How do you store a cuben fiber tarp? Stuff/roll/fold/other?

Since cuben was initially developed to use as spinnakers on sailboats, it would normally be stuffed into sail bags when not in use, so it ought to withstand stuffing just fine. Cuben doesn't have the problems with fragility from frequent flexing that carbon or kevlar do, so it should hold up just fine being stuffed. The only real issue it has (other than cost) is that it will deform over time dueto load, but we're talking about the thousands of pounds of load they get on large racing yachts, which our lightweight backpacking use doesn't approach at all.

I fold/roll because it generally packs smaller and it puts fewer folds in the fabric. Unless you're really compressing the finished package, I don't think either would really be 'creasing' the material.

I was actually coming here to post the same question just now. So glad to see I'm not the only one who was wondering. I've always stuffed everything, but folding a small tarp takes up less space, but then I was worried since cuben holds a crease so well. I was thinking a loose fold then roll it up. It seems to work pretty well, but I just finished my tarp yesterday so I've only packed it up a couple times.

When I actually get to the point where I can afford anything cuben I will do some testing on storage methods! :)

I have a MYOG cuben tarp made with the 0.48 oz material and I stuff mine. I do think that cuben is more sensitive to damage by creasing than silnylon. I think Brian is focusing on the properties of cuben's reinforcement and forgetting about the film. The UHMWPE fiber is very tolerant of flexion. As Brian says, it doesn't fatigue as rapidly as Kevlar and it isn't prone to microscopic fractures like carbon. But the PET film is very sensitive to flexion. This is the reason, I think, that used cuben gear often leaks in a hydrostatic head tester. The film develops many tiny fissures where it is creased, and when fissures occur in both layers of film in the same spot, and this coincides with an air bubble in the interlaminar adhesive, you get a leak. So, my opinion is that repeated creasing of cuben along the same lines is likely to eventually lead to tiny (maybe inconsequential) leaks along those lines. I think stuffing rather than folding is the best way to prevent those pinholes.

I am in the "cram the cuben tarp into the stuff sack" camp. I used a Mountain Laurel Designs Patrol Shelter in 1.26 oz Cuben Fiber for most of the 98 nights I was on the trail. Each morning I would just shake off the rain and stuff that baby into the stuff sack. I am amazed that it never seemed to develop any permanent creases. Each time I unpacked it and set it up taut it looked pretty much like new. Maybe this is wrong but life is too bloody short to carefully roll the thing everytime. I can say for sure that after at least 90 stuffings and un-stuffings there are no leaks or damage.

I talked to a sailmaker in Seattle about a year ago, and he said that the main side effect of stuffing is that over time, the creases reduce the size of the sheet of Cuben. In a sail that can become significant because a mm or two multiplied by several sheets can add up to enough to affect the rigging, but in one tarp, it won't make enough of a difference to notice without careful measurements.

Stuffing can cause mylar shrinkage, so I fold and roll.