packed size of silnylon versus cuben

Cuben is a little bulkier than sil because its stiffer and not slippery.

On the +++++ side, its much easier to pack because its not slippery.

Not actually measured it, but cuben probably takes up 50% more space. For me, part of that is because I don't stuff the daylights out of my cuben gear whereas I will smash my Sil stuff as tight as possible.

Ryan

I find that for an approximatly equivalent weight of sil and cuben (17oz vs 19oz,) the silnylon tarp for two packs about 1/2 to 2/3 the size of the Hexamid Solo Plus. Sorry, I do not have both shelters from the same manufacturer.

Because it is stiffer, it is a lot more difficult to roll tightly. The cuben ends up in a larger, but looser, bundle. You really want the bag to help reduce abrasion. The whole bundle takes up about 2liters.

Silnylon doesn't need a bag. It rolls very tightly, then curls into my grease pot. That is roughly 1liter volume. For bug season, I prefer the cuben, since it is enclosed. For early spring and later on in summer(August onward through fall) the sil is slightly lighter.

Both provide good to excellent rain cover, depending on the ground you choose.

I think cuben CAN pack down to the same volume as 30D silnylon, but you have to fold it carefully. It folds really flat.

But I don't like to fold or roll shelters. I just stuff them in a stuff sack, and this works well with sil because it's so slippery. Stuffing cuben makes it really bulky.

Now when you start talking about the 15D or 20D silnylons out there, I think cuben is way bulkier even when folded.

Yeah, i also find cuben to be awfully bulky when rolled into the stuff sack. BUT…once it's in there, I put it in my pack under my food bag, cinch my pack down tight…and by the time I take it out at the end of the day it's pretty darned smooshed.

If I used such things, I bet a compression sack could really get it tiny! I think there's a lot of air in there…….

Thanks for the replies, folks. Pack volume always seems to be an issue for me.