i started shifting to lightweight gear in 2005 and was going on tons of trips in 05-07 and then we had our second son and well, infant beats backpacking. now that the youngest is old enough to play quietly in the corner, i can get back out there on my solo trips.

i used to know that the hottest trend in tarps was sil nylon with a catenary curve. i was reading a blog about knots and saw that is now antiquated gear and it's all about cuben, whatever that is.

i feel like such a luddite with my 4 years of not paying attention. ask me about kid crap, i can tell you all you need to know. the difference in diapers between our first and second kid's - amazing. i guess lightweight tech would follow suit.

Steve,

Poke around and you'll find lots of our cottage manufacturers are making cuben tarps and the weights are unbelievable. Some of my favorites:

- Lawson Equipment (although he doesn't show any tarps right now)
- ZPacks
- Mountain Laurel Designs

I have cuben tarps from both Lawson and MLD and am constantly eyeing one of Joe's (ZPacks) cuben hammock tarps with doors.

Think of cuben as cutting your shelter weight in half as a general rule and you'll see why it's so hot right now.

PS - I've sent you some PM's about the BPL UL Bear Bag - did you get them and do you still want it? PM me back please.

i think sil nylon is just perfect for my tarp needs after reviewing the price/weight difference. i guess some people need to save the weight for the stuff they are a smokin' :D

so my "old school" sil nylon cat tarp is still valid. not sure i could handle being in a hammock - i get panicked in confined spaces.

Silnylon tarps work great, and can be quite inexpensive if you make them yourself (see many posts int MYOG, or RayWay tarp kits). I find their weight acceptable, particulary when you are on a budget.

My impression is that a catenary cut is not that important for smaller tarps. They deform a lot in the wind and it's not clear to me a catenary cut makes all that much of a difference. Others will argue that you can get a tighter pitch with a catenary cut, and this is very important for spilling wind. I actually do not have much experience in heavy winds, so maybe they are correct, but you should consider how often you'll be exposed to such winds.

I consider Cuben an exotic material, way too expensive for me, and difficult to sew (I make a lot of my own gear).

I agree that a catenary cut small tarp is limiting your pitch options, and may not be the best overall cut unless you plan to pitch A-frame all the time. And a small A-frame tarp pitch might not give great weather protection compared to a flat tarp in a half-pyramid pitch(which gives 3-sides coverage. And a half-pyramid allows side-entry, which I think is easier for me to get in/out of.

So, while I love the look of a nice taught-pitched A-frame catenary tarp, I got a flat tarp and pitch it in half-pyramid pitch, and that is nice.

If you get a small tarp and use a good pitch set-up, you can find that silnylon is pretty light weight too, and a small solo silnylon tarp is not much heavier than a larger cuben twin tarp.
My ID Siltarp 5x8 weighs only around 7 ounces(tarp only) and that's not too bad.
A half-pyramid pitch with enough headroom to fit you will give 3-sides of coverage pretty well, but the tarp will be a bit off the ground, so you can still get side gusts with spray or splash.

If you look at the Hexamid and other popular "mid" shaped tarps, they really are variations of the half-pyramid pitch anyway, but they add a beak for more rain protection on the 4th side.

It's all alot of fun. Worst case is you get a little wet while you're learning, so do it in the summer where it isn't so bad to get a little wet.

Edited by towaly on 09/22/2011 12:34:20 MDT.

"I consider Cuben an exotic material, way too expensive for me, and difficult to sew (I make a lot of my own gear)."

First time I've heard this. I think cuben is probably the easiest to sew of all the different material I've ever used. Its a dream. I will say that it is priced out of most people's budgets, but if you can afford it and want it enough to pay for it I think its well worth the price and its my favorite material for a shelter. I went recently went with a diy cuben tarp from a spinn twinn just because I didn't like the sag of spinn and sil.

"I think cuben is probably the easiest to sew of all the different material I've ever used."

Really? Can anyone else verify this claim? I'm not trying to be objectionable, it's that I've never heard that before. In fact, for some reason I thought cuben was glued/seam sealed.

I've made all my own equipment, including pack, tarp tent & quilt, out of various ripstop/silnyon combinations. I've actually become quite proficient @ sewing. I'd like to verify this claim about cuben, because if true, I would make a new cuben tarp in a heartbeat.

Side note: I'm actually moving in an opposite direction to the stand-alone tarp trend. After a quick 4 day, high-mileage, high elevation (read: cold @ night!) trip last week in the Sierra, I'm done with pitching a tarp @ the end of the day. I'm moving back towards a breathable bivy, given its simplicity, small footprint & slight warmth boost.

However, in case of rain (the bivy I plan on making will be similar to Ti/MLD ie the shell will be M90, DWR, but not waterproof), I need to create a small emergency tarp (say 9'x5') along the lines of the MLD solo.

The cuben version weighs 3.5oz, while my guess is that a silylon version would be @ least 8oz. Given that the tarp would solely for emergency measures, it would also be nice to have something taking up as little space as possible.

So, can anyone else give a hearty dose of support for working with cuben, or should I stick with silnylon?

Edited by Hobbesatronic on 09/22/2011 14:51:38 MDT.

Suluk video demonstrates sewing Cuben http://www.suluk46.com/RandD%20-%20RD7%20Cuben%20Fiber%20Tarp.html

I think the only problem with sewing is the fabric isn't real strong and a sewn seam can rip, stronger to tape or glue, sewn is okay for hem around the perimeter

Dan Durstan posted a link to http://www.sailrite.com/Seamstick-1-Super-Basting-Tape-by-3M-60-Yds which is supposed to be strong enough to seam two pieces of Cuben together

I am thinking about doing something with Cuben but just haven't done it yet. Get 9 meters from cubictechnology.com where it's cheaper, or buy smaller quantity from quest

This recent thread http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=53222 thinks that sewing cuben is easier than silnylon.

Jerry & William, thank you for the respective links. I must admit that as soon as any discussion turns to 'special' considerations, my alarm bell goes off. Probably because as you get older, you really begin to emphasize KISS.

There's a reason wood has been the go-to material for building structures for, oh 10,000(?) years. Same too with certain, simple to use metals for other uses. And then we get to nylon, which over the last 80 years, in all its various forms/permutations, really is a miracle fabric.

After my last trip, once again I learned (the hard way) that while one can focus on equipment grams & ounces, they pale in comparison to food & water, which given just a small miscalculation, amount to ounces & pounds.

Here's what happened: even though I'm very careful about measuring my food requirements, I still walked out with 4oz extra oatmeal, 4 oz extra cous cous & 8 oz extra GORP. 1 lb right there. Add an extra pint of water by misjudging (from the map) water availability/my hydration rate, and I'm now carrying an extra 2 lbs!

I mean, this discussion is over the difference of what, 4-5 ounces max? And for that I give up a basically fool-proof fabric (silnylon) that is widely accessible, relatively inexpensive, easy to repair, durable, and something I already know how to cut, sew & use?

I guess I'm beginning to sound like some curmudgeon, but seriously, the more you hike, the more you realize where the big weight savings really arise. After you make the basic switch to (rip/sil) UL equipment, improvements are minimal compared to what you eat/drink.