What does tarp wear look like?

[lori]

I went out overnight and noticed as I was pitching the tarp that there are white lines on one side of the black silnylon. I'll try to get a better picture of it, the pic I took didn't come out well. But the tarp has two parallel white lines that are not visible from the other side. I'm a little bemused by this, I've only had this a couple of months and used it on two overnight trips. I stuffed and restuffed it a few times and finally made a slightly bigger sack for it because the original was just too small for me to wrangle the tarp into. Does wear and tear happen in the pack too? I only thought of this just now - I've packed it in the outside pocket of the Osprey last trip, but this trip I threw the sack/tarp inside the pack under the hammock and the bear can. Maybe something was rubbing it through the sack? This was a completely black tarp until this weekend, I swear I'm not that oblivious to not notice til now.

[Mule]

I have seen these lines on a friend of mine's tarp, which is sil nylon like mine and made by the same manufacturer too. His is a smaller model than mine and the fabric looks quite different but it is keeping him dry just the same. Mule

[jeffjenn]

"DIFFERNCE BETWEEN 1STS AND 2NDS ON SILNYLON: We sell a hundred yards of 2nds to every 1 yard of 1sts. Every now and then it may be slightly dirty or there may be a mark in the fabric or there may be an extra amount of silicone in the form of a narrow, whitish streak. In other words there may be minor cosmetic imperfections but we won't sell any silnylon that we feel is structurally compromised unless you know about it ahead of time."

Maybe???

[lori]

Good grief. I am now feeling quite oblivious that I didn't notice them before.

On the other hand, I may have been hanging the tarp with that side down, before.

I wonder what else I'm not noticing? paranoia!