Pyramid Tent

NW307

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Nov 6, 2017
Messages
138
Location
WY
My first stab at a mid' turned out ok. This website was invaluable for info on it, so i thought i'd pass this on. THANKS!!

I used khaki 1.6 silpoly at 58" wide from ripstop by the roll. 12yds was plenty with extra left for practicing with it by making stuff sacks for the tent and stakes. The stove jack is from bear paw. I also ordered a 7' zipper and some webbing/slide locks from RBTR. Total cost was about $110 in materials and it weighs around 2.6 lbs according to my digital bathroom scale. It's about 9.5'x9.5' floor plan and 6'10" tall. I still have to sew on guy out points on all the seams and beef up the peak somehow.

The current center pole is a trekking pole stood up on a piece of conduit. It's pretty jenky but I'll figure that out later. I put double sliders on the zipper so i can use the upper one for a vent in conjunction with the stove jack minus the stove for venting. Hopefully the dry heat from the stove will help with condensation when i use it (hopefully). Some of the seams are pretty ugly but they seem solid in the stiff wyoming breeze.

Biggest PITA for me was the zipper by far. A zipper presser foot seems pretty essential for this process. I used a chalk line to make cuts and a good pair of scissors. The stove jack was the standard size tapered and it was well made but pretty heavy and had no trim edge around the heat resistant fabric so it gummed up my wimpy sewing machine very quickly and resulted in ugly seams unfortunately. Lots of silicone later it seems solid tho. Pretty happy with it!
 

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Joined
Dec 26, 2013
Messages
3,758
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Edmond, OK
Great job brother!

For a pole.....give John at BearPaw a call. He helped me with a pole for my Tut. Shaved over a 1/2# from the factory aluminum pole and cost about $35 shipped.
 
OP
NW307

NW307

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Nov 6, 2017
Messages
138
Location
WY
Right on I will most likely do just that. Thanks!
 

colonel00

WKR
Joined
Jun 19, 2013
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4,776
Location
Lost
Looks great. Once you sew on the guyout points all the way around, you'll be able to pull out the sides and really open up the inside. If you want a carbon fiber pole, I'd suggest Ruta Locura.
 

AdamW

WKR
Joined
Oct 27, 2015
Messages
820
If you take trekking poles anyway, check out the seek outside pole connector doo Dad. $10 or so.

Looks great man!
 

gudspelr

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Nov 16, 2016
Messages
266
Location
SW Idaho
I second Ruta Locura if you want to go that route. Great job on the tent, it looks really good. And don’t be too hard on yourself for the seams-there’s a reason there are professionals. They make it look so easy...but it’s far from it.

For the guy outs on mine, I started off with two on each wall. They were halfway between the center seam and the corners. When I guyed the walls out, it became apparent that wasn’t the best way to go... It just ended up collapsing in the corners. I then sewed on guyout points on the corners and I really liked how it helped with stability. If I were to do it over I’d put them on the corners and then 1 on each wall on the center seam. Just my $.02.

You’re going to love sleeping in that tent knowing you made it. Thanks for posting it up.


Jeremy
 
OP
NW307

NW307

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Nov 6, 2017
Messages
138
Location
WY
Ideally I would go with a carbon pole, those ruta locuras look like the ticket but from what i'm seeing it would cost more than the entire tent unfortunately. I really like the idea of using a couple of trekking poles but I just don't know how they'd stand up to the wind around here. I'll most likely end up with the aluminum pole since weight isn't a huge factor once I opted for the 1.6 oz. instead of the 1.1. Has anyone had luck with sourcing a pole from the woods?

I'm planning to sew guy out points on all the corners and mid wall seams just to have options. How far up do you guys sew them? It looks like little below half way up looks standard. Also would just reinforced grosgrain work for guy outs or are the sewn fabric triangles the only way to go, any experience with guy out failures? I planning on making the peak caps today, the rough plan is to make a coffee filter looking cones out of some heavier fabric and sandwich them on the inside and out, I have a feeling it'll be an undertaking.

Lastly whats the consensus on cutting a hole in the stove jack? Is a "X" the way to go or an oval? I'm leaning towards an oval for ventilation and I'm also sewing a square of no see um mesh to velcro over the jack for minimizing bug entry while it's open without the stove.
Thanks for all the info and encouragement! I can't believe it took me this long to find this forum. Cheers, Jon
 

gudspelr

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Nov 16, 2016
Messages
266
Location
SW Idaho
I just did grosgrain loops for the guyouts. On the inside of the tent (except on the corner ones), I stitched on some really wide grosgrain for reinforcement and slathered them up with seam sealer.

Jeremy
 
OP
NW307

NW307

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Nov 6, 2017
Messages
138
Location
WY
Tent complete! I ended up sewing material from an old pair of blown out goretex waders on the peak interior and exterior. It worked pretty well with the coffee filter style cone and just doing some hand stitches to hold the two cones in place while the tent was pitched and then bringing it in to sew around the circumference with the machine. Not easy to do but its working.

I ended up sewing two grosgrain guy out points per seem all the way around. My though being that it would equalize the pull better and pull more of the wall out. I tied one end of the cord to each point and created a loop that doesn't need tensioners, just move the stake to desired tension. This also looks to being working well. It really did open up the interior space and steady the whole structure significantly.
View attachment 61498
Im just going to leave the stove jack alone until i build my stove. I have an ammo can stove that I built for a canvas teepee but I think the pipe would need too big of a hole and make the smaller pipe on the new stove too rattly. That's ok I have all winter to tinker with it. Final weight came in at 2.7 pounds with stakes and seam sealer applied. I haven't decided on a pole system yet. thanks!View attachment 61499
Sorry for the sideways images! For the life of me I can't figure out how to rotate them!!
 

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