Flat-Tarp made of Dyneema® Composite Fabric CT1E.08 18g/m² (DCF)

Ultralight Shelter for the West Trail in the Black Forest and others

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I made a flat tarp from the CT1E.08 for the hike on the Westweg. This was my first project with DCF, so I had to figure out many things myself first. Nevertheless, it worked surprisingly well and the tarp proved itself even in thunderstorms and strong winds, both as an A-frame and as a half-pyramid. To cut it to size I used a good quality cutter knife for straight sections, for the smaller sections and the radii of the reinforcements the micro-serrated scissors were invaluable.

To get the necessary length I overlapped two strips by the width of the transfer tape and then reinforced them additionally with a 4cm strip.

As usual, I placed the peel-offs on the corners and half of each side. In addition, I added guy points on one long side at a quarter of the length to set up as a half pyramid. For curiosity's sake, I attached the loops for the D-rings for bracing partly with webbing (sewn through to the reinforcement before gluing) and partly with loops made from DCF remnants (only glued). Both have held without any problems so far. For tensioning I chose ClamCleats, but in retrospect LineLocs would probably have been the better choice, as this gives a much better usable length of cord, which makes it easier to set up, especially as an A-frame. The cord itself is the yellow 1.5mm Dyneema/Polyester cord.

The total weight of the tarp with 2.10m x 2.68m incl. all lines, additional "clothesline" (10m), bag with drawstring made of the same material and 8 Groundhog Mini pegs with their own bag ended up at 203g, but there would definitely have been room for improvement here with thinner reinforcements and narrower D-rings.

Many greetings
Christian W.