D I Y Tarp

[squidbilly]

I finished my first thread injection project this past weekend: a black tarp to cover my black Warbonnet Blackbird.
12' x 9.5'
Serged edges
3/4''grosgrain inside the ridgeline with belt buckle tie-outs. Grograin tree huggers make adjustment easy and allow for a really tight ridgeline.

Now... off to the Georgia Pinhoti to try it out.

[wirerat123]

Very nice work man!  Congrats, and enjoy!

[squidbilly]

Thanks, it has it's newby flaws, but it ain't gonna fall apart.   
I must say, I couldn't have done it without my wife's help. I'm not the best student and I insisted on sewing it all myself, so I'm sure she was worried about her equipment!   She definitely earned a few of these...

[Firedog]

Where's mine???

[stevebo]

great looking tarp!  One question, how did you get the grograin ribbon to grip the adjustment slides for your ridge line?   Ive tried something similar in the past, using buckles i scavanged from an old backpack.  Every time I tried it and put tension on it, the buckles seem to slip under tension----------just wondering what your trick is!   I love to use the ribbon, its so light and easy to work with, but I never solved the buckle problem, so i  moved on  to something else.  Care to share your secret?! 

[squidbilly]

I used the slides scavenged from old Grammicci climbers pants. They have a grograin ribbon belt built - in. Whenever I wore a pair out, I would cut the belt out and save them for utility use. Good for lashing things to the pack, or keeping stuff rolled up. I've used them with my other tarps as tensioners for the ridgeline tie - outs. 

I haven't tried any other sliders. I suspect the ones you used from the pack were sized for webbing, not the thinner grograin ribbon. I'll have to look into that.

I just tried it out on a 31 mile hike on the Georgia Pinhoti these past few days.

[wirerat123]

Wow, I never really payed attention to how badly large patches of black stick out in the woods.  The UL setup I will be working on in th every near future will be coyote brown single layer 1.1 BB clone, and a Coyote tan tarp.

My stealth setup is going to be all reatree type camo, but they don't make UL materials in those patterns yet.

Those all black setups are still pimp though.

[squidbilly]

Wow, I never really payed attention to how badly large patches of black stick out in the woods.  The UL setup I will be working on in th every near future will be coyote brown single layer 1.1 BB clone, and a Coyote tan tarp.

My stealth setup is going to be all reatree type camo, but they don't make UL materials in those patterns yet.

Those all black setups are still pimp though.

Yes, it's hard to find good  camo patterns in light material. I found a little digital camo at Wal Mart once that was shades of grey and brown, kind of like a winter hardwoods pattern, mostly greys.  It would be nearly invisible in my pic above. I should have bought it all. The key to camoflauge is the breakup. It just depends where you're at. Your background.  Any solid color will stand out, especially a large tarp. Coyote brown would be trick though, that's a beautiful color in nylon.  I just like the way black looks.  My boys thought I wouldn't be able to find it at night when I left camp to answer nature's call.  It's not too hard - just look for the black hole 

Did you notice the trees in my picture? they are not green yet like the are here. That was taken near Cohutta overlook, on Tatum Mtn.