DCF Shelter Construction

gixer

Thru Hiker
1oz. It's like leather. Lol. You still got it?

Yep still has the odd outing

20170626_211805_zpsglkkst4e.jpg


Recon the Duplex is a great good weather tent :thumbsup:

I like the new free standing Duplex better though, recon deleting the poles will give easier access out the doors and give a great uninterupted view
 
  • Like
Reactions: JKM

murpharoo

Thru Hiker
I'm going to have to 'amend' the above statement - I just tried to alter a internal tab on my Howff.
I tried pulling a piece of cuben off the surface of the fly and torn the mylar away from the dyneemer threads !!! - easily repaired but shows that even in 'peal' the bonding is stronger that the mylar/dyneemer matrix. The piece had been bonded in place ~3 yrs.
I think this is the reason that Colin (@Tramplite ) does not just bond his cuben seams.
From Tramplite website:

Most manufacturers simply stick their shelters together with double-sided tape leading to designs that are weaker, and pitch less taut, than a Tramplite shelter. Simply, if you want to resist wind effectively then you need a tough and taut shell. With a Tramplite shelter, every major seam is rolled twice, double sewn and finally over-bonded. This gives an immensely tough seam, comprising of a minimum 6 individual layers of DCF, that is immune to fabric de-lamination while allowing immense pressure to be applied to the pegging/guying points (which are directly attached to the seams). With shelters that are stuck together, you are effectively only bonding the 2 outer faces of plastic film together and any de-lamination of the DCF fabric can lead to catastrophic failures.
 

Enzo

Thru Hiker
I managed to peel some cuben bonded with seam grip for a few years, but I'm considering taking the inner out of my duplex copy which would mean ~6m of taped cuben to lift...:o o:
Suck it and see I guess.
 

Rog Tallbloke

Thru Hiker
Colin's tramplite is Rolls-Royce, sturdily coachbuilt with girders and beams. Instead of an extra 5oz of sewing and tape on 45' of seams, I'm going to add an extra 3oz of carbon fibre pegs and spread the load over 18 lightly reinforced pegging points on a more 'racing monocoque' sort of design. If the single straight 12'6" seam pulls apart, I'll just roll it, stitch it, overbond it, eat some humble pie, wash it down with a toast to Colin, and try again. :D

This tent is for duo trips with my missus Kath, whose dodgy hip prevents her from mountaineering nowadays. We'll be wild camping round the coast of Brittany with it mostly, where flat sites and easy ground-peg conditions are plentiful. It can get very windy though, hence the 18 tieouts every 20" round the hemline. I might even up it to 24 tieouts so I can place load-spreading pegs every 15" if needed. That way I can pitch as square supermid, hex, octo, dodeca or fully rounded teepee as ground conditions/weather dictates.
 
Last edited:

cathyjc

Thru Hiker
I think this is the reason that Colin (@Tramplite ) does not just bond his cuben seams.
From Tramplite website:

Most manufacturers simply stick their shelters together with double-sided tape leading to designs that are weaker, and pitch less taut, than a Tramplite shelter. Simply, if you want to resist wind effectively then you need a tough and taut shell. With a Tramplite shelter, every major seam is rolled twice, double sewn and finally over-bonded. This gives an immensely tough seam, comprising of a minimum 6 individual layers of DCF, that is immune to fabric de-lamination while allowing immense pressure to be applied to the pegging/guying points (which are directly attached to the seams). With shelters that are stuck together, you are effectively only bonding the 2 outer faces of plastic film together and any de-lamination of the DCF fabric can lead to catastrophic failures.

Undoubtably the Tramplite is way 'better' than my humble efforts.
But I'm unlikely to ever contemplate camping in conditions Colin has designed the Tramplite to be capable in.
And at the end of the day any shelter is only as good as the weakest element. The seams maybe the strongest - but the surrounding fabric, tie outs, pegs and peg placements may well fail long before the seams do ….
 

theoctagon

Thru Hiker
Colin's tramplite is Rolls-Royce, sturdily coachbuilt with girders and beams. Instead of an extra 5oz of sewing and tape on 45' of seams, I'm going to add an extra 3oz of carbon fibre pegs and spread the load over 18 lightly reinforced pegging points on a more 'racing monocoque' sort of design. If the single straight 12'6" seam pulls apart, I'll just roll it, stitch it, overbond it, eat some humble pie, wash it down with a toast to Colin, and try again. :D

This tent is for duo trips with my missus Kath, whose dodgy hip prevents her from mountaineering nowadays. We'll be wild camping round the coast of Brittany with it mostly, where flat sites and easy ground-peg conditions are plentiful. It can get very windy though, hence the 18 tieouts every 20" round the hemline. I might even up it to 24 tieouts so I can place load-spreading pegs every 15" if needed. That way I can pitch as square supermid, hex, octo, dodeca or fully rounded teepee as ground conditions/weather dictates.

Finished yet?
 

Rog Tallbloke

Thru Hiker
Fortunately I have plenty of tyvek left over from someone's overestimated building job (it wasn't me guv), so I can just add another piece onto the design and still make a nice big tyvek teepee. But the Cuben cutting plan needs some more thought to get adjacent panel angles right and minimise wastage. This 3D origami makes my poor old battered head hurt. :(
 

cathyjc

Thru Hiker
:D I've got a paper prototype on my desk too. :thumbsup:

Mine went into production a few years ago and is probably half way thru' it's life span now. Love it - best solo tent I've had :D.

When I first had it @Shewie asked me if I'd ever make another and I replied " Yes, if I was 20 years younger".
I might have to retract that and say "probably yes - when the first one wears out" :D:angelic:.
 

Enzo

Thru Hiker
Looking on the net to see what the current state of play is re cuben tie outs this came up. A comparison of reinforcement patch bonding methods.


He outlines the weaknesses in the experimental procedures and I think it's a bit flawed, but to me the take away was it was always the parent material that failed not the tie out or reinforcement.
What I'd take from that is it'd be better to have a large reinforcement of 0.5 than a smaller heavier type. I went for largeish 1.5oz and sections of a circle to try and not have any stress risers?
I though the 1.5 would hold a stitch more securely as I bonded and sewed the tie outs.
In hindsight i would use 0.5oz.

I used 1.5oz cuben to attach the lonelocs, contraversial I know.
 

Enzo

Thru Hiker
What glues are people using for cuben?
hysol U-09FL seems recommended but it's ever difficult to get or stupid expensive.
I've used seam grip before, goes off very fast though.
 
Top