Spend any time in any respect researching out of doors gear, whether or not it is a new tent or a brand new rain jacket, and you may shortly end up awash in a complicated array of jargon. Silnylon, polyurethane, X-Pac, cuben fiber, ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE)—what are these items?
What none of them are is ideal. Every has its personal weight, value, advantages, and disadvantages. However there is a material that is good for you and your explicit use case. We put this information collectively that can assist you strip away the advertising and higher perceive what every material does, what it is best used for, and the place it struggles.
Desk of Contents
Out of doors Cloth Varieties
Let’s begin by breaking this down into the assorted fibers and supplies utilized in out of doors gear. We’ll skip among the older issues, like waxed canvas, since most individuals are aware of it. Listed here are essentially the most generally used materials within the out of doors trade as we speak.
What is the Distinction Between Dyneema and Cuben Fiber?
This causes an infinite quantity of confusion in on-line backpacking boards, however there is no such thing as a distinction. They’re the identical factor. Dyneema Composite Cloth (DCF) was once known as cuben fiber (and in addition generally “non-woven Dyneema”). It was initially developed to make sails for racing yachts (the place it is nonetheless used, along with dozens of different makes use of).
The corporate that first introduced it to market was known as Cubic Tech, which was then acquired by a Dutch firm, Koninklijke DSM, which renamed cuben fiber “Dyneema Composite Cloth.” (Koninklijke was then purchased by the Swiss firm Firmenich AG and the acronym DSM now refers back to the firm DSM-Firmenich AG.)
Silnylon
The oldest of the bunch, this time period refers to silicone-coated ripstop nylon. This versatile material is extensively utilized in tents, some (nonbreathable) rain gear, stuff sacks, and lots of different items of substances. Its strengths are sturdiness, excessive tear power, and waterproofing. The draw back to nylon is that it absorbs water—even, sadly, when coated with silicone. Therefore the DWR remedies, however even with these, in some unspecified time in the future nylon will moist out and begin absorbing water. Because of this your tent’s rainfly sags when it will get soaked. Nylon can also be sluggish to dry.
Polyester
That is one other very versatile, extensively used material with one enormous benefit over nylon: It does not take up almost as a lot water. This implies it does not sag as a lot. That is notably vital in ultralight backpacking tents that pitch with trekking poles. Sag is not simply annoying, it is a lack of structural integrity and might collapse your tent. The draw back to polyester is that it isn’t as robust as silnylon in lots of circumstances (it particularly tends to tear), and probably not as sturdy over the long term. That stated, I personally discover this draw back to be overstated. I’ve two tents with polyester rain flies which have assist up properly over the course of almost 20 years of use.
{Photograph}: Scott Gilbertson
Nemo Osmo
What if you happen to might mix the very best qualities of nylon (sturdy, robust) with the very best qualities of polyester (hydrophobic, much less stretching)? That is the query that led Nemo Gear to develop its Osmo material, a proprietary mix of nylon and polyester. I have been testing Nemo’s Osmo line of tents since they debuted in 2022 and have discovered that Osmo does certainly handle to sag much less that straight nylon rainflies.
X-Pac
This can be a laminated material that begins with a nylon face, lays in a polyester grid, then a PET plastic layer to offer waterproofing, and eventually, a nylon backing to guard the extra fragile inside layers. The benefit over ripstop nylon is the waterproof layer, which is healthier usually than even silnylon. X-Pac is available in varied weights, however the most typical in packs (which is the place I’ve discovered X-Pac actually excels) are VX21 and VX42. These thicker, heavier, variations of X-Pac are extra abrasion-resistant and nonetheless stay about 20 % lighter than silnylon in the same denier. The draw back for X-Pac is that it may be a little bit fragile, particularly when it come to abrasion.
Dyneema Composite Cloth
Within the out of doors trade, Dyneema is essentially the most acknowledged model identify of a composite materials manufactured from woven ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE). UHMWPE is a extensively utilized in many industries for a lot of issues (together with bulletproof vests), however the model that exhibits up in tents and packs is, like Dyneema, fibers which have been spun collectively after which layered into a material. Therefore, the identify Dyneema Composite Cloth (DCF).
The ensuing material is 15 occasions stronger than metal per weight. That material is then sandwiched between outer layers (often polyester) so {that a} waterproof coating will be utilized (it will not persist with the DCF immediately).
Dyneema is extremely robust, like off-the-charts robust in comparison with nylon and polyester. It is also very gentle and waterproof, all of which have made it a favourite amongst ultralight hikers and backpackers trying to shave off the ounces. Dyneema’s weak spot is abrasion. I’ve seen the nook of a Dyneema rainfly crushed to shreds by wind in a single night time of flapping towards sandstone. It is simple to restore, but additionally very costly relative to nylon and polyester, and it does not pack down as small. Nevertheless, correctly used and cared for, Dyneema is definitely the strongest, lightest material on this checklist, making it glorious for packs, stuff sacks, and tents.
Ecopak/Extremely
Ecopack is one other material that involves ultralight climbing from the world of crusing, the place it was initially used for, properly, sails. That is one other UHMWPE face material, laminated to a water-resistant lining. You will see this material beneath model names like EPL Extremely, Extremely 100, Extremely 200, and Ecopak Extremely, amongst others. The numbers usually correspond to the denier, so Extremely 200 makes use of a 210 denier face material. However that material can also be woven UHMWPE fibers (about 70 % for Extremely 200), making it rather more abrasion resistant than Dyneema Composite.
Courtesy of Dyneema
Dyneema Woven Composite
Dyneema just lately launched a brand new material, Dyneema Woven Composite (DWC), which marries a totally woven Dyneema face material to DCF. Proper now, solely Hyperlite Mountain Gear packs use this new material, however we anticipate to see others undertake it going ahead because it improves Dyneema’s abrasion resistance. It will likely be attention-grabbing to check DWC to Extremely since DWC is actually DSM’s reply to Extremely. We’ll replace this information when we have now extra time to check DWC packs.
Different Cloth Elements
In case you have a look at the above and judged solely on what I laid out, you’d most likely by an enormous fan of Dyneema and Extremely, particularly if you happen to’re into ultralight backpacking and also you’re aiming for base gear weight (earlier than meals and water) of lower than 10 kilos. Sadly, different components inside every material additionally have an effect on how properly it performs, so it is laborious to make apples to apples comparisons.
As an illustration, there’s a enormous distinction between ripstop nylons used throughout the trade. Seize a cheapo nylon tent off Amazon and evaluate it to a Hilleberg tent and you may shortly understand that, apart from each being manufactured from the identical base materials (nylon) they don’t have anything in widespread. That is the place components like thread rely, calendaring, denier, weave sort, and extra come into play.
What Is Denier?
Denier might be the strangest unit of measurement you will ever encounter. Denier is the load in grams for 9 km of thread. So 9km of Hilleberg’s Kerlon 1800 weighs 40 grams. What does that let you know? Just about nothing, however it’s a helpful method to evaluate materials and know, for example, that Hilleberg’s Crimson label tents, which solely use 30D ripstop nylon should not as robust because the fashions made with 40D.
The rationale Hilleberg tents are so properly made, and final for many years, is that the customized nylon mix and weave the corporate makes use of are higher than what you will discover on different “nylon” tents. Hilleberg’s nylon, which the corporate calls Kerlon, is 40D excessive tenacity ripstop nylon, which is made for high-strength expedition tents.
Denier is helpful to make comparisons throughout producers as properly, so you possibly can know that your cheapo Amazon tent with its 8D nylon will not final almost so long as a 30D mannequin from extra respected manufacturers. On the identical time, denier will not be the tip of the story both. There are additionally various ranges of coatings. Do not forget that nylon absorbs water, so you must apply a coating to sluggish that course of down.
What Is Hydrostatic Head?
One other unit of measurement that you simply may see is hydrostatic head, which is an trade commonplace unit of measurement used to find out the waterproofness of a material. Technically talking, it’s the peak in millimeters of a column of water {that a} material can face up to earlier than liquid begins to maneuver by the weave. Hilleberg’s Kerlon materials additionally coat either side with a 3-layer utility of 100% silicon, which supplies the nylon an HH ranking of 5500mm and make the material a lot stronger.
Weaves and Coatings
To showcase one other method wherein all these ranking and measurements should not the tip of the story, we’ll think about another tent maker, Durston, which just lately dropped the denier of its polyester material X-mid tents from 20D to 15D. That appears like Durston made a weaker tent, however in accordance with the corporate, the brand new high-strength 15D polyester presents “96 % of the power of the 20D whereas being lighter.” The corporate merely modified the weave and the coating.
The coatings are additionally completely different. In contrast to Hilleberg, Durston makes use of a silicone coating on the surface of its rainfly and a polyether coating on the within. The hydrostatic head for the X-mid is 3500, which is lots to maintain you dry. Having spent wet nights in each the brand new Durston X-mid and a Hilleberg Akto, I can guarantee you that, whereas every firm has taken a special path to the completed product, each tents are robust, well-made, and waterproof. The result’s identical—you keep dry.
A Phrase on Dyneema
Dyneema and different UHMWPE materials like Extremely are undoubtedly essentially the most thrilling materials in out of doors gear proper now. They overcome two main downsides of nylon and polyester: they’re lighter they usually do not take up water. A lot of the push into out of doors gear manufactured from Dyneema has come from ultralight backpackers making an attempt to scale back their pack weight.
As famous above, Dyneema’s power is its resistance to ripping, which makes it an excellent choice for tents, packs, and on a regular basis objects like stuff sacks. Whereas many bigger manufacturers have now embraced Dyneema, it was actually the small, cottage trade manufacturers which have pushed innovation.
