Camping Tasmania National Parks to pitch a tent in Australia's southern-most island state, Tasmania and other things to do there.
Hey, y'all! The cicadas are coming! Or...in the case of here in Nashville, Tennessee, they are already here. It's been many years since our last cicada summer and while at first I was totally grossed out by these big carcass-leavin' bad boys (and girls), I know rather ... well, I was gonna say "like" but that's a stretch ... appreciate is probably a better word. I appreciate their...gee, what do I appreciate? Their cool look. It's like seeing a bug under a microscope, they are so stinkin' big! I've shared several symmetrical printing lessons in the past and they are always a huge hit with all of my students. We've done butterflies (you can find the lesson video in the link)... And this is kindergarten! We've also done hearts (again, full video lesson in this link)... And now cicadas! If you are interested in a list of supplies I used, here's a link! Have fun and stay tuned! I have more on this project coming your way!
Given I already own the finest cuben fiber shelter ever made ;-) I guess the biggest question might be 'why?', but I've always wanted to have a go at a MYOG shaped tarp/mid type shelter so here goes... I decided to make a slightly tweaked version of the Zpacks Hexamid as the wrap around design features very few panels/seams/cat-cuts etc etc to contend with, it also uses a lot less cuben (£) than the full mid I've got in mind. There's a few things I'd change if I was to make another, for one its a little overbuilt for what will be used as a fair weather tarp but i'm pretty pleased with how well it's turned out, especially for a first attempt. The main body of the tarp is made from Olive 17.4 g/m² cuben fiber whilst the peak and tie outs are reinforced with 99 g/m² cuben hybrid material (in a lovely shade of Orange). As I was using the 17.4 g/m² weight cuben I wanted to avoid sewing the fabric as much as possible so the tarp is fully bonded except for the tie outs which are sewn to the tarp using a short length of webbing. The perimeter tie outs feature a lineloc 3 adjuster and the front tie out has some plastic hardware to attach the front guy to. There's a short loop on the inside of the peak to attach an inner should I decide to use one. It pitches using 6 pegs with a single pole adjusted to around 120cm. I used 25mm wide bonding tape throughout with all the seams being bonded and then over-taped. I'm aware some of the methods I've used may not be considered the strongest but I decided to use methods that were familiar to me from previous MYOG projects. I was aiming for a total weight of 200g and whilst It's yet to have it's final weigh in, the tarp (excluding lines) plus stuff sack comes to 170g on my scales. As mentioned above there's a few things I'd change if I was to make another but all in all I'm pleased with the tarp. Matt Follow @OutdoorsMH
6 Tasmania walks that are better than the gym, from nothern Tasmania to southern Tasmania. What's new and cool hiking Tasmania.
