EXTREME weather vs HG custom cuben tarp

[mad goat]

I just got back last night from a 5 day trip in the Smokies where I got to put my custom HG cuben tarp to the test against some particularly nasty weather. Adam made me a 0.52 cuben tarp to work with my Ridgerunner bridge hammock. It has an 11' ridgeline, 9' baselines straight cut with three stakeouts per side, side panel pullouts spaced for bridge hammock spreader bars, and doors only at one end.

Our trip started out innocently enough with warm, humid, wet, rainy weather at lower elevation campsites (3 and 14 for those interested). On Sunday night we stayed up near Gregory Bald at Sheep Pen Gap (CS #13) at 4600ft. It rained heavily with lighting, thunder, and strong gusting winds and the tarp held it together, though I got a tiny amount of spray since I faced my doors to the West assuming that the shifting winds would eventually settle and stop coming from the South East (!), but they stayed constant throughout the night and into the next two days from the S or SE (!).

What was the real test was Monday night. We were lower down near Cades Cove at CS #10 (which sucks for hammocks as there is thick rhododendron surrounding the site, and almost no suitable hanging locations unless you have super long straps and a ladder, or are willing to tie off to a really small tree. I chose the really small tree and I bounced throughout the night as the wind gusted in fierce 80 MPH blasts and flipped around the small tree's top like a rag doll. We heard at least two big trees crack and fall in the night, as the wind was later joined by torrential buckets of cats and dogs monsooning from the sky.

When we got back to our van, there was a large tree that had fallen across the road just 6' from the bumper. And another large tree (to the right of the front of the car in the picture below) that caused the ground underneath it to move with every blast of wind. We got out of there as quick as we could!

Rotten weather, but the HG tarp held firm against the mess. I used the side panel pullouts with my trekking poles across the ridgeline (see pic below) which worked great at keeping the gusting wind from deflecting the tarp. At first I was concerned that the width of the tarp (8'6" wide) would not be enough in windy conditions to protect the wider bridge hammock since warbonnet's cloudburst tarp is wider (10' wide), but given how well my HG tarp performed in such EXTREME weather, I am happy to say that my concerns were unfounded. Thanks Adam for a great product that shined when I needed it the most.

http://www.local8now.com/home/headli...279201411.html

20141012_164303.jpg
20141013_083016.jpg
20141014_110309.jpg

[overthinker]

Man, that's the worst sound in the middle of the night: craaack...BANG.

I'm surprised you got any sleep at all!

[mad goat]

It was a very strange night. It would go from normal light amounts of wind, to massive wind gusts that lasted just a minute or two, and then back to calm. I did get some sleep, but very little. Very strange weather.

[UrsaMajor1887]

Glad to hear you were safe and, for the most part, dry! Your post gives me more confidence in hanging under my CF from HG. I have been in the rain and wind up in the White Mountains of NH, but nothing like what you had to hang in.

-Edit to finish last sentence that I somehow cut off.

[mad goat]

Thanks UrsaMajor. I have been treating my cuben carefully up til now, and was concerned about how it would fare in some really rough weather.

If anything, this experience has given me new confidence in both the strength and the coverage of my tarp.

[BillyBob58]

wow, now that is one interesting product report! Looks like cuben is plenty durable, at least for handling wind. Is it supposed to be less, as, or more durable than sil-nylon, if any one knows?

[mad goat]

BillyBob, cuben durability is a matter of debate.

I think the general consensus is that cuben is not as abrasion resistant as silnylon. So for applications like backpacks, you have to be careful with things rubbing against them. Cuben is much(!) better than spinaker when it comes to wear resistance. But I have noticed many of the cottage packmakers have gone away from cuben as a pack material in favor of hybrid cuben or other material due to durability. It is also interesting to note that we have seen reports here on HF about issues with abrasions on cuben tarps when the tarp ridgeline is ran under the tarp instead of over.

But tear and puncture resistance are up for debate. Here is Zpack's video on the subject, and here is Ray Jardine's video. Ray, as far as I know, does not like or use cuben. It is interesting to note that Ray appears to give his silnylon sample a gently increasing pressure pull as opposed to the quick tug he gave the cuben.

For my purposes, the cuben appears to be more than adequate. And I carry cuben repair tape just in case of issues.