DIY HH Tester

[Xavier Nitsch]

I found it ! post #14

“Like I said, the sil/PU in and of itself is not a bad thing at all. To give you a quick backstory, a lot of mills overseas are starting to come under increased environmental regulations, which is forcing me to look at other ways of doing the coating. A lot of mills in the US are already using a sil/PU coating. For example the Intruder Multicam silnylon uses a sil/PU coating. You can also go out and see that some of the best cottage vendors in the business use silnylon that is actually a sil/PU mix.” – Kyle, RBTR

[Roger Caffin]

Um – Kyle may have been talking about silicone one side, PU the other side.

Cheers

[Stumphges]

Roger, the intruder multicam silnylon referred to by RBTR’s Kyle in the quote post above by Xavier was a silnylon with mixed silicone/PU coating on both sides, as per this post: https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/how-to-improve-this-silnylon-hydrostatic-head-longevity-effect-on-weight/#post-3379729

I’m all for minimizing emissions and environmental regulations being enforced in countries where they are often not. After all, we musn’t end up with nowhere left to hike to.

But there must be some benefit to 100% silicone coating; RBTR’s new Mountain Silnylon with very high HH and impressive tear strength is touted as being pure silicone-coated, and Hilleberg has long boasted the same.

[Stumphges]

Would it be possible to visualize misting using the high-speed 720 frame per second HD cameras onboard the newer iPhones? I have a hunch that it would.

[Roger Caffin]

silnylon with mixed silicone/PU coating on both sides
Fair enough. Interesting idea. I suspect that adding TPU (rather than PU) to the coating might significantly raise the HH. Silicone by itself is a bit porous.

But there must be some benefit to 100% silicone coating; RBTR’s new Mountain Silnylon with very high HH and impressive tear strength is touted as being pure silicone-coated,
A good Q. I imagine that a pure Si coating might be a bit more water-repellent, so that your tarp or tent can shake the water off more easily. Wet tents are a pain. Also, adding TPU might make the coating less flexible down at the micro level, which reduces the tear strength. There’s a lot to be said for a good silicone coating.

All of that said, it is not hard to get those specs. You start with a slightly lighter nylon 6.6 fabric with an absolutely minimal ripstop (you don’t need any ripstop grid really), and then bring it up to the same finished weight with a slightly thicker silicone coating. Apply the coating at high pressure so it fully soaks the threads, and that’s it. 3,000 mm HH is just fine by me, even for kneeling on.

Cheers

[Mark Fowler]

I was under the impression that Hilleberg and some other European/UK manufacturers used up to 3 passes of silicone to get their high waterhead results.

[Roger Caffin]

up to 3 passes of silicone
Of course. You can’t get that level of performance out of a single pass – even if it is a lot cheaper.

In some ways, this is the same as the Gore experience. Putting a thin film of PU on a fabric and expecting it to stay perfect is just silly. It won’t do that. But putting a very thin layer of PU onto a smooth layer of Teflon bonded to the fabric – ah, very different story. And that is GTX: a thin layer of PU does the actual waterproofing, while the much vaunted Teflon layer is just a porous substrate.

Cheers

Cheers

[Stumphges]

Mark, you’re right. Hilleberg claim 3 layers on inside and outside on their website. Nigor says 1 layer on the outside and 2 on the inside. Hilleberg claims 5000 HH or more for all the silnylon weights they use.

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