Spinnshelter or Silshelter??

Darren,

I own the MLD Patrol spin and can offer only subjective info, others may have hard data. I had reservations when I first received the shelter. After 22 nights I can say that I give it the same care and attention that I gave my sil tarp, which is to say I pay attention to snags and the like when setting up or taking down. It has not failed in anyway and I do not fear that it will. I'd say go for it!

I have used tarps made with with both materials, and my experience has been that spinnaker is much more fragile than 1.3 silnylon. I've had holes poked in my spinnshelter from branches that in similar circumstances would have glanced right off my silnylon tarp. Ultralight is what we are all about here, but ultra fragile is the tradeoff that we make and understand, and you must be willing to spend that extra effort to care for your equipment.

Since they are of the same material (nylon with silicone
coating, assuming the spinn is the stronger type 66 nylon
like domestic silnylon is) their tear strength would be roughly proportional to
their weight.

So a .9 ounce fabric would be .9/1.3 times the strength of
1.3 ounce silnylon.

Another factor is stretch. The more heavily calandared
spinn cloth would spread the force at tie out points
less than the stretchier silnylon.

Weight of the coating will determine the waterproofness
under pressure. I do not have figures for the spinn
fabric (there are several versions and weights) but
the coating on silnylon is about .2 ounces per square
yard.

Darren, ask the seller to weigh his Silshelter. You may be pleasantly surprised at the weight. My seam-sealed January 2000 version weighs 13.2 oz. A Spinnshelter is presumably about 9 oz. with seam sealing. So you may only be looking at a four ounce difference. I've seen the article in BPL about the Silshelter needing 17 stakes and complex set up to get a taut pitch. That may be true if you're expecting snow. In most conditions, I can get a good pitch in a few minutes with eight stakes. Anyway, nine years and many shelters later, the Silshelter is still one of my favorites.

I have a SilShelter purchased in 2008, its weight is 350 gm (about 12.5 ozs) there has been some minor design changes with the back of the shelter which makes it easier to get a taut pitch. Pictures can be seen here

Hey Roger, just noticed that you use a similar set up to mine–two Pacer Poles set up as an exoskeleton. I guess great minds think alike. ;-)

Nah, copied your idea which works like a treat.

Check out this post, it put me of the idea of a spinnaker tarp or shelter.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/xdpy/forum_thread/16791/index.html?skip_to_post=127287#127287