My warbonnet cloudburst is like a sponge

[Marklkiefer58]

I'm enjoying and having no absorption issues with Mountainfly silpoly. Just went outside to check on it and still doing well in the rain in Georgia (gotta be a song there somewhere )

[cmoulder]

Maybe treat your current tarp with nikwax waterproofer?

Cuben has been the only tarp I've used to not wet out. My old superfly was a sponge as well. Added a lb of water off a foggy morning in RRG. Didnt even rain but I was squeezing water out of my tarp loading back into the car.

Unfortunately, cuben was my only answer to my issues. Those other tarps can hold some weight in water.

Unless you're able to wipe it down very, very dry, DCF can also hold significant water weight — about 40% of tarp weight — simply from surface tension! And if you merely shake it out, the amount of water retention is even more.

I noticed this a few years back when using a HMG Echo II tarp, and a Whiteblaze guy, colorado_rob, did a test with results HERE. Very enlightening.

However, compared to DCF, silnylon is a veritable sponge... I don't know how silpoly compares, but it's gotta be better than silnylon.

[alifeoutdoors]

Unless you're able to wipe it down very, very dry, DCF can also hold significant water weight — about 40% of tarp weight — simply from surface tension! And if you merely shake it out, the amount of water retention is even more.

I noticed this a few years back when using a HMG Echo II tarp, and a Whiteblaze guy, colorado_rob, did a test with results HERE. Very enlightening.

However, compared to DCF, silnylon is a veritable sponge... I don't know how silpoly compares, but it's gotta be better than silnylon.

You're pretty much splitting the difference with silpoly is a simple way to look at it, with dcf/silnylon being the extreme factors on either end.

[Jimswms]

Unless you're able to wipe it down very, very dry, DCF can also hold significant water weight — about 40% of tarp weight — simply from surface tension! And if you merely shake it out, the amount of water retention is even more.

I noticed this a few years back when using a HMG Echo II tarp, and a Whiteblaze guy, colorado_rob, did a test with results HERE. Very enlightening.

However, compared to DCF, silnylon is a veritable sponge... I don't know how silpoly compares, but it's gotta be better than silnylon.

I didn't read through the whole thread, just his first post, but yeah, that's pretty interesting. Not what I've seen in my experience though. He put a ton of work into his test, so I don't doubt his results, but after many rainy, dewy and humid nights with my 90 Degree CF tarptent. Is it wet and heavy? I've never thought about it. Give it a couple shakes, into the snake skins and its dry that night. Sometimes a bit of water is trapped in there with no where to go, but I've noticed that as soon as I set it up, shortly after its dry. Last time out with the cloudburst, I did the same and water literally poured out when I got home and set it up in the garage to dry. I've experienced a massive difference in the two.

[Jimswms]

I tried one of these silNylon tarps and like you didn't care for the sponge like quality. I now use a SimplyLightDesigns 12ft Winter Haven with my Warbonnet Ridgerunner and I really like this tarp. I use this tarp on 90% of my trips.
Attachment 171736

what fabric is that? It's better than silnylon?

[cmoulder]

I didn't read through the whole thread, just his first post, but yeah, that's pretty interesting. Not what I've seen in my experience though. He put a ton of work into his test, so I don't doubt his results, but after many rainy, dewy and humid nights with my 90 Degree CF tarptent. Is it wet and heavy? I've never thought about it. Give it a couple shakes, into the snake skins and its dry that night. Sometimes a bit of water is trapped in there with no where to go, but I've noticed that as soon as I set it up, shortly after its dry. Last time out with the cloudburst, I did the same and water literally poured out when I got home and set it up in the garage to dry. I've experienced a massive difference in the two.

With my Echo II tarp (.74 DCF) I had recorded the bone-dry weight in geargrams, and just for the heck of it weighed it right after returning from a wet trip. I had wiped it down pretty well (or so I thought!) with a cotton bandana, wringing it out many times, and thought it was "fairly dry" when I put it in the stuff sack, so it was a shock to see the 40% weight increase.

Now, we're also talking 40% for a material that is already significantly lighter than silnylon, so even the increase in weight will be comparatively much less. But there is a myth out there that DCF doesn't gain any water weight, and that simply isn't correct.

[Intimidator]

DCF doesn't gain water weight from water absorption. It can still have water on the surface though just like any object, as you discovered.

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[cmoulder]

DCF doesn't gain water weight from water absorption. It can still have water on the surface though just like any object, as you discovered.

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Indeed, as I mentioned above "simply from surface tension."

Additionally, it has been noted by some that DCF can gain even more water weight if the material is abraded and starts to expose the fibers between the laminate layers.

[TrailSlug]

what fabric is that? It's better than silnylon?

Sorry I should have mentioned that it is silPoly and in my opinion the only way to go. It's light, strong, and doesn't absorb water.

[Coldautumndays]

I just bought a custom 12 foot Cloudburst in SilPoly. I tried out out last weekend and it worked really well and didn't take on any water.