Henry Shires is currently doing an AMA on Reddit

[BlackHatGuy]

Here.

[Ken Thompson]

Well at least now I know that they don’t mean American Medical Association.

[Ken Thompson]

With reddits usual inefficient ways.

[Franco Darioli]

I had to look it up :

Ask Me Anything

OK, what are the name of the seven dwarfs ?

Why is it dwarfs and not dwarves ?

 

[J-L]

There are some interesting bits of info from Henry in there. Tent fabric materials are one. A couple quotes from Henry in his AMA:

When asked about new materials:

I think the carbon based materials are coming but it will be a few years before we see suitable tent fly fabrics.

Any one know what a carbon based tent fly material would be?

As for what’s coming, I clearly see a somewhat disturbing trend of getting lighter at the expense of durability. That really concerns me as lighter isn’t better, especially when lighter means thinner, weaker, and less durable fabrics. 10 or even 7d fabric are just garbage compared to, say, 30d fabrics but the average consumer just sees lighter and thinks better.

I’ve seen several new tents using 10D and 7D fabrics (Nemo and Gossamer Gear, for example) and have wondered how they will perform. Similar lifespan as cuben fiber? Many tents now are using 15D and 20D fabrics, even quite common at REI, but their strength and waterproofness varies significantly. I think in general they seem okay if sewn correctly. Locus Gear has even introduced a new pyramid tarp called the Khafra HB that uses “a new fabric of 15D rip-stop nylon with hybrid coating of Silicone and PU, so that the seam lines are taped” (quoted from their website).

It did not seem like TarpTent has any plans to move away from 30D silnylon in the near future. Interesting how the “ultralight” tent company is now considered to be using some of the more durable/strong fabrics

[John Vance]

“Re: HH, we are the process of updating all the fabrics. The newest ones are now at 5,000mm but, in my opinion, have too much elasticity to be used in some of the larger panel tents. We expect to be fully switched over by 2018.”

Does this mean that he is using the newest fabric that is 5,000mm on tents with smaller panels?  If not, what is he fully switching over to by 2018, and by “fully” does he mean even tents with larger panels?  What does he define as his “smaller panel” tents?

This is the first I have heard of silnylon that is 5000m.  A sil/pu with 5000mm wouldn’t have “too much elasticity” so I can only assume it is a silnylon.

Interesting stuff……

[J-L]

MLD’s pro silnylon tests at over 5000mm. Glad to hear Tarptent is similar.

Not sure if this will work, but Ron Bell of MLD posted a video of a hydrostatic head test on his silnylon:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/MountainLaurelDesigns/permalink/10154166742017726/

And on Andrew Skurka’s blog, Andrew says:

I had a good conversation with Ron about sil-nylon and Cuben while I was writing my book last spring. He said that the quality of sil has improved greatly, even saying that his current Pro is “great” versus the “okay” quality that he was using a few years prior. Experiences with sil products from a few years ago are increasingly less relevant given the technology today.

http://andrewskurka.com/2017/cuben-fiber-backpack-shelter-worth-the-cost/

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