Having briefly been inside Mr Horner's trail star on the TGO I was immediately impressed with the amount of space and the stability and I wanted one! A good thing about any longish backpacking trip is that you have a lot of time to think. I thought, as a solo backpacker do you really need that much space? Probably not so why not make a smaller one and therefore lighter one. It can't be too small as you still need the "length". I've reduced the diameter to around 3m from about 3.4.m, I've now cut the five main panels and these come to 383g. Well on target for the 450g estimated weight.
The cutting is my least favourite bit, mainly as I have to shift the furniture in the front room to get enough space. Also its the stage when you can really balls things up. Happily its all gone without incident. Tomorrow there's the reinforcement tie out panels to cut, gear hanging loops to consider and some sort of fabric reinforcement for the centre - then the fun bit - sewing it all together.
4 comments:
Did this project ever go anywhere? I'm interested in a smaller trailstar for much the
same reasoning as yours: less space may be an advantage when looking for a pitch.
Good Evening Major
It's funny you should bring this up. I've neglected the blog and the
sewing for a while. However... whilst out walking last Sunday I was
giving the starlet a bit of thought. I've got a few half finished
projects on the go at the moment, including the starlet. It will get
done. A paper model first and the application of cat cut seams all
round I think.
It may reduce the size to the extent that it may not be useable, but at
the moment it's a hunk of fabric doing nothing. Nothing ventured
nothing gained. It will get done sometime this year (hopefully)
This weekend I started mine, cutting up some old tents to make 5 equalateral triangles all 74 inches. Hopefully this week I'll sew them together with a slight inward curve on the seams for the catenary curve. Trial & error really. If it comes out OK I'll put some pictures out, & maybe buy decent silnylon to make a proper one, because mine will be over 1kg. Good luck with yours.
C - equalateral triangles will give you a flat pentagon like I made. I've actually got the proper dimensions. It's more of an isosceles triangle with a significant cat cut to the long sides. I'm hoping to get my first attempt unpicked and re-done as soon as I have some time. I'll post the results. Good luck.
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