Cuben / Spinn Tarps State of the Market?

**hammockNQ** · 08-24-2011, 04:26

Starting to think seriously about upgrading the tarp. The Hennessey Hex silnylon is fine, but bigger and heavier than I would prefer. Also, cuben or spinn sounds much more fun.

I understand that the industry has been plagued this year with bad batches of spinn, and that cuben is still relatively new (few have much experience manufacturing with it).

Is anyone able to provide updates on the state of the tarp makers and the tarp materials?

**Acer** · 08-24-2011, 05:54

Had a spinn ordered back in January from OES,,and Brian finally contacted me and told me he could at the time,,,and would only make it out of silnylon as spinn material was too bad and so had it made out of silnylon of which I am very happy with,,also not noisy in rain like spinn..but considering another tarp myself,,and thinking of cuban as well..I really value,,when a tarp maker like Brian of OES will not make you what you order,,,because of a bad batch of material manufacurers are sending out to the tarp makers..That is class over making money and taking care of the customer in my book.

**deetjunkie** · 08-24-2011, 06:41

I just bought a cuben tarp from Adam at Hammockgear.com. From order date to delivery it took about 5 weeks, but the workmanship, and quality of the material seem to be absolutely top notch. At the end of the day I'm a happy camper...literaly. If you've got the coin pull the trigger.

**Acer** · 08-24-2011, 06:53

Seems to me,,with all the cuban tarps being made by the different makers here on the forum,,you can't go wrong with choosing one to make a cuban tarp for u as all of their products are taking a nice beating and testing by forum members,,and nowhere can you find bad vibs about any cuban tarps being made. All are holding up very nice and everybody that owns one is very generous on nice comments of material and quality of workmanship.

**G.L.P.** · 08-24-2011, 08:57

Cuben is worth the money if you backpack... but if you car camp your Silnylon tarp will do just fine

**Lonely Raven** · 08-24-2011, 09:11

Originally Posted by G.L.P.

Cuben is worth the money if you backpack... but if you car camp your Silnylon tarp will do just fine

That's where I'm stuck right now. I can make a Silnylon tarp, even up to Winter sized, for about $65. I can buy a nice Warbonnet Superfly for $130. But the Cubans are starting at...what, $300? And cuts about Half the weight?

It's cheaper to stick with my Silnylon and leave the paperback at home. Or as we used to say when building ultra lightweight mountain bikes "I could save myself the extra weight by pooping before I hit the trails"

I'm keeping a close eye on these tarp threads though...I'm hoping with cuban gaining popularity, the price might drop $50-$100 in the next year...one can wish at least.

**AaronAlso** · 08-24-2011, 09:29

I'm still hesitating on the cuben tarp myself. I got the coin but consider where else it could be beter spent. I'm trying to round out a load for a thru-hike in about a year so I have time. Right now there isn't a huge spply of cuben as I understand it, and demand is ever increasing. This would suggest that we won't see a price drop in the near future unless supply quantities increase drastically. Since it was originally created at a sail making material and I have yet to find it on any of the sail making sites I've visited I wonder if it just hasn't broken into that market yet. When it does I suspect the price will drop drastically.

I also haven't found a manufacturer that makes the size or cut of tarp I prefer; and dropping another $150 for custom work is even harder to justify.

**Amelander** · 08-24-2011, 09:48

In my current situation the way I look at it is this:

Any tarp is subject to damage, and if you read enough threads on HF you will find many different ways damage can happen. Whereas I may be able to buy one cuben tarp now, what happens if it is damaged beyond repair? Buy another? I can buy 3 very nice OES tarps for the price on 1 cuben. Until that ratio hits 1:1, or cubens are in the $150 range I will continue to get sil. If you got the coin to get one go for it, but if I bought one I would never enjoy it, I would always be too worried about it.

A friend of mine bought one from a maker here on HF. We set it up the other day, and I was scared to touch it knowing how much he paid for it. The cuben is very thin looking, VERY. I know thats the point, but its just not for me. I will cut weight another way.

**Lonely Raven** · 08-24-2011, 09:51

Love your avatar, Pinnacle.

Cuban is pretty strong stuff though. I think it's susceptible to pointy things, just like any tarp...but I think it has a breaking point equal to or better than sil.

The cost difference does give me pause.

**Amelander** · 08-24-2011, 10:17

Thanks Lonely Raven.

I totally agree with you about the strength of cuben. My friend had his cuben and I with my sil were on the same week long campout. They both weathered the storms we had very well. But that price tag gets me. For me the weight savings is 11 ozs over the sil, thats $18 an ounce!

For reference I use to have a Deuter backpack(7lbs). I just sold it and got a ULA(36 ozs). To me thats a great trade off.

My old sleeping bag weighed 4 lbs. My top quilt weight 21 ozs. Thats $4.65 an ounce.

If you are considering buying cuben, try to get your hands on some first. My friend was very disappointed when he first opened his cuben tarp up. In his words he "felt like he had spent 300 bucks on a trash bag." They are super thin.