I was just cruising around looking at materials and found that Quest Outfitters is now carrying a WPB that is 1.95 oz/yd and $11/yd. I assume it is 2 layer and have no clue of the quality. IIRC a light WPB has been requested recently on the forum.

I just have to save up enough money to get some before all you vultures buy it up :)

Edited by willspower3 on 07/21/2009 21:05:25 MDT.

There some quality issue w/ this fabric. Read this post first:
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/xdpy/forum_thread/22395/index.html?skip_to_post=180737#180737

Yup, I'd hold off on buying any of that stuff. The waterproof coating on the inside of the material is, well, the waterproof coating--and it's all rubbing off before I can even get the thing sewn up. Despite assurances that the fabric will still work just fine, let's be real. The only thing keeping that fabric waterproof will be the DWR on the face of the fabric. No, I haven't done any testing with the fabric yet, because I'm too disappointed with it. I've been pretty involved/interested in gear for a very long time, sold lots of it, I've never seen anything break down so quickly like this. I mean, one touch or light rub on the material takes some coating off--which makes me wonder if it would even be suitable for a sleeping bag shell. Given that we're supposed to be relatively objective here, I still need to leak-test the stuff. I'm just screwing up the gumption to do it... and I ordered some different, though heavier, material.

I say this begrudgingly and with hesitation...

I rubber-banded some of this fabric to form a pouch about half-way into a wide glass, then stuck it under a sink faucet and turned the water on all the way. Saw no water come through. Left it to sit with water in the "pool." Didn't find any leak through.

The areas of my project where all the coating wore off were primarily on the edges... ie, around the neck opening where I pulled it on/off a couple times, there's nothing but the royal blue showing on both sides. But you can't really test for waterproofness at the edge of a piece of fabric. The area I tested on had worn down significantly, but not quite all the way. So maybe this stuff will work. I'd try a smaller quantity of it, maybe, and see how it goes before going full bore into the material?