Packability: Cuben vs Sil

Cuben does not pack small at all, especially if stuffed.  It does better with folding and rolling.

If compressibility is your thing, I think you would be happier with sil or sil poly

Yep, what Brad said. CF for low weight, Sil for low volume.

Is it because one needs to be more careful not doing damage when compressing the cuben?

How big is the difference in volume generally, estimated with a percentage?

I’ve read on here somewhere that equal weight of cuben compresses to about 1.5 times the volume of sil.

So, if 16oz of sil compresses down to one liter then 16oz of cuben would compress to about 1.5 liters.

This means a tarp made of .51 cuben would compress smaller than a tarp of equal dimensions made of sil because it is half the weight and thus 75% of the volume (.5×1.5=.75).

I posted this question because I wanted to verify this from someone with more field experience before investing in either shelter.

Great question about durability when stuffing cuben btw!

I have found that by carefully folding and rolling cuben, along with carefully expelling trapped air, one can get a cuben shelter down to 120%-125% of the size of a similar sil shelter.  YMMV.

As someone who has used cuben fiber tarps since 2008 and silnylon tarps for 2 years prior to that:. If you fold/roll the cuben fiber tarp, it will pack down to about the same size as a silnylon tarp.  The only difference being the material thickness (very minor) and the tarp dimensions difference.  If you stuff the cuben fiber tarp, then silnylon packs smaller.  Compression shouldn’t be part of the equation if you fold/roll as it’s already densely packed.

I find that fold/rolling only takes a little longer than stuffing and the time is often made up by not having to untangle my guylines when unpacking like you do with stuffing.

JCH, with what weight cuben is that with? I would imagine .51 packs smaller than .74 for example.

Folding or stuffing cuben repeatedly in the same spots will cause some failure to to plastics at the creases. Tight packing by folding and rolling is not recommended for longevity. Nylon does this very little in comparison.

I have been using the same tarp for well over ten years in sil except a few trips with a cuben shelter. The sil tarp folds and rolls up neatly and fits into my grease pot, even wet. It is roughly 9×11, but it is shaped. (Actually it is longer and narrower at the ends/beaks.) The cuben Hexamid Solo-Plus I sometimes use is roughly 9′ by 5′ (it tapers down to around 3′ at both ends) and packs to roughly twice the volume (which is why it doesn’t get much use except for weekends/three days at a time. Both are about the same weight, but the cuben is also fully screened.)

I make it a point to grab a different spot on the cuben tarp every time I stuff it. ‘Corse, I really don’t use it that much and lost track this winter. I will make a note of how I packed it when I pull it out again.

Samuel, it is 0.74 and yes i would expect 0.51 to pack smaller.

I agree with James that best practice would be to avoid folding cuben along the same lines repeatedly.  I actually think it would be very difficult to do that with my Duplex just by the way it is constructed.

FYI, i think the Duplex folds up just slightly larger than my TT Notch did.

I intentionally roll my Duplex (.51) rather haphazardly to avoid the ‘wear line’ phenomenon but still get some of the compactness of folding, and then sort of cram it into the stuff sack for simplicity and speed. It goes inside the pack at about mid-level, so there’s stuff on top of it (cook kit, food bag, spare clothes, toiletry/fak/repair ditty bag) and eventually it smooshes down about 20-30% more when the air pockets and stiff crinkles get compressed some more. When stored on the outside of the pack it doesn’t get smaller because there’s no compression to empty the air pockets and beat the crinkles into submission.

I used the same cuben fiber MLD grace solo tarp from 2008 to 2016 when I finally replaced it.  It used the first generation 0.6wt that MLD use to sell.  It was always folded when packed away.  I used it for the PCT, AT, and numerous other hikes over that period.  The cuben fiber fabric degraded somewhat over that time period but remained usuable; but there was nothing that seemed to be related to the fold lines.  Not that I was exactly folding it the same way each time, but I wasn’t making special effort not to either.  I would expect the newer 0.74 WT stuff to be as durable.  Though I went with the 0.51 wt. this time knowing it probably won’t last near as long.  So in 2-3 years, I should have a good idea on the fold lines of the lighter weight fabric.

Ever use trash compactor bags in your pack?  To me CF basically has the compactibilty of a trash compactor bag.

@miner   That’s some good news. Mine hasn’t seen anywhere near that much use so it bodes well for a long service life at the rate I’m going.