i was thinking of making a half size inner for my golite shangri la 3, i was thinking of using an off the shelf mozzie net with one of backpacking lights half size ground sheet and i wondered two things.....

 anyone made something similar? 

and

 Are there any other things that people have made themselves or useful changes to gear they bought?

Ashley

I've just done a hatchet job on my years old, cheapo HiGear rucksack, this was a 30 litre mesh back pack that had big rucksack pretensions but would only fit a midget (load lifters, sternum strap etc). I cut off the (useless) load lifter straps and removed the whole top attachment for shoulder straps from the mesh back and reattached them 4" higher at the top of the back (and cut off various other straps and loops that were no use as well).

This alteration changed it from being a thing that was only good for carrying shopping into reasonable daypack.

You might consider buying fabrics themselves. e.g.

Midge Netting, £2.51/linear m

Pennine P2G Groundsheeting £7.70/linear m

Err, no.  P2A is 70g/m2 silnylon, and yes, it's good stuff.

P2G is PU coated 130g/m2 nylon, very suitable for mid-weight groundsheets.

You have to scroll down to the spec because they don't have a unique page per product; that's why I quoted the fabric code, P2G.

If you want heavy weight groundsheeting, have a look at N8-91 Neoprene nylon 240g/m2

Point North used to do a 180 g/m2 neoprene nylon, but they don't seem to at the moment.

thanks for the lins, i wasn't sure about the difficulty of sewing netting but the ground sheet is worth looking at, with sil nylon can you insert eyelets or would you have to sew on loops?

Any other tips or home modifications?

Ash

captain paranoia wrote (see)

Err, no.  P2A is 70g/m2 silnylon, and yes, it's good stuff.

Yes, I was talking about the P2A.  Apart from the fact that they describe it as "PU coated" when it is obviously silycon nylon. I am suspicious about the weight on two grounds:

 a. the normal problem of "are they quoting the weight before or after coating"

 b. the last time I was in contact with them they quoted weight per linear metre rather than square metre .  Have they reverted to the conventional gsm, or just confused things further? 

ashley p wrote (see)

 with sil nylon can you insert eyelets or would you have to sew on loops?

To quote the P2A spec

"Weight: 70g/m2
Used by major manufacturers for high quality ultra lightweight tents and hot air balloons. Fully waterproof and tear resistant. Roughly five times stronger than a conventional PU coated material of the same weight. To seal the seams please use a silicone bath sealant.
Width 150cms"

It isn't PU coated.  It's silicone elastomer coated.  The older product description used to say that (I've got some going back to 1995...).  It only refers to a PU coated material of the same weight.

Pennine quote weights in g/m2.  Point North quote linear weights.  They tally with figures I've got going back to 1995.

That link isn't working for some reason.

After the original owners of Pennine sold out, I spoke to the new people.  Can't remember when it was but at the time Pennine too had started to quote linear weights.

Mike , can you try that URL again?

I've edited it out Frum. Nasty internety repeating thingys!

Smamitman,

it seems that you are newish on these forums... welcome indeed! There are a fair number of OM folk who make their own kit in one way or another and it is always good to know that we still have independents on the market competing with the big names.

John