My neighbor is residing his house and will soon have a plethora of Tyvek scraps.
The first question (with an obvious answer of yes) is should I grab some?
The second question - what should I do with it?
My neighbor is residing his house and will soon have a plethora of Tyvek scraps.
The first question (with an obvious answer of yes) is should I grab some?
The second question - what should I do with it?
Don't they make those cooking "cozies" with Tyvek? Also, a piece of it would make a good thing to sit on so that you don't have to sit on the ground. . . fix your meals on. I'm sure there are other uses as well.
I figured a simple groundcloth would be important to have. I was also considering making a small pouch for my camera, so it'll be protected from rain even while in my hip pouch.
Can you elaborate on the cozies for me?
Sure grab some. Most hikers use for ground cloth. Throw in a washing machine to make it soft and less noisy. Disclaimer- could damage your washing machine so consider a laundromat. DO NOT PUT IN DRYER!!
I've since switched to a silnylon ground cover. Weighs less and not as much hassle.
Cheers!
"Fish Camp Woman.... Baby, I like the way you smell"
- Unknown Hinson
Tyvek makes a great tent ground cloth.
Ive been using a piece of it for a couple years now for both my tent GC and mattress pad when in a shelter. Cheap, durable and multi functional
Fuzzy Tyvek is like a leaf magnet.
"Fish Camp Woman.... Baby, I like the way you smell"
- Unknown Hinson
Re: pot cozies. I don't know much about Tyvek, and may be mistaken, so if I am I'm sure someone will correct this. A pot cozie is basically an insulated pouch that is used to hold a freezer bag with hot food in it. The idea is that you have dehydrated food in the baggie (whatever you've mixed together and brought from home), you add boiling (or near boiling) water to the baggie, which is in the cozie (to keep it warm and protect you from getting burned), seal the bag and let it sit a few minutes to rehydrate. After it's rehydrated 5 - 10 minutes, it's cooled enough to stir and eat. The advantage is no mess to clean up, and the cooking process is really easy - boil water, add to bag, eat, and have minimal clean up.
You can get information about freezer bag cooking, recipes, and info about the cozies at the website trailcooking.com.
I just thought I remembered reading somewhere that folks were using the Tyvek to make these bags for the cozies, but I'm not sure on that - is it used for insulation?
Tyvek is used as a vapor-barrier/ weather-proofer in construction. (That's why it works so well for ground tarp.) No to little insulation value that I could figure out, so making a cozie out of tyvek sounds silly to me... but if a tyvek cozie is what you're looking for, I suggest going to the post office and picking up a Tyvek envelope.
You can carry a piece of Tyvek as a sit pad for damp places, it folds up nicely. You could set your pack on it to save a little wear and tear on the bottom of your pack and to keep it dry in the mud.
That same piece could be used as a place to set your dirty boots/shoes at night so you don't get your tent floor dirtier than necessary.
I've heard of some hikers taking a permanent marker to their sit pad to use as a sign while hitching - one side says "Hiker to Town", the other "Hiker to Trail".
A small scrap of Tyvek can be a handy thing to have.
I've used Tyvek for a bunch of stuff.
Glued some to the bottom of two squares of blue foam mat we use as sit pads. Keeps the pads dry and protects against punctures. Tyvek resists punctures well.
Tent footprint to protect the tent floor from puncture. The very first time I used it for this I found a sharp stick trying to poke through the floor in the morning. The Tyvek worked.
An interior pouch to hold a water bladder in a pack that lacked one.
A small pouch as part of my bear bag system. The pouch holds my line and binier. I put a small, filled water bottle in the the pouch and use it for throwing over a branch (no rock to find, same weight each time so I keep getting better wt throwing it). The pouch is light, slippery and, again, resists puncture.
Homemade dry bags before I could afford better.
A tent stake bag. Again, puncture resistant.
I used Elmer's rubber cement to bond the Tyvek. It makes a very strong bond to resist pulling apart when you make a flat seam. like on Tyvek envelopes. Otherwise it pulls apart easily.
Sailor
I would buy some instead of taking scraps. You can get it online for anywhere from $15 to $30. Keep in mind that there are about a dozen different types of this material made by Dupont. The odds of you getting a piece from a residential construction site that is large enough is pretty low.
That material is great for groundsheet.
"Fish Camp Woman.... Baby, I like the way you smell"
- Unknown Hinson
I absolutely agree. I carried a piece of tyvek for a section once, and found that I took more breaks, which is a very good thing. It's because I felt more comfortable sitting anywhere and taking off my shoes and socks.
Since I use a Hexamid, bringing my muddy shoes inside isn't really an option, so the tyvek can be used on wet nights to place my shoes under, and also as a door mat so I can crawl out of my tent without getting muddy. Dammit, I think I just talked myself into another couple of ounces of pack weight.
Tyvek works for all of the above. Clean tents are great and clean place to sit ditto. As to cozy. Use duct insulation instead. You'll minimize fuel. Get to boiling, place pot into duct cozy and it cooks. Turn off the stove. I drew a circle around the bottom of my cook pot. Cut out two of the circles. One for the top one for the bottom. Cut a piece that circles my pot presto cozy. Some folks put velcro on the long piece to make closing easier. I think you can buy these too.
Footprint and backpack rain cover as far as I see.
This fabric could be a little noisy the first time use, you could put it in a washer to get rid of the noise.
I got a package in a tyvek envelope. It'll now be my sit pad. It's only big enough for my butt, so I won't be able to sprawl out on it. I'll attach some loops to it tomorrow so I can pin it down over my shoes on rainy nights....I do this because my tarp tent does not have a vestibule.
I ran into someone hiking with a tyvek tent.