question on cuben fiber

[Cursnfurs]

So somewhere within this awesome forums i'd seen where a few people were starting to see they're cuben stuff sacks were starting to pull apart. I assume " yeah I know about that word" a lot of use gear being put into and out of sack plus frictions within the pack. My fear is will this eventually happen to a cuben tarp as well and running outta options and available space to make decent repairs. With the price of cuben fiber is this material really justifiable. from what I've seen for the price of 1 cuben fiber tarp you could purchase 3 tadpole tarps and I understand cuben material is a lot newer on the market then silnylon so you might not yet see the wear down of double sided tapes yet.

also i'm not looking for answers like puncture holes and or other accident's to tarp just the yearly conditions of the tarp.

[Phillipsart]

I am an owner of a cuben tarp for a year now and my tarp looks the same as the day I purchased it. Tarps are not the same as stuff sucks, they don't endure the punishments that stuff sucks suffer, at least not mine, I cant answer for everyone else, i do take care of my gear. If your careless and throw your gear about, trod on them etc, I think you might have a problem.

[MAD777]

My cuben tarp has been as serviceable as my silnylon and spinnaker tarps. Cuben tarps have been around for about 5 years now, and no wholesale failures are occurring.

I agree Phillipsart that stuff sacks are a different animal. Some folks take the term "stuff" to literally and aggressively.

Are cuben tarps worth the price? Well, that's a personal question. I would say yes only if you have a strong desire to lighten your load and you've already done everything else to do so. I have no regrets, but it was my last step in shedding grams.

[pizza]

The only reason to go cuben fiber is for lightening your backpack load as mentioned. It's why I got a cuben tarp. It is not as durable as silnylon in terms of puncture resistance. I holed mine the first time out tripping over a door shock cord line launching a titanium shepherds hook stake right through tarp. The good news is that cuben is extremely easy to repair with cuben tape. My one inch tear was fixed in 5 minutes at my campsite. If I were just a car camper I'd stick with silnylon.

[Cranky Bear]

I have been using cuben for a few years now, and it gets used quite frequently each year. I agree with what has already been said. I have about 12-15 cuben stuff sacks (from super small to double ended to pack liners) and so far only one has started to give me problems. Including two cuben tarps with cuben snake skins.

The one stuff sack that has started to give me problems is because of my own stupid fault (and repeated abuse) as I stuff that thing to the breaking point every time and it is stressing the stitching at the top for the drawcord channel.

I look at cuben as it's a UL piece of gear, you couldn't take a piece of UL gear and treat it the same as a Military piece, just wouldn't work that UL piece would fail waaaaaaaaaaay sooner, and most likely at the most in-opportune time. Some feel it is worth it, and some don't.

[lokbot]

I was planning an making a cuben fiber tarp this summer and from what I've read using the right bonding tape makes the materials stronger than they were to start. I wonder if people are managing to make 100% bonded seam cuben stuff sacks. I bet they would be pretty resiliant.


-Loki