Aluminet
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What is It?
Aluminet is a strong reflective shade material that can be used to keep the sun off of just about anything. It's particularly good for shading a tent to keep it cooler once the sun comes up.
The material is much like a space blanket, which reflects infrared to keep something cooler or warmer. However, space blankets (particularly the cheap 'emergency' type) are very flimsy, tend to rip in the wind, and don't have attachment points. Aluminet is a loosely woven fabric that is very strong and perforated so that it does not catch the wind. It also does not shred or otherwise create MOOP.
Aluminet is sold primarily as material for shading greenhouses, and is carried by most greenhouse suppliers. Compared to a regular plastic shade tarp, it's fairly expensive. However, it can also help you get that extra hour or two of sleep in the morning, before your tent becomes a sauna.
Making Your Own Aluminet Tarps
Aluminet can be purchased in both bulk and finished form. Finished aluminet tarps have nylon taped edges with grommets. Bulk aluminet is just a large (and usually very wide - as in 20+ feet) piece of fabric. This can be easily cut and formed into tarps of a usable size:
- Cut down the bulk fabric to the size you want. Take care to trim as closely to the weave points as you can.
- Using a sewing machine and heavy duty thread, fold the edge over twice and sew it down. When done properly, the outer edge will be inside the roll.
- Use heavy-duty snap-on grommets as tie down points.
- The whole thing will now easily stand up to playa-force winds.
More Information Elsewhere
- There's a great Aluminet FAQ on the The BM Alternative Energy Zone wiki.
