie out loops, which I also re-informed with half circles of 1.1 or sil. My second tarp is 10x10, and on this one I did use 1/2 inch grosgrain ribbon around the edges, and also to reinforce the center seam. I figured the second tarp has twice the square foot area and catches a lot more wind. Grosgrain is also really cheap and very light, so I figured it was not adding much weight or cost, but should add strength. Again, tie outs are just loops of grosgrain folded over and sewn double. My smaller, first tarp has done just fine, but I use it less and it has never had a severe stress test like my bigger one. If I make another, I’ll definitely add the grosgrain.
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Local34North
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Grandma L: "First of all Welcome, Dave! Where you from? I have been around this site for some years and live in Minneapolis western suburbs. I sew a lot and do some canoe Challenge Coordinating. Glad to have you with us!
Gross Grain around the edges might be nice but not necessary. It might also pull and not be a good flat edge. The nylon tends to need a close watch on the tension of the upper sewing machine thread - it wants to pucker and tries to gather a little if you are not careful. I would do a fold over edge - I/2 half inch and a second fold of 1/2 inch and top stitch. Tie outs - doubled Gross grain or light weight nylon strapping. I do reinforced corners too. fabric triangles on the corners top stitched with corner loops. "
Thank you for such a warm welcome. I reside in Lino Lakes. I actually have the privilege of living about 10 houses down from Dan Cooke of CCS fame. Thank you everyone for the insight. The grosgrain was just a thought and not much of a sticking point I just figured with a tarp that big it couldn't hurt. I guess I'm more curious as to what types of material/fabric people use for there tieout reinforcements. Do you use the same fabric as the tarp is made of? In my case it would be 1.9 silnylon. The 2 hammock Tarps I've made came in somewhat of a kit from Ripstop by the Roll. I had to cut the fabric to length then I cut cat curves. The pieces of fabric that came with the kit for the tie outs were a thicker and stronger material. Not sure what it was, hence this question. Grandma L, are you talking about a 1/2" rolled hem when talking about folding over 1/2" twice then top stitch?
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Local34North
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I have purchased enough Silnylon to make a 10' x 14' tarp. I have made two full hammock setups. Hammocks, hammock tarps with cat curves, underquilts, and topquilts so I have a pretty good idea of what I'm doing. I have two questions for the camp tarp. #1 Does anyone sew on grosgrain around the outer perimeter of the tarp to add strength and rigidity? #2 What is the best fabric for your tie out points? For reinforcement. Thank you for any and all input. It was from this forum that I have gained all my knowledge and courage to tackle these type of projects.
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sns
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I've done one silnylon tarp and left a raw edge. That tarp is now 20+ years old and still works fine.
I'd hem the edge before I added grosgrain, but that's just me...
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goaljohnbill
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Ive made an 8*5 and 10*12 in 1.9 sil.
I put gross grain on the edges of both tarps and the ridgeline seam of the 10*12. I didnt get any bunching but I also put a lot of effort into setting the tensions with scrap pieces. It seemed like it took forever to sew it. I dont know if its typical or not but I sewed the grosgrain on in 2 passes once with it hanging half off the sil and again after folding it over to "enclose" the sil. I had a hell of a time trying to sew it on folded over in one pass.
For loops the ridgeline seam loop is 1/2" webbing with a grommet in it and all the others are folded over gros grain. I think I used a heavier uncoated ripstop nylon as my reinforcement at corners and ridgeline seams. There are a couple of pics of the 10*12 pitched in the DIY Nemo bugout thread a ways down the list.
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