SilPoly or SilNylon Pro/Con

[asamwitch]

I am in the market for a new tarp and thought I would see what others more experienced than me think. I have a Kelty 12 that i love the coverage and all the tie-outs, but would like to shed some weight if possible. CF is out for me and wanted to see what the difference was between these 2 materials were. Thanks for the help!

[WaffleBox]

I'll assume that you're asking about the difference between SilPoly and SilNylon, as I'm not familiar with either of the terms mentioned in your thread title.

SilNylon has a couple of disadvantages that SilPoly does not have. It absorbs a lot of water when it rains, which causes two problems. First, the tarp weighs more when you pack it back up unless you dry it completely first which can take a long time. Second, the more water it absorbs, the more the material stretches. So you might pitch your tarp perfectly taut, go to bed, and wake up with a saggy tarp if it rains in the night. Self-tensioning guylines can fix this problem.

SilPoly doesn't have either of these problems. It is not widely used by commercial manufacturers because it is fairly new still.

If you want a great, lightweight tarp but can't afford cuben, have a cottage vendor make you a tarp out of MEMBRANE silpoly from Ripstop by the Roll or Xenon sil from Dutchware. Both are wonderful fabrics made of lighteweight silpoly.

[asamwitch]

Thank for the correction with the terms. Sounds like Silpoly will be the way to go. Not looking to add more weight

[old4hats]

My wife recently made us a couple of new tarps from the silpoly from RSBTR. At 13'3" I am amazed at the light weight and packability of these tarps. I have had them in the rain several times, and they again amaze me with their lack of stretch, plus when the rain stops a quick wipe and they are pretty dry, not much added water weight. It wouldn't surprise me to see some of the popular tarp makers going this way some day.

[DrPhun]

I bought some of the Dutch xenon sil to make a tarp, and while I haven't sewed it yet, I did cut it and was impressed with how nicely it layed flat while I was cutting it. It didn't want to move around and kink as much as silnylon.

[duckyy]

You don't need aggressive cat cuts with silpoly like silnylon. No cat cut is more coverage.

[justicehaze]

I just got material to make two Membrane SilyPoly tarps so I will let you know how that goes.

[NW Lost Boy]

I may be completely wrong so forgive me, but didn't a recent post on the same topic mention that silnylon is slightly stronger? Maybe worth the trade off for those of us who tend to be a little rough on our gear?!

[Dutch]

I may be completely wrong so forgive me, but didn't a recent post on the same topic mention that silnylon is slightly stronger? Maybe worth the trade off for those of us who tend to be a little rough on our gear?!

I would say you are correct with this. In general nylon is stronger and also most silnylons I know are 20 denier and silpolys tend to be 15D. So strength does play in Silnylon's favor.

[asamwitch]

Are there any vendors using the silpoly for tarp making?