The Gnome does quite a bit with Cuben. I am sure he will pipe in sooner or later with a comment.
The Gnome does quite a bit with Cuben. I am sure he will pipe in sooner or later with a comment.
So far I have four pieces, not counting stuff sacks, of cuben gear. Two packs: 2009 MLD Revelation and a Zpacks Blast 26. Both are made from 1.5oz/sq yd cuben and are very light, but strong. Two shelters: An MLD DuoMid shelter and an MLD Grace Solo tarp. These are of the more traditional and lightweight 0.6oz/sq yd variety. Great to have absolutely waterproof gear that is lightweight and strong. I haven't found any reason to not use cuben. Even my food bag is made of the heavier weight and is rodent proof.
I ♥ my Warbonnet
AFAIK Cuben is a sandwich laminate of nonwoven Dyneema fibers between Polyester films.The Dyneema fibers are not spun but monofilaments.
I imagine the material the films are made of might be variable as well as the type of Dyneema fibers though..
I have read the fabrication of Dyneema fabrics puts high stress on the machines, maybe its rarity is the main reason for its seldom use..
I think not needing further treatment to be water resistant is an advantage to cuben though.
I cant find any information but not being woven but a laminate it will probably deteriorate faster trough plying and kinks
Where else can you buy cuben? I don't see the weights referred to above anywhere.
You are correct.Originally Posted by utilisateur
[/QUOTE]I cant find any information but not being woven but a laminate it will probably deteriorate faster trough plying and kinks[/QUOTE]
Actually, from what I've read and heard, it is just the opposite, i.e., it is very durable.
Cuben Fiber Corp. was purchased by North Sails, LLC
Cubic Tech Corp. (yes the spelling is correct) "develops non-sailing applications of Cuben Fiber style flexible laminates...."
They sell directly, but beware of high shipping costs. They ship the stuff on
a paper tube strong enough to run a truck over. Heavy and costly to ship.
Neither Bill (Gardenville) nor I have been able to talk them into just folding it up and sending it in an envelope.
http://www.cubictechnology.com
Here's a link to a PDF of their stock sailcloth.
http://www.cubictechnology.com/Produ...ifications.pdf
Last edited by Oh-No; 03-25-2009 at 18:48. Reason: add. info.
If you just want to buy a bit retail, Quest carries it in .33 and .48 oz weights, as well as the tape for joining it, and Joe Valesko of Zpacks has it in .6 and 1.5, the same weights that MLD seems to be using. I have heard that buying directly requires a 9 yard minimum order...high shipping does seem ridiculous. When you recieve 5 or six yards in what seems like an empty envelope you'll see what I mean!
One advantage of cuben for tarps that does offset the cost some is that you can tape the ridglines (and the hems I suppose, although I have not done that), making for very fast construction. The tape sets up for a very strong bond. I would not recommend it fully, but all of my reinforcement patches(1.9 ripstop) on my tarp are just taped in place and sewn thru at the hem. The midpanel tie outs are taped only...zero issues so far; it's been my only tarp for about a year.
I did a snow cave trip about a month ago, one night with 30mph winds, and jury rigged the tarp as a doorway. I was unable to keep it tightly secured and the wind whipped it all night long. In the morning I thought for sure that I would find damage...none! Tough stuff there. And why did I have my cuben tarp on a snow cave trip you might ask? Because at under 5 oz. and the size of a coke can, it easily comes along on day trips for quick shelter...the traditional tarps even in sil would never make it into my pack for that.
Christian
Christian
Does anyone have the kind of experience with Cuben or Dyneema to be able to say how either one would do in a high abrasion application, such as motorcycle crash pants?
- MacEntyre
"We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately." - Ben Franklin
www.MollyMacGear.com
Cuben would tear up.
I have some heavy duty fabric with dyneema threads---got it over a year and a half ago and the source escapes me at the moment---but I can well see that in a high abrasion application. I'll do a little more digging and see if anything I see jogs the old memory banks on what this stuff is and where it comes from. Black with white rip-stop-like spaced threads. .... maybe they are Kevlar threads.... a memory is a terrible thing to lose ....
Grizz
later...found it. What I have is 210d Spectra grid stop. Seen here.
Last edited by GrizzlyAdams; 03-26-2009 at 08:47.
It's not direct experience (yet) but the pack that I have ordered is going to be made out of full Dyneema. According to the pack maker, it's pretty much the toughest and lightest material out there, and is supposed to do very well with abrasion.
It sounds like the same claim is made for Cuben, which I find a bit confusing.
The maker of the pack says that he's done tests on it by applying to a disc sander while measuring the amount of pressure he puts on it, and it does well. My guess is that it would be pretty good for something like motorcycle crash gear, but it would be downright foolish to take my word for it.
Thanks, Griz & guySmiley ! Griz' link says that Spectra Gridstop has been replaced by Dyneema Gridstop for high end uses. Both are 210d. Dyneema has carbon fiber threads.
...I wonder why the carbon fiber is white?
- MacEntyre
"We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately." - Ben Franklin
www.MollyMacGear.com
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