cuben tent

[ziff house]

This is my first post here, but i thought i owed you guys for doing the engineering work on the glues.
So my tent is double wall, external frame[ground], center pole is Nanolite, rest are carbon, weight came in at 1.7 lbs, a bit heavier than i had hoped but still lighter than my alternatives.

[Ben Smith]

What cuben did you use?

[ziff house]

The mid weight from questoutfitters for the fly and the heavy one for the tub.

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

I guess that's CT0.6K.08 for the main tent and CT2K.08 for the floor.

Nice job. Reminds me a Terra Nova. Let us know if anything doesn't hold up so we can all learn.

[Jerry Adams]

Did you glue the zipper?

[ziff house]

Whats the consensus here on waterproofness long term? Seems to me it will be ok , its had lots of folding unfolding so far, left it out in the rain ,no problems. And it will not get heavy use unless i start hiking alone more.
I sewed the zip to a seperate piece first then glued, sewing seemed fairly strong but in critcal areas i glued along the seam also and the seam acts as a good guide for the glue.

[. .]

Nice job. This is the first full cuben inner + outer I have seen. Props to you.

I am curious how well it will handle condensing moisture in the air. Have you considered adding a high-vent a la Henry Shires for the Scarp?

Yes, do keep us posted on the performance. It ought to be quite a mighty warm tent for winter use, just don't get too far away from it in a white-out snowstorm ;)

[Steven Evans]

Hi Ziff,
Nice first post. Can you give us any more details, such as the size, what glue you used, and any little tricks you came up with. I'm just now starting a cuben winter tent but am still deciding on which exact method I am going to use to join the fabric panels.

Also, is it fully double walled? Is your your inner tent and outer fly made of cuben fiber? If so, what benefit does this have over a single skin tent. I'm not criticizing, it's a great job. I'm just curious.

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

Regarding long term waterproofing, my personal opinion is with reasonable care cuben will remain absolutely waterproof for the life of the product. The only caveat to this is maybe your floor. If you don't use a groundsheet, over time 0.74oz cuben can develop tiny pinholes. I prefer cuben that uses the heavier mylar layers for floors (ie. 1.2oz and 1.5oz cuben).

[Chris Lucas]

How about a 0.74 oz/yd cuben that has the same 0.18 mylar membrane?

Very nice test as well, thanks for sharing with us!

[Patrick S]

It looks like the inner is some kind of breathable fabric. Its hard to see since its all white, but It looks like the only cuben on the inner is the tub. I'd be curious as to what fabric it is. And if its a true double wall can you pitch the fly or the inner separately?

[ziff house]

You can't see in the photos but i left the upper portion of the ends open so there should be good flow through. i could use it as just a fly that would bring the weight down to 500gms, but tents will AlWAYS get condensation unless the air is very dry, but now i'm spoiled and i like an inner tent like this one 1.1 ripstop. Which has enough space around so it will NEVER touch the wall.
Glue; i used U05FL & 09FL i found the 09 really hard to get here in BC and the 05 is much the same [dries faster] And here's a picture of the end tie out

[ziff house]

And I built wooden forms for everything, which helped a lot, no guess work. Makes a big project, you just have grit your teeth. Anotheer pic, tiny hooks,

[Sam Farrington]

Kudos for having the guts to put in the time to make this tent.

Would love to know some of the dimensions, and how you got the carbon at the ends to bend that much.

Sam F.

[ziff house]

On the ends I used pultruded stuff from the hobby shop, 1.6mm rod reinforced with .5mm fiberglass , or you can use whatever combination to get the right flex/strength. Cyanoacrylate glue. I had a number of carbon fiber explosions along the way, in the end the ends were still a little soft to stand up to the wind so i added some diagonals, now its pretty bombproof.

[Sam Farrington]

Thank you, Ziff, for the info on the end hoops and the braces.

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