OUT-REACH production manual

This tent is the result of a semester project at Unibz, called “Body Interactions” held by the professors: Caroline Perret, Camilo Ayala Garcìa and Gehrad Glüher. The tent that here is presented is the result of a long series of prototypes, models and a lot of research in the field of tarps and MYOG tents to study how they are bulit, which materials are used and wich sewing techniques are applied.

Out-Reach was born after the need of creating a diy project that could be modular and change it’s shape accomodating the experience of the user. In the Ultralight backpacking community is common to say that “you pack your fears”. This meaning that the lower the confidence and the expertise of a hiker, the more fears he/she wil have and therefore, carry more stuff. Only with time and experience the backpack will get lighter and lighter and most of the worries will go away.

The need to escape from the every day life, to evade the repetitive sameness of concrete cities, the desire to live, even for a short period of time, in a world where social etiquette is no longer important. These factors brought to to the idea of developing a tent, which can e considered as an evasion tool.

Tools

■ Sewing machine

■ Measuring tape

■ Sewing chalk

■ Sewing clips

■ Rotary cutter

Materials

■ Scissors

■ Lighter

■ Plastic spatula

■ String

■ Pins

■ 5 m Ripstop silicone coated Nylon, minimum 50 den

■ 1 m Polyamid webbing, width 20 mm

■ 5 m Paracord, diameter 2mm

■ 3 m 5C zipper, coil, separating, two-way, both sides

■ Polyester thread 120

■ Silicone specific glue

■ Spray can

1. Cut the material

■ Lay out the Nylon fabric on a large surface and cut the margins of the fabric. to make sure that you are cutting along straight angles use the ripstop weave as a guide.

■ Once you have a perfect rectangle that measures 150x500cm take the measures for the two main pieces that you will have to cut, the fly and the door.

■ On the leftover material draw the reinforcement patches and the material for the stuff sack.

■ To cut straight lines use a long ruler as a guide and follow the edge with the rotary cutter. To cut curves instead it is easier to use a pair of sharp scissors.

The elements displayed here are not proportionally scaled in relation one to the other in order to show the dimensions conveniently.

Stuff sack

Tie-out patches

Angle patches

Apex patch

Apex patch

2. Glue the patches

■ Lay on the ground the fly and the door panel. Make sure that they are as flat as possible.

■ Firstly prepare the apex patch, this needs to be a double layer to sustain the stress of the pressure. Take the two apex patches and glue them together so that the curve of the circle is coincident.

■ While the silicone glue is drying proceed to place all the other patches as show on the diagram. Pay particular attention to make the borders of the patch and those of the fly match as close as possible.

To ensure the sealing of the silicone place a thin layer of glue on the patch, spread it with the help of a plastic spatula, place the patch and apply pressure with the fingers. In case of bubbles or creases use a plastic spatula to squeeze out the air and stretch the fabric.

Apex patch

3. Catenary cut tool

A catenary is the curve that an idealized hanging chain or cable assumes when supported only at its ends. This shape is optimal to redistribute evenly the tension on the angles of the tent. The back and the sides will be cut on the perimeter using this tool to improve the resistance of the fabric and the overall ventilation of the tent.

■ Find a rectangular piece of cardboard that is longer than 160 cm

■ Measure approximately the center of the cardboard and from there measure 80cm on both sides (point A and C). Mark these measures.

■ From the middle measure 10cm perpendicularly to the side of the cardboard (point B)

■ Take a string, prefereably one of polyester that has a diameter of 1-2mm, and fix it to point A with a needle.

■ Pin a needle on point C and tie the other extremity of the string to it. Make sure that when you pull the string the lowest point of the curve formed must be coincident with point B.

■ Proceed to pin in place the string by adding as many needles as needed to make sure that it doesn’t move.

■ With everything in place, use a spray can to lightly paint over the string. Make sure that you spray at a 90° angle.

■ After the paint has dried out carefully remove the pins and the string, this should leave a clear impression of the curve on the cardboard.

■ Cut along the curve as precisely as possible. This tool will be used to mark the curve on the fabric hence the edges must be as clean as possible to have a accurate sign.

Cat-cut tool

4. Cut the edges

■ Once the silicone glue is completely dry take the following measures on the tie out points of the fly panel.

■ Accurately mark every point using chalk. Connect the points as shown in the diagram below using the cat-cut tool. Trace a clear line where the curve lays.

■ Consider now just the curves that are closer to the perimeter, those that connect point B to point B. Using the rotary cutter follow the line and cut a stripe of fabric off from the panel.

To achieve a cleaner cut you can use the cat-cut tool as a guide and glide the rotary cutter following the curve of the material.

Place the panel with the side where you glued the patches facing up. This face of the panel will be the inside.

5. Sew the hem !

■ Fold towards the inside the 5cm flap that is on the front side of the panel. Hold it in place with some clips and saw it leaving a 1cm seam allowance. There is no need to create a hem on this seam since it will be covered by the zipper.

■ Consider now the curves, those that connect point A to point A in the previous facade. Saw along the line with the polyester thread. Use a straight stitch and set the stitch lenght to 3,5mm.

■ Fold the hem twice towards the inside, follow the stitching as a guide. Place some clips along the hem.

■ Start sewing along the hem, if you have done everything right you should have a 1cm hem that has a double fold.

6. Sew the zipper

■ Place the fly panel with the inside facing up, then measure 20cm from both sides along the seam of the front flap.

■ Take the zipper and separate the two sides. Take the one with the slider and set it apart, it will be sewn on the door panel.

■ Place the top of the zipper on the 20cm mark on the left making sure that the teeth are facing outside, towards the flap.

■ With the zipper in place start sewing keeping the teeth of the zipper on the left of the needle. Sew until the mark of the 20cm on the other side. If your sewing machine has the ability to do it, do a double needle top stitch otherwise you can sew it doing two rows of stitching, one after the other.

■ The zipper will be certainly longer than the dimensions marked. When you reach the 20cm end mark close the seam and cut the zipper leaving 1cm after the last stitch.

■ To create the zip stopper where you did the cut use the same silicone glue that was used in step 2. Place a little drop of glue on the teeth just before the end. Make sure that the glue goes in between the teeth so that it will stop the slider.

7. Prepare the tie-outs

■ Take the polyamid webbing and cut six pieces that are 12cm long, seal the edges of the cut lightly melting the faraying material with the lighter.

■ Fold each piece in half and sew a couple of stitches on the extremity, this will help to keep the webbings in place while sewing them to the fly panel

■ Now take the 2mm paracord and cut 5 pieces that are 30cm long and 1 piece that is 160cm long. Seal the edges of the cut lightly melting the faraying material with the lighter.

■ Insert the 30cm pieces inside the webbing tie-out you just created and tie the extremities together with a square knot. Leave a loop of at least 10cm.

■ Insert the 160cm in the last webbing tie-out and tie a loop with an overhand knot. Leave a loop no longer than 10cm.

8. Sew the tie-outs

■ Place the fly panel with the inside face facing up.

■ Take one of the angles and fold it a couple of centimeters towards the inside.

■ Place a tie-out A over the fold making sure that there is at least 1,5cm sticking out.

■ Sew a bar tack across the whole width of the webbing towards the edge of the angle.

■ Sew a box stitch covering most of the space remaining on the webbing

■ Repeat this step with alle the angles and the tie-out in the center of the back side of the panel

■ For the central tie-out on the font side repeat the same process but use the tie-out B.

9. Set up procedure

The tent is now complete. When assembling the tent for camping make sure that you choose carefully the location since that will play a huge role on the perfomances of the tent.

■ To set up the tent start from the two tie-outs on the rear corners. Stake them to the ground, make sure that the fabric is taut and there is enough tension between the two points.

■ Set you trekking pole to the height of 105cm. Place the grip of the pole on the apex of the tent and set the pole tip straigh under that point, at the same time pulling towards the front the tent.

■ At this point you should have a triangle between the two rear tie-outs and the top. Elevate the top and pull the guyline in the front, stake it to the ground.

■ Right now the structure should be standing, the only thing missing are the two front corners. Stake them to the ground pulling towards the outside. The tent shoul form an angel of circa 70° on the rear corner.

Since the tent is not provided with a ground sheet it is advisasble to bring with you a separate sheet of material to lay on the ground. This will help to achieve a better insulation and feel warmer during the night.