Seal your tent's mesh panels

Tents with large mesh panels are not suitable for camping in a desert environment which has extreme dust storms. While mesh vents are usually desired for cooling and to exhaust moisture, they become liabilities in the windy desert. In a dust storm, everything inside the tent will be covered with a thick layer of fine dust in short order. A full-coverage rain fly will reduce dust ingress, but will not eliminate it.

I chose to sew ripstop nylon over the mesh panels of my tent.

Just beware, this does render the tent unusable in most other environments.

The photos below indicate before-and-after views.
Subsequent pages discuss design choices and sewing techniques.

Step 1 Design choices

Overall solutions are obvious:
- buy a tent with no mesh panels
- buy a tent with zippable covers over mesh panels
- cover the mesh panels of your existing tent
The tradeoff here is simple: time vs money. I chose the last option.

There are several choices for cover material:
- thin fabric (like a bedsheet)
- thick fabric (like blanket batting)
- furnace air filters
- plastic sheeting
- ripstop nylon
Tradeoffs here are more interesting: dust-exclusion effectiveness, strength, heat build-up (in direct sunlight), noisiness (flapping in the wind), cleanability (after you leave the desert), weight, appearance. I chose ripstop nylon.

There are several choices to affix the material to the tent:
- Permanent attachment
-- adhesive (silicon caulk, hot glue, epoxy dots, etc)
-- tape (gaffer's tape, monster tape, etc)
-- sewing with thread
- Removable attachment
-- Zippers
-- Velcro
Tradeoffs involve skill and complexity to assemble, heat resistance, cleanability, and (quite importantly) the ability to reduce heat build-up in full sun. Because I do not occupy the tent during the light of day, I could ignore heat build-up, and chose a permanent attachment. And because I like to clean the tent in a large industrial washing machine after camping, I chose to sew it on with thread.

Comments

[mountainmandan]

Great idea! One addition: if you used a curved needle, would that eliminate the need for someone to be inside the tent? The needle would always emerge on the outside. You would still need the second person there, of course, for moral support, to offer their opinion, to dj the music, and keep you company. :)

[alexisgo]

I stapled mine after hours of sewing and getting frustrated. Just used a simple office stapler to staple the ripstop fabric to the tent seams. Seems to be just as good as the portions I sewed!

[ModMischief]

Is there any reason why you couldn't do at least part of the sewing on a sewing machine?

I need to do something like this before bringing my tent back to Burning Man and I want to save myself from all that hand stitching.

[a.doovz]

Hi Mod,
I had two reasons for hand stitching. (1) The opening under the arm of my standard-sized sewing machine was too small, and the tent fabric was too slippery.  I could not push it through as I stitched.  (2) I was a little concerned that the close spacing of all the needle holes would weaken the tent fabric.  I didn't want it to tear in a wind storm.

You might succeed if you have a larger machine, smaller tent, or better skills than mine.  Also, maybe you can adjust your machine for a larger stitch pitch.
Good luck

[ModMischief]

Thanks. I'm also a little worried about the fabric being so slippery but I think I'm going to give it a try on the machine. I'll definitely take your advice and set it for really large stitches.

[thebritelite]

I got the same results by glueing the ventilation holes shut. After I set up the inner tent, but before I put the cover, I glued panels of dust-blocking fabric, polyester or something, over the ventilation openings. Because the tent fabric is treated to make it waterproof, several glues, including fabric glue, did not stick. Bond 527 (renamed Beacon 527) worked well. It's a thin glue, so it looks messy. In New York City, you can get it in the garment district at: Steinlauf and Stoller sewing & notions 239 West 39 @7/8th Ave; or Toho Shoji beads 990 Sixth Ave @ 36th Street; or M&J Trimmings 1008 6th Ave 37/38th Street.

[Jonathan Harford]

thebritelite, do you know if Bond 527 holds up well in a hot environment?

[thebritelite]

Hi Jonathan: I used Bond 527 to seal the ventilation openings in the tent that I use at Burning Man. It gets very hot in the burning sunlight of Nevada's Black Rock desert. These are extreme conditions. The ventilation openings remain sealed, though. I'll use the tent again a few weeks from now.

[p0kech0p]

Im curious how you coped with the heat in your tent... I am crusing the net right now trying to see other options, as I am currently a shambhalite, and will be a burner this year hopefully... I have played with swamp coolers, and a few methods for cooling my tent and good ventilation and shade have been the mose effective to date. Any ideas or experience would be appreciated, as I tend to sleep in the day at these festivals.

[thebritelite]

So you haven't been at Burning Man yet? You want to keep your tent tightly sealed at all times to keep the Playa dust out. That means it gets insanely hot during the day. No worries, it gets very cold at night. The best way to nap during the day is out in the open under shade. I did have a swamp cooler one year. Had a struggle to keep it in the tent opening. It did make a nap inside the tent during the day more bearable. Again, you really want to do that outside. Also, the swamp cooler uses a lot of water, a precious resource. Just seal up your tent to keep the freakin' dust out.

[Neagle]

I used to do this for winter camping. I went to the extra effort to sew in Velcro around the screening to maintain the use of the tent in other environments. I've also lerned to seal all of the corners with a commercial sealer just to add some protection.

[funwithfire325]

great idea! i love the idea... *dosen't cough in tent*