Anyone interested in making a Cuben chair cover?

[Benjaman G]

Anyone good with Cuben and want to make a couple bucks?  I have a Helinox Ground Chair… total weight from manufacturer = 681g… cuben stuff sack and carbon poles brings it to 550g… I plan to take a dremmel to the plastic knuckles and estimate 50-75g savings.  That leaves me at 475-500g with 230g being in the cover which is made of fairly heavy polyester denier, thick mesh and really heavy corner pockets.  I’m thinking a Cuben version with a little care and probably removing some excess material, but basically just copying it, should easily be in the 100g range (a 50L Zpacks cuben pack liner dry bag is 54g).  This could get me close to 3/4lb for a very comfortable/functional chair.

I know… use a log, your pack, the ground.  That was not my question… a chair is the one true luxury I crave, but I can’t get comfortable in my mind at 1.5lbs.  I’m not handy with a sewing machine and have never worked with Cuben.  I would gladly supply the material and pay a fair price if someone would be interested in copying the cover (which I would provide) Thanks!

 

[Hoosier T]

Man this would be a fun project. I have to ask, what weight of cuben are you using to factor finished weight? I’m wondering if you wouldn’t be better off using 1.0 oz/yd2 robic then you would have a less sweaty back.

[Benjaman G]

Having talked to a couple of folks there seemed to be a little concern in using the 1oz/yard Cuben for fear that there may be some elongating of the edges over time… so I was think the 1.4oz/yard stuff (zPacks sells it for $31/yard, same stuff used in their Zero packs).  That said… I had not even thought about 1oz Robic… but yes, the breathability would certainly be a plus!  I would certainly be open to giving it a shot… were you just commenting, or would you be interested in building it (for a price of course)?

[Hoosier T]

I’m tempted but I’m not sure my craftsmanship is quite to that level just yet.

[Benjaman G]

Appreciate the honesty!

[JCH]

I don’t know if this will go anywhere…but I’d be interested in exactly the same thing for a Helinox Chair One.  I think the Chair One and Ground Chair differ only in the lower frame, i.e. the fabric part being identical.  I like to idea of using a breathable fabric, but would not be averse to Cuben…perhaps the 2.92 oz hybrid material would be an option?

I too would be willing to pay a price that made the project viable for all involved.

[Hoosier T]

Cuben offers high waterproofing and enough tear strength at low weights to be amazing for tarps. But for this application the cuben variant needed to support you would actually weigh more than the robic and would not breathe. So unless you’re wanting a waterproof chair I can’t understand why you would want to use cuben for this. It will weigh more, cost 4x, and make your back sweat. Am I overlooking something?

[JCH]

You are not overlooking anything Hoosier T…I’m just wondering out loud.  Breathable would obviously be best.

I think everyone who owns a Chair One or a Ground Chair would like to reduce the weight and the fabric component looks like the only likely area in which this could be accomplished.

Also, looking at photos of both chairs I now question my statement re: the fabric parts being the same.  I have a friend with a Ground Chair so will find out for sure…if for no other reason than to satisfy my curiosity.

 

[Mario Caceres]

I agree with Hoosier, perhaps Robic 1.0 would be a good option for this application.  I would definitely go with a fabric that is breathable so I would look into fabrics normally used for hammocks as reference.

According to this chart from RBTR, 1.0 robic can take up to 275lbs.  HyperD 1.6 takes you to 300lb so not a substantial increase on the load capacity (9%) for the weight penalty (60%)

I would definitely be interested in collaborating with any of you for this project.  I don’t own neither of those chairs but I do enjoy working on MYOG projects.  As I said it would be a collaboration, I would not charge you anything for my work but you would provide the materials and pay for the shipping back and forth of the chair cover.   Also unfortunately i will probably wont be able to work on this until the first week of october.

[Benjaman G]

Thanks for everyone’s feedback… I am now strongly considering going the Robic or HyperD route.  I have ordered a sample pack from RipStopByTheRole of 1.0oz cuben, 1.0 oz robic XL, 1.0oz hyder D and 1.6oz hyper D… I have 1.4 oz cuben here already.  While the strength to weight numbers tilt the scales to the Robic 1.0 per Mario’s comment, I wonder if the 1.6 hyper D might last longer and tend not to stretch as much.  I will let everyone know when I get the samples late next week.  And Mario… I will PM you… would love to work on something together.

JCH… I would be happy to share specs on the carbon poles… after quite a bit of pouring through specs, I think I found the perfect material through Rockwest Composites… I should have it in hand next week and will let you know the verdict.

[JCH]

Mario – thank you for the very generous offer. It sounds like Benjaman is already pretty deeply into this project so maybe we can make something good happen.

Benjaman – I am very interested in what you have found re: carbon tubing.  As anyone who owns one knows the Chair One has quite a bit of flex. Somewhat disconcerting on first use, but you quickly realize the flex is a positive and makes the chair much more comfortable, and I suspect durable, than if it had a very rigid frame. I appears that the majority of the flex is in the aluminum frame, although a very small amount may come from the couplings.  If you have found CF tubing that will survive the loads, weigh less than the aluminum AND retain the flex that is very exciting.

I will have a Ground Chair in-hand on Monday and will carefully compare the fabric component to that of the Chair One. This will be a much more interesting (and valuable) project if a single fabric replacement could work for both chairs.

[Mario Caceres]

Great, Benjaman thanks for your PM, I’m looking forward to working with you on this project. I would imagine one of the main challenges we will have is the connection between the sling and the frame of the chair. Again I don’t have any of these chairs but I recall from similar chairs owned by friends (i.e Alite Monarch) those connection points were quite sturdy and overbuilt so perhaps there is some room for improving on their design and lower their contribution to the overall weight of the sling.

JCH, we will definitely share our experience here so others can benefit from what we learn thru trial and error. You are most welcome to join in our collaboration effort.  Again, I will be the one doing the sewing but as most of these projects the real value is on the design.

Cheers

[JCH]

Looks like Helinox is addressing the weight issue with the 17 oz Chair Zero.  The fabric is definitely reworked, and much lighter.  It’s not obvious how much the frame differs from the Chair One, if at all.

REI appears to have worked an exclusive deal (in the US) until January.

[John Papini]

Reviving an old post!

I also had the idea to make a cuben cover for the Ground Chair (I even bought the materials from Zpacks), but could not manifest it before my 2016 thru hike. I’ve since lost the materials (though I did carry the ground chair with cuben stuff sack all the way to Canada).

I’m updating the post because I emailed Helinox and they sold me the seat to the Chair Zero, which I received today. It fits my ground chair just fine. I weighed it in at 143g vs. 213g for the standard Ground Chair seat, a 2.5oz savings. Could probably get even lighter using cuben, but this works for me.

I’m curious about how Ben, the original poster (or others) dealt with the skeleton of the chair, which accounts for the bulk of the weight at 395g. Were you able to replace with carbon poles and maybe lighter shock cord? Is your solution durable? Where did you source the materials and is it a relatively easy project?

If I could lighten this thing by a few more ounces, that would be excellent!

[Hoosier T]

Two years later I can say that I’m much better at making stuff than I was. Anyone still looking to have this done? I could possibly take this on. However, being that so little material is used, I would think that 1.7 Robic (MTN Series) would be the best option for this unless you weigh 110 lbs.Should still come out under 3 oz I would think, possibly around 2oz.

[Gumbo]

Chair Zero fabric weighs 5.0 oz. How much would cost of materials and labor likely be?

[John Papini]

I would be interested in another few ounces reduction over the Chair One skin. If possible, I think another and even greater weight savings would come from modifying the skeleton. Swapping aluminum for carbon for starters, but also I wonder if the bulky plastic joints could be made also from a lighter material.

Maybe we could 3-D print the plastic?

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