New Tarp Material Experiment

[Ben Smith]

I was surfing around on the web a couple weeks ago, and found some interesting stuff.

– 5.15oz (146 grams) for a 8.5' x 9' flat tarp with guy lines.
– No stretch.
– Waterproof under water-hose "heavy rain".
– $60 total cost for adhesive and material.

See if you can guess what the material is…

[Nate Meinzer]

The backing from self-lamination projects?

[Ben Smith]

noooo….

but good guess…

[todd]

I have no idea…..but do tell!

[Brian Camprini]

Polycro?

I have no idea…..but do tell!

+1

[Ike Mouser]

tell us what it is.

[Ben Smith]

OK, OK…

I got it here at Kitebuilder.com, ordered 12 yards and a can of adhesive spray. With shipping, it was $60.

I have found that it's biggest weakness is probably abrasion (I believe it should be similar to 0.33oz cuben fiber), but it seems to be fairly strong as far as tensile strength goes (but again, probably similar to 0.33oz cuben fiber).

I had it set up with probably 5 – 10 mph winds blowing, so I would say it could probably stand ~20 – 30 or so.

I used 0.75oz cuben fiber as the reinforcements for the tie-outs. It seems to be working well, and I had it pulled pretty tight.

If you have any questions about it, let me know…

[Lawson Kline]

Nice Job on the tarp! How wide are your seams?

[Mark McLauchlin]

Very impressive, Will be watching to see how this works for you out in the field, please let us know

Cheers
Mark

[Ben Smith]

Lawson – I tried to make the seams ~1.5", but a couple of them got away from me, and ended up 2 – 2.5".

Mark – Will do, although I have a custom cuben fiber shelter made by Tim Marshall that I usually use now… I guess I'll have to bring both of them along and see how they compare side by side.

– Ben

[John Donewar]

Ben,

Great looking tarp. I am very interested in the material. It seems it could be a definitely less expensive alternative to cuben.

Did you use grosgrain for the tieouts? How were they attached? Was there any sewing involved? Your reinforcements at the ridgeline appear to be stitched. Did you hem the edges in any way. I can't tell from the pictures. What adhesive did you use? Does the material "stuff" well or does it like to be folded?

I found this at HangEmHigh's online store.

http://ecom.citystar.com/hang-em-high/ushop/index.cgi?ID=GNQLJ6&task=show&cat=FILM

It is twice the width at 51" and $9.25 per yard. I'm thinking about a one seam tarp made out of this material.

I am very interested in the field test of your tarp. :-)

Party On ! 2010

Newton

[Ben Smith]

John,

Yes, I used grosgrain on the tieouts. I used a triangle of 0.75oz cuben front and back sewed to the corners, with the tieouts sewed to that.

I did not hem the edges, but I thought about it. I will let everyone know how the edges hold up once I get it tested.

I used this adhesive.

So far, I have only folded the tarp, but it may stuff well.

– Ben

[. .]

Thanks for posting your tarp project!

I'm curious to see how this holds up. Do keep us posted.

[Jason L]

That looks very cool, thanks for the info and I am also looking forward to hearing how it performs long term.

[Rog Tallbloke]

Good find!

Pity it's only available in 'stealthy white'.

[Ron Bell / MLD]

I tried some- it's tear strength is quite low- far less than even polyolefin (polycro) ground cloth material that weighs the same.

I can tear it just using my thumb and one pinky. Maybe around 2- 3lbs…(Silnylon is around 16-20)

bummer- could have been interesting as a light bivy bottom

[drowning in spam]

Ben, thanks for pointing me towards this thread. I knew I saw this before, but trying to find it again would have been a challenge.

As for abrasion, I'm thinking of something like Hyperlite does with the material they use in their pack. Instead of cuben fiber, use this kite version with the same nylon laminate. With nylon 2nd's, it could be very rather inexpensive…aside from the adhesive, which I know nothing about. Unfortunate the result is fairly heavy, and I'm having trouble of thinking up a suitable application aside outside of packs. Ah, rain gear. Dan's cuben fiber rain pants and Joe's cuben skirt would certainly abrade quickly. This hybrid I'm thinking of might work better with a slight weight penalty.

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