Compressing Cuben tents

[Arthur]

Can Cuben material be safely put in a compression bag short term, while on the trail?  I looked, but could not seem to find any information pertaining to this.  Thanks.

[Robert R]

Probably best to fold and roll it. Also folding it differently each use would be better than compressing it. That’s just my opinion though. I own a spruce Duplex and have never compressed it.

[James Marco]

Robert is correct, it probably shouldn’t be compressed.

[Ian]

I’m not a fan of putting cuben fiber in tight bags. I buy oversized bags so I can smoosh my shelter around things in my pack.  For me this helps to fill the voids better than packing essentially a small watermelon that will invariably leave some some voids and unusable space, if that makes sense.

[M B]

I wouldnt put anything in a compression sack

But i stuff my cuben, fairly tightly.

[Miner]

My 10 year experience with cuben fiber tarps suggests that folding/rolling makes the smallest packing size.  I just don’t see what compression will do with that material unless you stuff loosely.

[Terry Sparks]

Compressing dynema isn’t hard on the material, but it will shorten the life of your tent, or any other gear made from it, due to stress at the seams.   As other’s have mentioned, rolling it up and putting it in your pack does well. What I do is stuff it into the bottom of my pack without a stuff sack and if it starts raining, I wrap my clothes in it to keep them dry, when caught without a compactor bag.

[Arthur]

I sent the same question to Zpacks, the maker of the tent.  Interesting response.

Hello Art,

Thank you for checking in. You can compress the tent down much tighter than the provided stuff sack if need. It shouldn’t cause any damage to the tent.

If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

Best Regards,
Matt Favero
Brand Manager / Customer Experience Dir.

[M B]

I usually loosely fold/roll to get part into stuffsak

Then the stuffing starts to get the rest in

[Miner]

<p>Zoack didn’t really tell you anything.  Of course you can compress it smaller than the sack it comes with. Those are always a bit oversized to make it easier to pack. I always used a smaller sack to pack mine in while folding/rolling tightly.</p>

[James Marco]

OK, taking a break from packing…
DCF/Cuben is basically spectra lines overlaid with plastic on both sides then heated/pressed together. While I do fold and roll, I try to never line up the folds, ie: one time here, the next time there. Why?
The two layers can create a vector translation around folds. Pulling the outside of the fold rather tight and compressing the inside of the fold. This is somewhat worse around the spectra fibers. Eventually, this will cause pinholing or small holes that may or may not leak around the folded areas. A LOT depends on which weight you are using, but for tents, this can occur at around 100 folds in the same place. Like most plastics, it turns white when bent or stressed.

I am guessing it is also responsible for the occasional delamination reported by some members. Hydraulic pressure can easily accelerate this process. Even air pressure between the layers can cause some accelerated delamination. Again, a guess.

Anyway, like I say, folding and rolling is the best but compressing beyond hand tight can get damaging to the fabric, not just at the seams. A rolled corner is much easier than a sharply folded edge on DCF. Compressing it will force sharp folded edges all over it. This is why I do not recommend compressing it.

But, there is little that can be done to avoid this, totally. Eventually, like around 150-200 uses DCF will fail. This is only an average from a recent MLD post, so there is a wide range on either side of these numbers, is my understanding. Ahhh…to borrow an analogy, the “lethal dose” for 50% of users would be around 150-200 nights, 25% less, 25% more, assuming a Gaussian distribution. Careful packing without compressing will help put you on the “25% more” side of things.

Other options were discussed here on this site. Random stuffing (which leaves the creases distributed around the tent) and rolling, followed by folding. These leave a larger package size than folding and rolling.

DCF/cuben was designed as a sail cloth so larger panels meant little stuffing. As it was used more and more for outdoor activities, the damages became more worrisome. But, the poly films used are fairly elastic to begin with. So, they will take some folding/compression, anyway. It seems more statistically based as far as results.

[M B]

Exactly

Cuben has a life

Whod a thought thin plastic would degrade anyway?

 

(It will with time, guaranteed just sitting around, and edpecially from UV.)

 

But ive bever seen a cuben item that wasnt 100,000,000,000 tiny creases in it.  Each damaging the laminate.

 

I have one shelter of 0.51  with about 200 nights, no issues.yet.   it wll come.   Another 0.74…maybe 60 nights no issues.

 

If you bought Cuben thinking it was a lifetime gear Well you were wrong.  I’ve got packs and stuff sacks showing wear badly  . But it’s light. And it’s reasonably water-resistant for a while.

[D M]

This is interesting because I have been looking at using an older ( 4 years and 3,000 + miles on this mid ) duomid again but I am afraid it’s not reliable. It is one of the green models and has a square “pattern” all over it. I have always neatly folded and rolled it, sometimes one way, sometimes another so as to not fold on the same lines, and it has always traveled in it’s own bag for further protection. A lot of memories with that tent, but I need to order another shiny, new replacement. :-)

[Paul S.]

Nights used is a better indicator of shelter lifetime. If you don’t see any issues with your old tent then don’t assume it’s worn out. E.g. Jen wore out her DuoMid and it was quite obvious (mainly fuzzy fabric from abrasion).

[Author]

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