[at-l] Making a tent fly

[Paula <paulers@ix.netcom.com>]

OK..  I'm hitting a big project here.  I bought a new tent the other day
while I was in hot springs.  I really liked it, and the price was only a
whopping $89.00.  It weighs more than I would like (3 & 14 oz) and most
of that appears to be the fly.  The tent itself is mostly mesh on the
top & sides and it uses only 1 pole.  So, I'm thinking of making a new
one in a lighter material.  Also, the guys at the store thought the
stakes were included in that weight, so if I get lighter ones that will
help, plus ditch the gear hammock etc.

Its a Peak 1 Cobra tent.  The fly is pretty simple, no tubes or
anything, the hard part will be the 2 vestibules on each side.  It
pretty much just lays over the tent and clips down at the ends then has
some extra stakes.  

I've never even attempted somthing like this and am not known for my
sewing abilities, but with those Silnylon fabric links, I'm gonna give
it a try and wanted to run some ideas past those who have made lots of
their own gear or just other stuff.

I'm thinking of laying out the existing fly and cutting some type of
pattern pieces from it using newspaper.
  Question 1:  How much seam allowance to I leave at the joints?
           2:  How much allowance should I leave for the "doors" in the
vestibules where there are zippers?  this is hard as Im thinking of
replacing the zippers w/ velcro here for more savings.  The tents mesh
doors have zippers and thats enough zipping.  I know I will need to have
some type of storm flapping over these velcro sealed openings and don't
really know how to go about planning for that ...

Any tricks anyone can pass along about these types of seams and using
these types of fabrics would be loverly.  I'm thinking of a test one
first w/ some cheap fabric to make mistakes on.  What do you recommend
that would  behave similarly but be really cheap?

Thanks!

Cheerio
GA-VA 2000
-- 
Paula Anderson
getting ready for 2001 season!
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