Multicam is amazing stuff. It adapts to the colors nearby.

There is a thread over at Hammock Forums about getting 30D Silnylon in Multicam.

http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/showthread.php?t=16818

I know I would like to have some for a tarp for the hammock, maybe for the hammock and certainly for a poncho to throw over my gear at the "stealth campsite" for bicycle touring and getting off-trail just a bit for thru-hiking and popular hiking trails. I don't want my gear stolen, because I walk to the water source and come back to find I have been ripped off, for example. I live next to Glacier National Park, MT and there is a lot of theft going on.

There are also hunters, and other outdoor enthusiasts.

I do wildlife photography (not professional) with my Old Town Loon. The canoe and kayak crowd may be interested.

Is there interest, here, in having some for your projects?

Do you know others, who would like to have it?

If so, post over there or "PM" the person who started the thread.

edit: If there are vendors interested, we want to know.

One vendor has already said he will place an order. Maybe, soon, we will do a pre-order?

Edited by ConnieDodson on 04/25/2010 15:06:24 MDT.

"Multicam is amazing stuff. It adapts to the colors nearby"

Chameleons can do that, but... "Crye Precision has partnered with Duro Textiles to handle all production, distribution, and sales of MultiCam® printed fabrics. Duro is the market leader in the printing and finishing of performance textiles"

It believe that means they will print/apply the pattern of your choice.


Edit: Oh, yea...the alien in Predator, too.

Edited by greg23 on 04/25/2010 09:12:02 MDT.

I saw that movie: that was one scarey movie.

OT, I fixed the link to the start of the thread over there.

We are trying to get lightweight backpackers served.

It isn't a limited phenomenon, you know, this lightweight and ultralightweight backpacking.

I have had an info website, for over a decade, promoting smart lightweight and ultralightweight backpacking: http://ultralightbackpackingonline.info is the present URL.

I really like this camo.

I especially like it doesn't scream "survivalist" or military.

I really like getting away from all the colorful gear that screams "rescue me" as someone said on another forum.

I have looked into coyote brown for a hammock and underquilt.

I think the Multicam, in a tarp, will look fine and compliment my lightweight hammock gear.

I didn't start the thread, over there. I just offered to get the word out, so we can place our order.

Read that thread.

Edited by ConnieDodson on 04/25/2010 11:15:01 MDT.

I've had a good amount of experience using multicam, and I agree that its an amazing camo. However, it doesn't "adapt" to its environment...that would suggest that the camo changes depending on its surroundings...like the chameleon (or predator) that Greg suggested. The thing that makes multicam unique is that the colors used in the pattern blend into each other..so a green starts out dark, and slowly lightens, until it mixes with the tan color used in the pattern...think of it like watercolors blending together. The pattern is fixed though, and doesn't change or adapt (or else we would be talking about Predator technology), but it does a great job breaking up the shape of the object donning it. That's the other thing...camo fabrics, as it is used today, isn't suppose to help an individual blend into the environment, so much as it is suppose to help break up the shape of an object so the human eye won't recognize it for what it is...whether it be a soldier, or a tent. If you want something to blend in...then make a ghillie suit for it :0

I can def see its practical purposes in a stealth camp setting, and its going to be better than the bright yellows we see on MSR and BD tents, but at the same time, Multicam is not a miracle worker. In real life, you can still spot multicam...its a pretty light pattern...and in a dark environment it just contrasts too much with the surroundings. If you go to multicampattern.com and look at their gallery, you'll see that the pattern is crazy effective when it comes to arid, dry, desert environments. You can also see the pattern working really well when the individuals are standing near boulders, concrete walls etc. However, you never really see pics of this patten in dark green forests, etc. Makes me think the pattern is better suited for places like California Sierras, as opposed to the AT

I saw that the supplier wants a 5000 yard commitment...that's a lot of fabric, and I'm just not sure its worth the addition costs, because you can do a pretty decent job concealing your camp with just gray/OD/ or coyote brown silnylon (if available). My old tent was a Gray Sierra Designs Vapor 2, which looks very similar to a BA Seedhouse. Even when it was in a snow setting, the thing looked like a boulder from 70 yards away.

Also, IMO it does scream military.. haha. It was originally developed in hopes of selling it to the military...the digital ACU/MARPAT pattern was adopted instead because Multicam was too expensive to adopt. The only people ending up buying multicam were private contracters, airsofters (military simulation war gamers) and the producers for the Transformers movies...yeah, that's multicam that Tyrese is wearing in the movie :)
I think it was only recently that we started seeing companies like timbuk2 using this pattern...but its def a military pattern

Edited by Konrad1013 on 04/25/2010 12:03:26 MDT.

I know that. I already have grey, coyote brown, and tan.

However, Multicam is excellent stuff.

I have a jacket in Multicam. I have a jacket in Mossy Oak Breakup.

I get no public reaction to the Multicam jacket.

I get nasty glares and negative responses to the Mossy Oak Breakup.

I know about the contracts. I would like to get this camo for backpacking and camping and other outdoors enthusiasts who like lightweight gear and do not like all those loud colors in outdoor gear.

I do ocean sailing (season champion). I bicycle in town.

There is a need for road-sign greenish yellow.

There is also a need for subtle colors.

It would work well on the prairie and in the coulees of The Great Plains. It would work well in the American Southwest. It would work well in most of California, Nevada, Eastern Washington, Eastern Oregon and parts of Idaho. It would work well in Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, much of Texas, Oklahoma and in parts of the South, like Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina.

I do a lot of wildlife photography from my Old Town Loon: the hull color is granite.

I am just saying, people do like Multicam, people do want lightweight multicam. That is why I am looking for more interested people to help get this.


edit: We don't know the price, yet. That is to be determined.

My gear costs a lot. I could care less, if it is $10 per yard or $15.

. . .

Edited by ConnieDodson on 04/25/2010 15:14:09 MDT.

One person wants 500 yards, to start, if we get Duro to make "30d (or lighter) non coated, calendered ripstop with some kind of DWR on it. It would have to have a very low CFM rating (the ability for air to pass though it)".

Boy, I want that too!

Is there more interest?

Multicam HAS been adopted by the US military. Special forces operators have been using it for years, and there was a recent scandal over just how monumentally BAD the Army's new ACU pattern is. (Obviously, someone had his pocket lined to ensure that the ACU pattern was adopted- something just isn't right about the whole situation.) Soldiers were writing congressmen to complain. This led to a second-look at camoflage patterns, and Multicam won easily. Presumably the same guy who was bribed the first time isn't around any more- he's at his beach house on Maui or something. I suspect that he's the same guy that denied adoption of Dragon Skin body armor in favor of the SAPI plates that have had so many recalls. If Dragon Skin really isn't suitable for hot environments then why go generals and their bodyguards in Afghanistan keep wearing it?

Anyway, I believe that normal line units are being issued Multicam when they get orders to Afghanistan right now. (Not much point in using it in Iraq- nearly all conflict there is urban.)

Edited by acrosome on 04/25/2010 15:41:04 MDT.

I stand corrected! Thanks Dean...all my knowledge of multicam is probably 4 years old. Thanks for the headsup

O yes, dragonskin armor is epic. I always figured the military didn't adopt the best and greatest because of cost reasons. i.e the issued m9 over the better (in terms of military testing) sig p226. Then there was that whole OICW program fiasco which resulted in the military still using the same rifle. thoughts?

Edited by Konrad1013 on 04/25/2010 15:47:16 MDT.

Well, yes, I'm sure that at least PART of the real reason Dragon Skin wasn't adopted was cost. (Another part was that Interceptor was a military project.) Given the media feeding frenzy around how "our soldiers should get the BEST equipment possible" back when unarmored humvees were being routinely blown to smithereens, having the military point out that paying twice as much for armor with not a lot of practical gain doesn't make sense would have been non-viable. After all, I do get the point that multiple 7.63x54mm armor-piercing hits is a rare event, and is the only area where Dragon Skin probably far out performs the SAPI plates. (The plates will stop that round, but then the plate shatters, so it can't stop many of them.)

OICW doesn't annoy me that much. There are a LOT of development programs that go no where. Thats sort of the way it works when you try to develop something revolutionary- sometimes its a bust. Just ask the Air Force- they've had some monumental busts. (That said, I think that stopping procurement of the F-22 is a mistake. I'd much rather have the hands-down world's best air-superiority fighter in our arsenal than a new rifle. We are winning our larger wars nowadays through air power- no denying it- consider the Balkans and both Iraq wars. And that's painful for an Army guy to say.)

not to mention, I personally have yet to see a rifle that is enough of an improvement over the M16/M4 that I'd be willing to pay the price to switch. The G36, maybe, comes close. The bigger issue is that if we really want to carry carbines then we really need a new round, not a new rifle.

Edited by acrosome on 04/26/2010 08:44:11 MDT.

double post

Edited by ConnieDodson on 04/26/2010 10:59:03 MDT.

That said, would you like to make a tarp for your RV with some lightweight Multicam?

Hammock hangers are looking for interest (see link: first post) to place an order.

The idea is to start with 30D silnylon, plus there is a request for lightweight downproof ripstop with DWR.

I am former United States Army. Sounds like some here could complete their ensemble, using some of the more lightweight stuff we are seeking to have made for us.

Edited by ConnieDodson on 04/26/2010 11:01:40 MDT.