First Net Tent Project – Tent Floor

" I do not wish for this portion of my design to exceed $25-$30."

I didn't either, but was tempted and smitten by 1.26 oz/sq/yd Cuben with thicker mylar from Zpacks for around $90 for 3 linear yards.

Probably a decent quality PU coated 1.9 oz/sq/yd nylon with a DWR coating on the other side is about the best available per your specs. It is available at a lot of smaller shops where you can examine and test a sample. The shop here is Ragged Mtn in Intervale NH, but have no idea where you live. There is always mail order from OWF, Quest or on the west coast: Rockywoods, Rainshed and Seattle Fabrics. They all do samples.

Or for a little more $, but much less than Cuben, you could try the sil-coated 1.9 oz nylon from Seattle Fabrics (2.4 oz total wt). Use it for all my stuffsacks, jand plan to make most of a pack out of it, but have no idea how it would hold up as a floor. For another tent, am using a high quality 1.4 oz (incl coating) black silnylon no longer available from Thru-Hiker for a floor, and it has held up fairly well, and saves a lot of weight. Would not consider most 1.3-1.5 oz silnylons for a floor. Roger Caffin tested a number of them for me, and they just dont't have the level of water resistance needed, and that is before getting worn and crumpled by continued use.

Hope this helps.

I thank you for your assistance – what is DWR? I am leaning towards PU over Sil simply from a standpoint of flamability. If I am going to exceed my design budget anyways, I think that the PU advantages outweigh adding small increments of weight.

Durable Water Repellent

Good for a jacket or sleeping bag where you want some water repellence but more breathability

Is sil nylon more flamable than PU?

Silnylon isn't real waterproof for a floor, but I use it anyway. I got some "Shield" silnylon from thru-hiker which is supposed to be more waterproof for my next floor.