MLD Cuben Poncho

[Edward Jursek]

Finally picked up one. Shipping was fast, it arrived in 3 days from my order. The Cuben Poncho alone weighs 5.5oz. I had seen its listed specs as 4.6oz and 5.0oz. A bit disappointed in the weight, but the craftsmanship looks excellent. The sil stuff sack came out to .4oz, and the shock cord “belt” was .35oz. I used Zpacks 1.25mm cord along with mini-biners and micro line-locs for the lines. However, for the line that is at the peak of my flying diamond pitch, I got a Zpacks trekking pole cup that I can just clip in so I don’t need to mess with a girth hitch. One loop of the pole cup has a mini-biner for quick attachment and the line is tied to the other. Everything, including the poncho, lines, line-locs, mini-biners, pole cup, belt, 6 ti stakes in a cuben stake bag, in the MLD stuff sack weights in at 8.4oz.

Set up in a flying diamond pitch there was more room then expected. For reference, I am 6 feet tall and 210 lbs. I could almost sit up straight at the peak of the flying diamond pitch and could lie down and stretch out without my head or feet touching the ends. There is plenty of room towards the back to keep away from the drip line.

I expect to pair it with a Borah Gear Bivy I already own. I am also going to buy 2 Zpacks cuben stick on patches with the loop so I can attach a cord to lift up the bug netting on the bivy with a light shock cord and mitten hook. Now I just need to use it in some real world SUL trips.

[IVO K]

Photos as deployed?

[Monte Masterson]

Yes, pics in both poncho and tarp mode would be great.

I’d especially like to see different shelter pitches. At 52″ wide you have to be good.

Maybe pair the cuben poncho up with an FKT bivy.

[Adam Kilpatrick]

Flying diamond hey? I’m interested to see some pics with you inside from a few angles. What are your measured dimensions of the poncho (measure it yourself if possible)? Hood detail? Have you tried an A-frame pitch?

I’m going to build a poncho myself in a few weeks when supplies come in, using Rockywoods 7D. The fabric weight is similar to 0.75 cuben.

I am going to try and avoid mini biners though. By the time you get enough for a poncho in almost any pitch, the weight adds up towards an ounce. Looking to use softshackles from Dutchware…I’ll set them up as prussiks on the lines, so that I can adjust from under the poncho.

[Edward Jursek]

Sorry, no photos at this time. The BPL website is telling me the file size limit is 1mb and my photos are 2mb. I don’t want to figure out how to resize them and that file size is limit is just ridiculous. I went with the mini-biners out of convenience, so I do not have to mess with knots. Same thing with the pole cup, it is just easier. Getting the pitch right took a bit of playing around, but the line-locs really helped. At some point I will get around to resizing my photos once I take some in the field. Steven Evans posted some good pictures a while back at:

https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/21233/

[John DeMorris]

I just ordered a cuben fiber poncho from MLD this past weekend.  Here’s a link to a blog post by Shawn Forry that helped me to see how useful a piece of gear it is and what some of the limitations are.

http://www.shawnforry.com/Margin_Walker…A_Hikers_Chronicles/Blog/Entries/2012/9/6_MLD_Cuben_Fiber_Poncho_Tarp_review.html

I envision using the poncho for day hikes and for mild weather weekend trips.

 

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