Yeah it seems weird that a material designed for sailboats would have issues in sun & heat...
Yeah it seems weird that a material designed for sailboats would have issues in sun & heat...
Potential is nothing without hard work.
Thanks for the info, I love my cuben winter palace and although not as easy as I should be on it I do try to take care of it. It has withstood hail, torrential rains, approx 50 mph winds and is holding strong. I will be sure to only deploy if needed and make sure to try and keep it out of direct sunlight.
"I love not man the less, but Nature more."
Byron
+10000000Originally Posted by Boulderman
Used in sail racing at the elite levels.
Nothing but UV exposure all day every day.
Have to wonder about various types of cf but manufacturer sourcing would get my initial attention.
Most informative thread, thank you.
Last edited by Ratdog; 07-16-2013 at 10:48.
I think it's the .51 factor.
I have not a clue the fabric weight of my OES in cuben, but it has seen hours and hours of sunlight and I have yet to notice any fatigue. Course, I may have just jinxed myself. I remember reading something a couple of years back about the various pros and cons of differing weights of cuben fabrics. The author was basically outlining which weights work best for different gear applications. I don't recall much detail about the article, but do remember the author expressing concern over some of the applications being used with the lighter weight cuben fabrics. So now, I wonder if there was some truth to it. Then again, I do not recall at all which weights were being discussed and where the .51 falls into the mix.
I'm just thinking out loud here, but I doubt it is due to construction and it doesn't sound like it was outright abused. That pretty much just leaves the fabric itself; whether it was factory flawed or just part of the learning curve of fabric weight vs application.
Trust nobody!
I would have though a material developed for yacht sails would be able to handle sun and heat.
Just so it's known the material used for sails is much, much, much thicker. The material was specifically designed for that use, racing sails. It is completely different, but the concept is the same, using the materials/producing them in a similar manner.
The material we use for hiking/camping, backpacking was made by Cubic Tech specifically for our purposes at the demand and outcry by our industry (if one can say it as such), so expecting it to perform as the racing sail's is rediculous. All of it's limitations have yet to be found, so this may one of them. Although for me I would need much more than two to say it's a fault of the material, especially when there are probably more than a thousand tarps sold that are made out of cuben each year (just a rough guess factoring in every company out there selling the material). One other possibility is a fault or defect in that roll, or that part of the roll? It is not unheard of for manufacturers to produce and sell defective material, which was thought to be right by them.
Sucks that this happened to you, but glad that you posted about it so that others may keep a better watch on their gear. Hope it gets worked out for you, maybe a bunch of stuff sacks or tarp skins, or a bunch of them from the remaining salvageable cuben from your tarp.
"yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift---thats why its called a present" - Master Oogway
It's always best if your an early riser!
Yes, informative thread. So apparently it is the lighter tarp material which is causing an inability to stand up to intense sun, maybe even just one days worth of intense sun, and also apparently causing it to be more prone to puncture than sil-nylon or PU coated nylon?
If all of that is the case, does this material compare well with sil-nylon when it comes to high winds when the temps are cooler?
In my discussions with Adam, he mentioned,,yep,,cuben was used in sails, but not as much as you think,,and the sails they used are smallish in size. He also mentioned to me, that him and Joe of Zpacks have hundreds of tarps made for customers, and thru the grapevine of the industry,,other makers of cuben camping gear have often questioned the usage of .51 cuben material being used in tarps as they are leaning to heavier cuben material in their mfging processes. Personally,,I think, as we all seek to lighten the load using the best space age materials we have clamored for our cottage makers to use, and you really have to think of how few of years cuben .51 as been available to us to use,,everything in my book is still kinda in its infancy as nothing is proven perfect until a lot of time and usage has proven itself out totally. I am not disappointed in the fact that one of my cuben tarps has failed and the material didn't hold up. I think its good to know,,that maybe this material over time,,(not sure of how much time tho) as light as it is,,can be damaged to excessive heat and sun. Maybe we have found the limitations of .51 cuben material. Maybe we had a bad few yards of imperfect material. Adam is keeping this tarp for his study of it and maybe he will find out a couple of answers that he has questions of in the back of his mind also. Last year, if you read some of my postings,,busted my butt by ripping a hammock made by me, of M 90 Tafetta...it didn't hold up,,but the M 90 Ripstop material so far has as I am still using that hammock. I am still very happy with my .51 cuben tarps that Adam makes as well so if stuff fails,,will keep on seeking perfection in other materials as its a constant learning process for all of us.
Another question I had for Adam was,,could I have staked down and strung the tarp up to tightly. His comment was he didn't think so. Another question I asked was, would hanging the cuben tarp on a single RL instead of a RL of line from each end, take stress off the tarp and his answer was that he didn't think that it much mattered how it was hung as to him,,hanging it tight didn't cause the failure of the material in separating. So there are still a few questions in my mind unanswered as well. Time will eventually tell us more about limitations of materials that we seek to use.
2nd CAG, CAP 2-1-5 5th Marines, 1st Mar. Div.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combined_Action_Program
I have hung this cuben tarp in the mid 20's, blowing snow,one heavy snow of 10 inches ,light dime sized hail one time, up to 50 mph gusting winds in couple of storms and have been very pleased with it spring, early summer, early fall,,late fall and winter. I think perhaps,,its not a dead of summer or open sunlight usage and high heat that is maybe its worst weakness. other weakness would be for me,,poking holes inavertantly in it with my spreader bars of Bridge Hammocks,,but I have the ends of the spreader bars covered with pieces of 1/2 thick etha foam in case they rub against the cuben material. As far as silnylon,,I have literally abused the heck out of it and have 2 ancient MOSS parawing (as they were called back then) silnylon tarps that are now going on 12-15 yrs old that still don't leak. 10' x 12' OES and WL old man winter tarps were quite used well also that I and the wife used for a yr or so also. With age,,and what is offered to me by the cottage makers on this forum,,I prefer the lightest materials available to me to pack however and that is the only reason I quit using silnylon,,but,,I am thinking of a sil tarp for summer time now for sure besides what I already have in my stable of tarps.
Last edited by Acer; 07-16-2013 at 13:43.
2nd CAG, CAP 2-1-5 5th Marines, 1st Mar. Div.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combined_Action_Program
Very informative thread. Thanks for sharing. I have a HG cuben tarp as well. I really like the weight savings but I have found that to be the only real reason to get cuben. It is definitely considerably less durable, particularly with punctures as i have found. My next tarp will likely be another silnylon tarp to use in colder weather and shorter hikes/car camping etc. I'll probably snag another Superfly at some point for that.
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