I love my 2 cuben tarps from HG that me and the wife use occasionally. Last year, I hung my 4 season cuben tarp made by HG (Adam/Jen) and had a failure of the material separating around the bonded area of one of the RL tie out areas in the middle of the tarp on the side. Adam repaired this making it stronger by larger bonded on both sides RL tie out and had worked great in all previous hangs.
Last week, I hung my tarp to enjoy a rain that was coming in that evening, and it was a very large storm. I had the RR hammock under the tarp,,the tarp hung like I normally would hang it, with the doors closed and after the storm, and all the humidity,,a heavy fog set in all nite soaking everything hanging,,so that ended the hang as I just didn't want to endure the heavy fog, leaving the hammock and tarp hung all nite in the storm mode with the doors closed. Next morning at 8am I went outside and re-hung the tarp sides in porch mode on both sides using my and the wife's set of hiking poles to allow hammock and tarp to dry out as everything was perfect and fine with tarp. At about 2pm,,outside temp was 86,,under the tarp temp in my portable thermometer was registering 100 and it was pure sunny as when I do hang in front of the house there is no shade what so ever,,just pure sunny and hot. Tarp material had separated on both RL tieout bonded areas. Not the bonding, or the sewed areas of the tarp by the makers,,,but the material itself. And it was all separated and stringy and beyond repair.
Adam called me today to inform me that the tarp was beyond repair. We had a nice 20 minute discussion on .51 cuben material.
As cuben tarp users,,we all know,,that .51 cuben material is the lightest material going and that is why we like our UL tarps made this way. However,,in my discussions with Adam,,I think we both have come to realize, that we, as cuben tarp hangers, have some limitations that we can hang these tarps in. Sunlight, and intense heat!
We as cuben tarp users also know,,that these tarps are not impervious to flying projectiles, as extreme hail, tree limbs falling, and tarp stakes flying into them and I had previously had rubbed a few small pin holes in the side of this tarp also getting in and out of a bridge hammock with the spreader bars rubbing the cuben vigiorusly.
Adam also informed me, that this wasn't his first time of seeing a cuben tarp that he had made from .51 uber light cuben material fail like mine. One of his customers, had left his cuben tarp out for a week or more in the middle of the summer in the heat and sun, and had the same failure similar to mine.
I now definitely know the limitations of .51 cuben material. How many other users out there on this forum have had similar experiences???
Will this stop me from using .51 cuben. No,,as I really like the material. I will just have to supplement in the hot summer with a silnylon tarp in direct sunlight and heat.
Should I go to .74 cuben material as its about the same costs,,but heavier? I should think the answer is no, for me, as its about the same finished weight as silnyon. Adam can get that material if users choose to have a tarp made from heavier material of which he thinks might be a lot more durable under these conditions of extreme heat..but nobody knows for sure.
I want to stress,,this failure was not a cause of the tarp maker as in no way or anywhere there has been stress or failure in the process of making the tarp. All bonded areas are like new and still in perfect working order. Its the material that delaminated, separated, and came apart. Sorry I didn't take a pic,,as I just didn't want to stress the damaged areas, and I packed and sent the tarp straight to Adam for him to look at.
Chime in,,if you have had any unexpected failures of cuben. I just wanted to post and point out my experiences with cuben material,,of which I love,,but will have to pay attention to how I use and baby it to make it work for me. I have another cuben tarp from HG on order as of now to replace this one.
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