Dutchware Xenon Sil Test

[Richard Nisley]

Kai Harris sent me a 1' square sample of this fabric to test and post the results to the forum. Microscopic dots formed at 2,460 mm H2O (at the rip stop junctions); they did not increase in size up through 3,500 mm H2O. Per the industry standards, the rating would be 2460 mm H2O but, it is a MUCH better fabric than other fabrics rated at 2460 mm H2O. Other fabrics increase the size of the water droplets as the pressure goes up. On 4/17/14 I tested a prior silnylon offered by Dutchware called Argon Silnylon. It had the same areal density as this sample but, only had a HH of 702 mm H2O. Dutchware is being overly conservative in its Xenon HH rating which states, “It has at least 1000 mm head pressure”. 5mm FOV

[Simon Kenton]

Richard, Thank you for posting this. It looks like a nice material for DIY projects. Did you test the dark olive color? Best of all, it's currently on sale for less than $5 per sqyd.

[Richard Nisley]

Yes; they call it coyote brown. Kai later asked me to test if it was nylon or polyester since they advertise it as low stretch. In a flame it burns with black smoke rather than white smoke and the residue forms blackish beads rather than yellowish beads; these factors indicate that it is nylon.

[Sam Farrington]

Thank you, Richard, for your tests and post. A very good deal for the price. Will be interested to see if the 1.1 oz pans out. Hope the moss green isn't too dark.

[Sam Farrington]

Ordered some. Moss green was a medium shade, more brown than green, like a medium khaki. That is fine. Just wanted something in an earth shade and light enough for an airy tent. 1.1 osy did pan out. Interesting also that the fabric was totally … well uncrinkly, and felt like a fabric, not plastic or paper, like many other ~1 oz sils. So, much less noise from the wind. Given Richard's test results and the price, pretty amazing.

[Adam Kilpatrick]

Really interesting and useful I have some of the aforementioned older Argon Sil. Haven't used it for anything yet. There are a lot of good sils on the market now…not really sure what to do with this swatch of fabric

[Richard Nisley]

Since I had 3 samples of RBTR fabrics I was going to do aging tests on today, I added the Dutchware Xenon Sil to the analysis. After 5,400 wet flex cycles (simulates about 2 weeks of rain / wind) the HH was 984.19mm H2O. Maybe the manufacture's stated rating of 1,000 mm H2O was the long-term-life value?

[Sam Farrington]

Good one, Richard. From at least 2460mm down to under 1000mm with the simulated aging. Didn't know till now that the drop could be that great. Not a disaster, just the cost of a good meal out in this case. So I have to eat my words. Oh well, another tube in the stack and another lesson learned.

[Anonymous]

Still would be ok for things like rain kilts, and to a slightly lesser extent things like ponchos.

[Author]

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