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Our Hardwork is Your Enjoyment!

If someone had told me at the beginning of all this that we would spend the next three years prototyping, developing and testing our teepees I would have thought, "no way, the company will be broke and out of business". Today looking back at everything the exact opposite is true.

Our goal was to make a top caliber camping shelter that we could rely on in a wide range of situations and environments. The only way this could be accomplished is by putting in the time. We’ve done some serious field testing and a ton of prototyping to get where we are today. It is with great confidence that we bring our welded silnylon teepees to market and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

-Nick Behr ~ Founding Partner

Seams
When we began the early prototyping stages of the teepee we were inspired by seamless jackets and welded seam technology that was hitting the market.  It made us wonder why we were not seeing that same technology used more often in tents?  Was it not durable enough or too difficult to work with?  If the seams were strong enough it would be a viable option for eliminating all the holes and loss of fabric strength that standard stitching brings to the final product.  It would also mean cutting the weight of seam sealing or seam tape.

Well we’ve learned a lot.  Most seam welded garments use an Ester Polyurethane thermal adhesive which is heated and put under pressure to complete the weld.  This material and method creates a very strong seam with nice stretch and recovery but unfortunately will not stick to silicone coated fabric (read more about our fabric selection process).  This is still the preferred method of productions for our floors and bags.

For silnylon teepees we needed a strong silicone adhesive. Working with converters and manufactures across the country we choose several that proved up to the task for our application. Over the years of product development it became evident why welded seam technology has not totally taken over outdoor recreational gear. Welded seams require extreme precision that can only be achieved by a highly trained hand and specialized equipment, not something that is an easy fit for the design and outsource practices so common in today's manufacturing. Smaller machines for welded seam garments exist but we were looking to create enormous tents. It was up to our engineers to custom build the machinery for the job. After the production equipment was build we tested and fine tuned it to perfection.

It was time to verify the results, being a young company we needed to be creative in our testing methods.  In our tests a 5” strip of fabric (FYI – teepee primary seams are over 110”) with a 1” weld was able to hold 30lb for over 12 hours and 40lb for an additional 2 ½ hours.

We also wanted to make sure the welds would stand the test of time.  To do this we permanently setup some prototype teepees to expose them to all the elements – 50+ mph winds, thunderstorms, snow, ice, days of intense UV exposure, sand.  Fabric and other parts failed and were redesigned but after a year the seams looked like day one.

From those years of exposure it was apparent that silicone is incredibly durable and resistant to a wide range of temperatures and elements.  In the assembly of the silicone adhesive and fabric it gains a beneficial rigidity which we use to create a support structure that reinforces to overall strength of the teepee design.

Vents
We knew going into this that a single wall shelter would require a serious ventilation to insure minimal condensation inside the teepee.

The first model of vent was a 20” wide drop in model that was essentially made taller in prototypes for better coverage.  Small pole sections to prop open the vents were added.  These vents worked well for eight adults in the relatively dry Yosemite air but that didn’t mean you would be comfortable on a muggy Minnesota summer night.  The design also created slack in the teepee walls when opened and any slack in your tent can create major issues in bad weather.

The next generation of vents were extended to be the width of the fabric panel and be welded into the vertical seams.  On the inside a zipper was welded to a reinforcement patch which was welded to the inside of the teepee connecting the top and bottom parts of the vent.  These vents maintained the structural integrated of the teepee but where difficult to install.  Our field testers also reported back that a few zippers welds were failing as well.  Lesson learned – zippers create strange tensions when opened and closed. Being that these were interior zippers it was determined the best option was to sew them in.

With the elimination of excess no-see-um netting, some preproduction of pieces and addition of external guyout hardware we come to the vent of today. A large, noseeum mesh backed, durable, easy to use and install wind sucker.

Material Selection
Guided by the one-ness of the teepee’s design and with an eye to ultralight materials we’ve wadded through piles of fabric, heavy duty Cordura to silky light Cuben Fiber, in search of optimal balance of performance and weight savings.

70D ripstop nylon and polyester, 3/4oz and 1.5oz spinnaker sailcloth, Cuben Fiber, 1.1oz Sil-nylon, Dacron and polyester reinforced laminated Mylar were tested as lightweight options.  Our desired traits for the teepee fabric were:

• + Waterproof over extended periods of time
• + High resistance to wetting out - able to shake moister off
• + Lightest possible weight for the required function
• + Strength and durability
• + Limited stretch fabric plus reinforcements must stretch as one to maintain solid welds
• + Ability to be seam welded
• + Reasonably priced

Through extensive field testing and some general mayhem, fabrics began to fall off the list. Dacron for weight, spinnaker for strength; even the tried and true favorite ripstop nylon had its drawbacks (weight, water absorption and stretch).  Cuben Fiber is attractive for its incredibly lightwieght and strength, while it does attract and hold a some condensation, the main drawback is that it is insanely expensive.  Some day there will be a Cuben teepee but for today’s time it is better suited for windows and skylights.  Same went for laminated Mylar used in worldclass racing sails. After all our exploring there arose one obvious standout - silicone coated nylon. Very light, strong, water and dirt hating, really a perfect fabric for the outdoors.

Stakeloops
Every solid house is built on a sturdy foundation and our teepees are no different. What is usually an afterthought in the tent design process, stakeloops, proved to be an area that a little extra design paid off heavily in performance.

Starting with the original welded seam teepee we know some areas just couldn’t be welded, stakeloops being the most critical of them. Originally we reinforced the teepee edge, sewed the stakeloop with a double bar tack and cover the outside of the bar tack to protect.  This created a slight lip at the bottom of the teepee but pinned it tightly to the ground.