Was just wondering if anyone on whiteblaze has made a Bilgy Tent and would consider making one for me. I've seen very few pictures of them, or does anyone know of any company producing such an item? I know Moonbow has it on their page but they have no pics.

All help appreciated.

http://www.seattlefabrics.com/bilgy.html

Like this one?

You can find one here :

http://www.practicalbackpacking.com/forums/showthread.php?t=981

You need to have an account though.

Here the picture link in the thread :

http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/549245879AbFVHi

Even better :

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=14802

Don't need to have an account.

Hope it's the one your talking about.

Thanks will check those out - I don't know how to sew so that might be a problem!

stranger-- I made one and used a few times. It was ok. I now carry a shire's tarptent rainbow. Good luck.

stranger-- I made one and used a few times. It was ok. I now carry a shire's tarptent rainbow. Good luck.

I'm considering making one. Which size did you make? What complaints do you have about the design?

Tim Marshall who posts on backpackinglight http://backpackinglight.com forums does custom sewing of backpacking gear.
His website is http://enlightenedequipment.webs.com/

I've looked at the bilgy tent; I think it's an older design of a tarp tent. My impression is that if you're not making it yourself you'd probably do better to buy an already made tarp tent from:
http://www.tarptent.com/
http://mountainlaureldesigns.com/
http://owareusa.com/

I made the bilgy tent this summer and it is a great tarp tent costing half the price of comparable tart tents. $100 of raw materials, and I got a tarp tent that weighs in at 24.5oz, so very light all things considered. I would say it is almost worth learning to sew if you have the time in order to do it. That way you know how to fix all your backpacking gear when it breaks. I suggest making the single man tent because it still feels really big. There is a lot of headroom and is nearly 8ft long inside, so plenty of space to store all of you gear inside and under the tarp.

Here is link to a pic (http://picasaweb.google.com/biker2000on/LaborDay2009#5380353853931447058) of mine in use. :cool:

I made the bilgy tent this summer and it is a great tarp tent costing half the price of comparable tart tents. $100 of raw materials, and I got a tarp tent that weighs in at 24.5oz, so very light all things considered. I would say it is almost worth learning to sew if you have the time in order to do it. That way you know how to fix all your backpacking gear when it breaks. I suggest making the single man tent because it still feels really big. There is a lot of headroom and is nearly 8ft long inside, so plenty of space to store all of you gear inside and under the tarp.

Here is link to a pic (http://picasaweb.google.com/biker2000on/LaborDay2009#5380353853931447058) of mine in use. :cool:

Thanks for the comments! Is there anything you would change about the design if you were to do it again? How long did it take you to put together, and were the instructions easy to follow for a neophyte sewer? I've made a couple stuff sacks, but not much more than that. How small does it pack up to?

Thanks again!

-S

Thanks for the comments! Is there anything you would change about the design if you were to do it again? How long did it take you to put together, and were the instructions easy to follow for a neophyte sewer? I've made a couple stuff sacks, but not much more than that. How small does it pack up to?

Thanks again!

-S

I really like the design of the bilgy tent. There were a few changes I made while sewing because I was using the older design of it. They had a patch of velcro on the floor and roof which I omitted because that would just add another place for water to get in. Also, there is a lot of velcro on the door that is not all needed.

It took 25 hours total working time. Part of the problem is just finding somewhere big enough to cut out the fabric. I highly advise using a soldering iron/woodburner to cut the fabric, because it fuses the edge as well as cutting effortlessly.

Effort of sewing was not too much. The hardest part is sewing the zipper in a half moon for the door. Also, beware of how much fabric you have, because I sewed too many layers together in a few places and had to rip the seam out and try again. :mad: I had no problems following the instructions because I had an idea of what it was supposed to do and look like afterwards. My mom, however, sewed one for my dad, and had a terribly hard time following the instructions because she didn't really know what she was making. Just read the instructions all the way through, before even cutting anything out. The saying measure (read) twice, cut once applies here.

You actually construct the stuff sack first which is easy and is an intro for those who don't know how to sew. The stuff sack works out to be about 6" diameter and 15" long, but don't let that fool you, it can be packed up a lot smaller than that. I also have my tyvek groundcloth in the stuff sack. One idea for a change would be to make the bottom out of heavier urethane coated nylon instead of the sil nylon because you won't slip around on it and you also would not need a ground cloth. It would probably weigh the same as sil with the tyvek groundcloth. Sewing a tarptent is actually a good introduction to sewing because most of the seams are long and straight, its not like sewing a jacket or backpack where there are a ton of seams, and they aren't straight either.

Overall, I am very happy with my bilgy. No changes necessary.

Can't you save the weight, buy adding a little fabric and adding a UL drawstring? The added benefit being you don't have a zipper that can get busted.