Cat cut tarp creation.

[Teepee]

I've just finished my first attempt at a tarp.

Its a 3.4x3m PU coated 1.5 oz nylon tarp with a catenary cut all round to keep the fabric taut. All guy-outs are reinforced with double thickness rip-stop and the loops are made from webbing on the corners, grosgrain on the ends and polyester kick tape for all the others. The ridge seam is flat-felled and then seam sealed.

The middle ridgeline loop is shorter than the next loops to create a catenary shape without restricting the pitching angles. The whole thing weighs 590g.





The cat cut edges













I painted my Ti and ally stakes too, much easier to see in the undergrowth.




I was going to ' Sew the bloody doors on' but slipped a disc at the machine, so it will have to wait. Therse a few mods I'd make to the next one, but the cat shape seems bob-on. Its quite windy today and the tarp is holding its shape well.

Hope you like, door mod to follow shortly

(don't know whats happened to image hosting, every time I link to photobucket it says "invalid URL" so I've attached these tiny pics)

 

[Silverhill]

Good work Teepee! I finished my (non-cat) tarp last Friday and spent the Saturday night under it. Very satisfying to know that the rain is kept off you by your own creation.

How did you obtain the cat cut? Did you use an existing tarp as a model, or did you form a generic curve via two nails and a piece of string?

P.S. Sorry to hear that your new masterpiece involved a slipped disc! 'No pain, no gain':yikes:

 

[dave53]

hi teepee what is this cat cut about regards dave

 

[Shewie]

Nice one Pete

Got to ask though, how did you put your back out sat at a thread injector ?

 

[Teepee]

Good work Teepee! I finished my (non-cat) tarp last Friday and spent the Saturday night under it. Very satisfying to know that the rain is kept off you by your own creation.

How did you obtain the cat cut? Did you use an existing tarp as a model, or did you form a generic curve via two nails and a piece of string?

P.S. Sorry to hear that your new masterpiece involved a slipped disc! 'No pain, no gain':yikes:

Cheers SH. Yes, its great using kit you made, so much more satisfying. The cat cut was derived from variuos posts on HF about how much curve to put in. I used 30mm for the ends and 50mm for the bottoms-all marked with a specialist tradesmans curve marker(length of uPVC trim ) I didn't want a severe cat-cut as I use my tarp on the ground too and wind would whistle under.

No pain, no gain indeed mate-I must be severely gaining as I'm grimacing pushing the mouse round the mouse mat!

I must have tempted providence-been using a new rotary disc cutter


Hi Dave,

Cat cut is short for catenary cut. The edges are curved to allow the tie-outs to warp and stretch the fabric without leaving 'bagginess' in the middle of the panel. If it was a rectangular nylon tarp, the middle would be a bit baggy.

 

[Stew]

Cat cut?

All the sides are slightly curved?

 

[Stew]

Aah, replied as I replied!

 

[Teepee]

Nice one Pete

Got to ask though, how did you put your back out sat at a thread injector ?

No word of a lie mate, I was changing the needle when it went. Damn heavy those sewing machine needles, I'll get some help next time!

 

[ged]

Very smart looking tarp! Are you going to set up in production?

 

[Shewie]

No word of a lie mate, I was changing the needle when it went. Damn heavy those sewing machine needles, I'll get some help next time!

Lol, no painting for a while then

 

[lab72]

Good work fella

 

[Teepee]

Very smart looking tarp! Are you going to set up in production?

Cheers Ged. I quite like the colour of this tarp. I was expecting a light grey, but this is more of a blue. As for production, Watch this space

Lol, no painting for a while then

Its hand grenade painting til it pops back in.

Good work fella

Thanks Dez It'll be adorned with your lovely dutch gear soon ( assuming customs come back from their camping trip with them)

 

[Teepee]

I put doors on it last week before taking it to Sunny Scotland's Loch Shiel, Ba and Lomond (Yes it was sunny for 6 days, didn't even need a tarp or sleeping bag!)

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I woke up to this view ;

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The bias of the fabric causes the ruckling of the door seam, fine in use but a bit ugly-Polyester Bias tape is needed on the next.

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It weighs in at just shy of 800g with the doors. I had to replace the Grosgrain end tie-outs with webbing as they were showing signs of wear. It seems much larger than my 3x3 DD with doors and also softer and quiter with more light inside the tarp.

Improvements I'd make- Bias tape along all door hems as its too difficult to gather the bias evenly on my machine, plastic D-rings on all webbing points, wider grosgrain instead of poly binding tape on the bottom tie-outs to spread the load better.



My entire setup is now made by me.

 

[Shewie]

Nice work bud, liking the look of that

No trip report from Shiel? How long were you up there for?

 

[Teepee]

Cheers Rich

Spent 2 days on Lomond, 2 on Shiel and 1 on Ba and used it as a Recce trip. 6 days in total. No trip report dude, didn't get enough piccies-the break was very busy for me. My friend came along and was really struggling with his MS, I ended up doing almost everything so I really struggled for time too. Got few photos but its all etched in my brain for eternity, every day was dream weather, never to be repeated. It made up for all the carp weather I've had previously! I didn't even get one midge bite and still no ticks! (friend got eaten alive though )

Shiel was by far my favourite, can't wait to get up again for a longer trip in a faster boat but Ba was stunning too.

 

[bilmo-p5]

That's nice TP.

 

[Teepee]

Thanks Ian

 

[lab72]

That looks sweet

 

[Teepee]

Cheers Dez

 

[Shewie]

Cheers Rich

Spent 2 days on Lomond, 2 on Shiel and 1 on Ba and used it as a Recce trip. 6 days in total. No trip report dude, didn't get enough piccies-the break was very busy for me. My friend came along and was really struggling with his MS, I ended up doing almost everything so I really struggled for time too. Got few photos but its all etched in my brain for eternity, every day was dream weather, never to be repeated. It made up for all the carp weather I've had previously! I didn't even get one midge bite and still no ticks! (friend got eaten alive though )

Shiel was by far my favourite, can't wait to get up again for a longer trip in a faster boat but Ba was stunning too.

We're (usual crew) planning to do the Shiel circuit again at some point so I'll get you in the PM loop when it happens