After falling head over heels over my quilt I'm looking to upgrade my msr e-wing. What piramid should I go with? I'm mostly looking at mld duomid and tarp tent stratosphere. It will be for me and my son, possibly a friend of his too. Possible light snow and rain.Thanks for the help!

https://seekoutside.mybigcommerce.com/little-bug-out-shelter-base/
Has any one used this tarp?

Seems a bit pricey....Is it that much better than a plain vanilla rectangular tarp/pomcho, skillfully erected?

All the tarps seem a bit pricey! I'm leaning towards mld duo or Z packs hexamid plus.

Yeah, that's a tad pricey. If you have ANY sewing skills at all. or know someone who does, a Robinson poncho shelter, or a Ray Way style tarp, is a fine thing to make, under $100. (i spent under $30.) Silnylon is fairly easy to sew and you'll get a customized shelter for your needs. It's possible to make a good shelter without sewing a stitch, using only knots and some homemade silicone sealant.

I don't sew but love to learn new things! I've had an interest to learn for some time now. My wife sews a little but her machine quit working some time ago. May be a good time to get an upgrade, I was also looking at rayway DIY quilt too.

I'm guessing for silicone sealant you dilute caulk with mineral spirits and paint onto the rip stop nylon? Or is it best to just order sil nylon ready to go?

Thanks for the idea!

I was looking at the ZPacks shelters too. One of his packs also, then a EE quilt maybe. So much money to save so little weight. To cut costs, I'd have to sell my old gear then.
Duane

Make sure your wifes machine is truly dead. Usually the fixes are simple. Sometimes just a matter of a good cleaning/oiling.
All my machines/sergers were someone elses "dead" machines.
Silnylon is already silicone impregnated. The caulk (g.e. silicone II, clear) can be used full strength to glue hems so no sewing is needed. You also thin it as you say, camp gas works too, to seam seal sewn places. BIG FIRE HAZARD!! STAY AWAY FROM SPARKS!!

You can practice on plain old coated rip/stop....and you'll get a dandy shelter from it, just a little heavier.

Regularly check your local Walmart's $2/yard bin. I've found silnylon there by the bolt and plenty of ripstop. Just keep checking.

Great ideas, Paul! I bet your right and the machine just needs tlc. I have no Walmart or anything like it within three hours. I really like the idea of myog.

Ok my wife's sewing machine IS salvageable! I've been looking into differnt fabrics ( alot to chose from!) and found I'm concerned about spending good money on high quality fabrics just to ruin them with my poor or nonexistent seamstress skills. So heres my idea, my wife and I run a campground and every year we get junk tents that get torn up in the wind. What if I salvage several rain flys and practice until I get good enough to warrant buying some good sil nylon? Are these cheap Kmart and wall mart tents made out a fabric I could cut and sew without a huge headache? I'm pretty sure most of these tents are some form of ripstop nylon. What the waterproofing is I don't know.

I would love to make something like this

https://www.bigagnes.com/Products/Detail/Tent/scoutul2

Sewing machine....
I've never seen one that wasn't fixable unless it's a bottom of the line Walmart disposable. (mechanical machine) I grew up in a laundry and sewing machines were a daily dealing. Take yours outside, if it's mechanical, expose the moving parts (top and bottom), remove thread/bobbin, blow it out with compressed air if you have a way. Firewall the throttle and blast all bearing holes with WD-40. Soak up all splatter/drips with paper towels. You'll hear the machine get happy.
WD-40 will evaporate and leave a fine machine oil in it's place. Use good sewing machine oil until it needs cleaning again. Load the thing with thread....use good stuff like Guttermans poly for outdoor wear....medium needle, and play around with some fabric, bobbin tension, thread tension. You'll get it just like you want it.
(disclaimer...if your's is an electronic machine, oil ONLY the bearing points assuming they aren't sealed! If the 'stepper motor' is out of time, or the firmware is corrupted, you're toast. Go find an old mechanical! )

Fabric:
Absolutely!!! Those old rain flies are a good way to start and practice. I cannibalize fabric all the time from old projects or discards. Iron your seams/hems before sewing. One nice thing about NOT using silnylon is that you can make a "hot tacker" from an old soldering iron and eliminate pins. I hot tack my kites together before sewing. Saves tons of time. Sound like you are on your way!