Cuben Fiber .5 oz. sewn to Silicone coated nylon 30 denier and pulled to failure (42 lbs).
Tie outs were not reinforced but held while two rows of straight stitching on a lap seam failed
at the nylon, cuben AND stitching. This is 7 lb tensile strength thread.
Cuben Fiber .7 oz sewn to Cordura 1000 denier nylon with 4 rows of straight stitch and to itself with flat felled and glued seam. Shock loaded to failure (body weight plus a jump).
Notice the tie out webs were not the failure point. Also that a flat felled seam with only 2 rows of stitching proved stronger than a simple lap felled seam with 4 rows of stitches. The glued seam did even better than that.
Oware custom bivy 3.5 oz!
Fully waterproof with breathable top.
Size small.
Waterproof Breathable Cuben Fiber top (thanks to Joe @ Zpacks for the material)
Cuben Fiber Bottom
Waterproof zipper
Sewn then taped.
Filed under bivysack, Do It Yourself, Oware Backpacking Gear
Since it is often desirable for greater padding under the hips and shoulders I have tried gluing layers of closed cell foam pad together. I found that this can be accomplished with contact cement purchased at the hardware store. It makes a very strong bond and you only need a few dots of it to hold things together. By overlapping pieces, I can now make myself a custom pad to my height and width with padding at just the spots I need. This way I eliminate a ground sheet, and have a warm full length pad with a surface that doesn't promote condensation. As weather turns colder, you can add additional layers of foam. One of my customers uses grommets and toggles in his hammock to keep the pad in place. Foam pads for sale.
Filed under Do It Yourself, Fabric, Tips for the Backcountry
Oware 