[at-l] Guy Wire / Tyvek Tidbit

[Tom Caggiano <hikenet@interactive.net>]

I agree with Chase's acorn method and even a large pebble works if there are no
wood pieces and yes the ripstop nylon overlay is good too but that is
static design
and seems like lots of work.

Another easy fixture that works well is the Sierra Design Grip Clip, they call
them Swift Clip and get 4 for $2.50 at total wt of 3 oz. You can put them on
a tarp and adjust as needed. Made for Guy wire attachment.  They have a
piece that
goes on one side of the fabric and the outer piece where the guy wire attaches.

Of course for the ultra-lightest, the acorn and pebble are NOT carried and
lighten the load.   Hmmm, maybe those are better :)

.
Fro those that are willing to carry the few oz, here's a place to look...
See Campor Sierra Design Tents page item 20670-P or your local outdoor
supplier.

--  Tom "bear bells" Caggiano
http://members.aol.com/hikenet

----------------



At 9:36 PM -0400 09/05/98, Mayer, Jim wrote:
>Not too long ago there was quite a bit of activity about using Tyvek
>Housewrap (and other formulations) for tarps.  For some reason that I'm
>not too sure about, I just ran a series of little experiments with the
>stuff.
>
>Basically, I was interested in how to attach tie outs to a sheet of
>Tyvek.  The "standard" technique is to tie a cord in with a sheet bend.
>I've used this, and it worked fine.  It is a bit ugly though, and is a
>pain to do anywhere but at the corners.  I decided to play with grommets
>and sewing in a loop.
>
>Once Tyvek starts to rip it is pretty well gone, so I didn't even bother
>working with a single sheet of Tyvek.  Instead I looked at reinforcing
>it.  I tried four different forms of reinforcement:
>
>(1) sandwiching a corner of a sheet between two pieces of Tyvek using a
>spray adhesive.
>
>(2) Same as (1) but using Barge Cement (a contact cement).
>
>(3) Sandwiching a corner between two pieces of duct tape.
>
>(4) Sandwiching a corner between two pieces of the adhesive backed
>ripstop nylon you can buy for repairing tents.
>
>I tried all four techniques with grommets and confirmed my general
>impression of grommets... they tear out.  However, in all four cases the
>reinforcing fabric failed and there was no evidence of the adhesive
>giving way.
>
>I also kept track of how much (subjective) force I had to apply before
>the grommet failed.  It seemed that the ripstop sandwich held much
>better than the other three reinforcing techniques.
>
>I then sewed a loop of 3/4" nylon webbing onto a ripstop sandwich
>reinforced corner of a piece of Tyvek.  The whole thing looked like
>this:
>
>wwwwwwwwwwwwwww
>w      rrrrrrrrrrrrrr
>w      ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt
>w      rrrrrrrrrrrrrr
>wwwwwwwwwwwwwww
>
>Where "w" stands for the nylon webbing, "r" stands for ripstop nylon
>tape, and "t" stands for Tyvek.  I used heavy polyester thread in a box
>stitch.   The stitched pattern looked like this:
>
>xxxxxxxxxx
>xx      xx
>x x    x x
>x  x  x  x
>x   xx   x
>x  x  x  x
>x x    x x
>xx      xx
>xxxxxxxxxx
>
>I then attempted to pull out the loop.  The loop held really, really
>well.  I had to use much more force than for any of the other fasteners,
>and when a failure finally occurred it was in the Tyvek.  The whole
>corner ripped off, about a half inch past the reinforcing ripstop.
>There was no evidence of the stitching pulling out, or of the adhesive
>giving way.
>
>>From this, I conclude that the reinforced loop was actually stronger
>than the Tyvek sheet itself.  And that, of course, is as much as one can
>ask.
>
>-- Jim Mayer

------


This very basic/emergency tie out for tarps works well with Tyvek,
although not very pretty. Grab an acorn or piece of cork, shove it into
the tarp with the tarp material forming a sock around the acorn, tie
your cord to this sock, entraping the acorn.

chase


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