Storm Resistance of Ultralight Shelters: Part 1, Introduction

[David Olsen]

"The average nylon fly’s useful life at sea level, during full sun days, is 21."

That's good news for those of us who make tents, right?

However most backpackers don't leave tents up during the day. I get reorders for shelters
after 7 to 10 years when the organization is using them daily during the summer months.

That ends up being 600 to 1200 days before the fabric deteriorates. (Most common fabric used in these shelters is 70d PU coated). I also had a scrap piece of 200d PU covering
my woodpile for 3 full years at 6000 ft elevation that was still waterproof and held
together. It was dark green.

[Ron Bell / MLD]

21 days- well then, glad that's settled.

[Richard Nisley]

Huzefa, It should help dramatically.

[Richard Nisley]

David,

The following is a nylon fly useable-life deterioration graph for two flies. The first one appears to be close to what you tested; 70d PU coated Olive Drab (OD) nylon; this is the standard for small tents deployed by the US armed services. The second is a 30 denier yellow fly of the type that would be commonly used by an UL backpacker. It was a 1.1-oz (37g m2) nylon rip-stop fabric dyed with a shade (3) of yellow.

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

Do we know how cuben fares with UV? Assuming the common 0.74oz variety.

[Roger Caffin]

Hi Richard

That is consistent with my experience. Yellow nylon went like paper afetr a couple of years of heavy use, while the (same fabric) blue was unaffected. I think it has to do with the dye used.

cheers

[Ken Thompson]

Ready for part 2

[Stephen M]

Same here

[Kevin @ Seek Outside]

There is a big difference in uv exposure vs colors from the testing I have done

[Richard Nisley]

Kevin,
+1

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=58954&skip_to_post=512288#512288

[Eric Blumensaadt]

I have a TT Moment "tunnel/cone" tent. It's design makes it VERY wind-worthy and it can handle a snow load better than most solo tents.

Although its perimeter floor and inner door venting nets make it totally unsuitable for winter (or dust storms. it still is an inherently strong and stable design. And with its optional light ripstop liner it can handle high condensation situations very well. I'm even considering extending the lining to cover the net inner door with a sanp-on panel.

I just wish this great design came in Cuben fabric. but then it would be a bit noisy in the wind, and very 'spensive.

As for "wet sag" of its silnylon I've painted the top 1/2 of the canopy with a 5:1 ratio of odorless mineral spirits to GE silicon caulk. Seems to keep it taughter when wet than before I did the coating. For sure some hard rains I've endured in the Moment resulted in no "mist-thru" so I think the light canopy coating did its job very well.

To further reduce sag I've found some light elasticized cord (about 3/16 " diameter) and made loops at each end tie-out. These cords are new so I only know it keeps the tent fairly taught all night in non-rainy conditions.

[Stuart Murphy]

Ready for part 2 too

[Ken Thompson]

It's been nine months. When should we expect to see part two?

Been so long that even Roger's tents will be available.

[Michael Ray]

Almost a year out, at this point I think we should be asking will there be a Part 2?

[Nick Gatel]

I'm still waiting for the updates to the HMG pack and MLD Trailstar, both of which were published before this article.

Hmmm… I wonder if this constitutes a trend?

[Stuart Murphy]

Ryan, will there be a part 2 or not? And if so, when?

[Stuart Murphy]

… Is not here. Just trying to get Ryan's attention to ask whether this is still planned or still born.

[Michael Ray]

Bumping once again in the faint hopes of an update. I'm particularly interested in the amount of force exerted on tieouts, which of course depends on shelter shape, # of tieouts, etc.

[Bryan Bihlmaier]

OK, Ryan. Excellent article and hypotheses. But where’s the data? Since it’s been almost 5 years since you wrote this “Part 1” article, can I assume you will not be publishing any data or test results?

[Jens W]

I love this article, has the inline force transducer setup been described in details somewhere?

[Jens W]

I just bought an Ultamid 4 and are making plan to storm proof it for the winter. What do you guys think of the idea of using these Micro carabiners to attach the guylines on the upper part of the shelter?

<span style=”display: inline !important; float: none; background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: ‘Helvetica Neue’,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.74em; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;”><span>https://www.extremtextil.de/en/micro-0-carabiner-40mm.html</span></span&gt;

Also, should I trust the Linelocks with 2,8mm HMG cord along the bottom to hold or should i tie in fixed loops there?

Would there be any benefit in adding some kind of shock absorbers to limit dynamic forces to the 7 high tieouts of the Ultamid 4?

 

/Jens

[Mark]

Jens in my experience thos carabiners will not take any force

I bent 2 on my Duplex doors

[Jens W]

Thanks Mark, specifically where did they bend, they also have these with 1g more aluminium, could be that much stronger…

https://www.extremtextil.de/en/mini-carabiner-with-wiregate-and-eyelet-35mm-no-print.html

 

 

 

[Matt Dirksen]

“I just bought an Ultamid 4 and are making plan to storm proof it for the winter.”

What would you actually need to do in order to “storm proof” it?

It’s already pretty “storm proof” the way it is.

Although I’ve had one for several years, I’ve never used it in more that 50mph winds (and no snow on that particular trip). I’m sure there’s a bunch of folks out there that have pushed it much further. The only thing I might consider is to double up the upper guy lines, but not add a carabiner. Not sure what that would do since the weak link is probably the tie out itself. And if that were to tear out… well you probably shouldn’t have parked it there in the first place..:

[Mark]

The entire C section bends and doesn’t bend back, so the gate becomes useless

It’s more reliable and a lot lighter to tier a loop knot then thread through the line, works great

[Author]

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