Spend any time in any respect researching outdoor gear, whether or not it is a new tent or a new rain jacket, and you will rapidly end up awash in a complicated array of jargon. Silnylon, polyurethane, X-Pac, cuben fiber, ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE)—what are this stuff?
What none of them are is ideal. Every has its personal weight, value, advantages, and downsides. However there is a cloth that is excellent for you and your specific 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 varied fibers and supplies utilized in out of doors gear. We’ll skip a few of the older issues, like waxed canvas, since most individuals are conversant in it. Listed below are probably the most generally used materials within the out of doors trade at this time.
What is the Distinction Between Dyneema and Cuben Fiber?
This causes an infinite quantity of confusion in on-line backpacking boards, however there isn’t a distinction. They’re the identical factor. Dyneema Composite Cloth (DCF) was once known as cuben fiber (and in addition typically “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 drugs. Its strengths are sturdiness, excessive tear energy, 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. For this reason 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 large benefit over nylon: It would not take up almost as a lot water. This implies it would not sag as a lot. That is notably essential in ultralight backpacking tents that pitch with trekking poles. Sag is not simply annoying, it is a lack of structural integrity and may collapse your tent. The draw back to polyester is that it isn’t as sturdy as silnylon in lots of circumstances (it particularly tends to tear), and presumably 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 in the event you may mix the most effective qualities of nylon (sturdy, sturdy) with the most effective 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 supply waterproofing, and eventually, a nylon backing to guard the extra fragile interior 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 p.c lighter than silnylon in an identical denier. The draw back for X-Pac is that it may be just a little fragile, particularly when it come to abrasion.
Dyneema Composite Cloth
Within the out of doors trade, Dyneema is probably the most acknowledged model identify of a composite materials made from woven ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE). UHMWPE is extensively utilized in many industries for a lot of issues (together with bulletproof vests), however the model that reveals up in tents and packs is, like Dyneema, fibers which were spun collectively after which layered into a cloth. Therefore, the identify Dyneema Composite Cloth (DCF).
The ensuing material is 15 instances stronger than metal per weight. That material is then sandwiched between outer layers (often polyester) so {that a} waterproof coating could be utilized (it will not follow the DCF instantly).
Dyneema is extremely sturdy, like off-the-charts sturdy in comparison with nylon and polyester. It is also very mild and waterproof, all of which have made it a favourite amongst ultralight hikers and backpackers trying to shave off the ounces. Dyneema’s weak point is abrasion. I’ve seen the nook of a Dyneema rainfly overwhelmed to shreds by wind in a single night time of flapping in opposition to sandstone. It is easy to restore, but in addition very costly relative to nylon and polyester, and it would not pack down as small. Nevertheless, correctly used and cared for, Dyneema is definitely the strongest, lightest material on this record, making it glorious for packs, stuff sacks, and tents.
Ecopak/Extremely
Ecopack is one other material that involves ultralight mountaineering 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 may see this material underneath 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 p.c for Extremely 200), making it far 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 completely woven Dyneema face material to DCF. Proper now, solely Hyperlite Mountain Gear packs use this new material, however we count on to see others undertake it going ahead because it improves Dyneema’s abrasion resistance. It will likely be fascinating to match DWC to Extremely since DWC is actually DSM’s reply to Extremely. We’ll replace this information when we’ve got extra time to check DWC packs.
Different Cloth Components
Should you take a look at the above and judged solely on what I laid out, you’d in all probability by an enormous fan of Dyneema and Extremely, particularly in the event you’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 onerous to make apples to apples comparisons.
As an illustration, there’s a large distinction between ripstop nylons used throughout the trade. Seize a cheapo nylon tent off Amazon and examine it to a Hilleberg tent and you will rapidly understand that, other than each being made from the identical base materials (nylon) they don’t have anything in frequent. That is the place components like thread rely, calendaring, denier, weave kind, and extra come into play.
What Is Denier?
Denier might be the strangest unit of measurement you will ever encounter. Denier is the burden in grams for 9 km of thread. So 9 km of Hilleberg’s Kerlon 1800 weighs 40 grams. What does that let you know? Just about nothing, however it’s a helpful technique to examine materials and know, as an example, that Hilleberg’s Crimson Label tents, which solely use 30D ripstop nylon aren’t as sturdy because the fashions made with 40D.
The explanation 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 high-tenacity ripstop nylon, which is made for high-strength expedition tents.
Denier is beneficial to make comparisons throughout producers as properly, so you may 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 similar time, denier is just not the top of the story both. There are additionally various ranges of coatings. Keep in mind that nylon absorbs water, so it’s important to 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 cloth. Technically talking, it’s the top in millimeters of a column of water {that a} material can stand up to earlier than liquid begins to maneuver by way of the weave. Hilleberg’s Kerlon materials additionally coat each side with a 3-layer utility of one hundred pc silicon, which provides the nylon an HH score of 5500 mm and makes the material a lot stronger.
Weaves and Coatings
To showcase one other method by which all these score and measurements aren’t the top of the story, we’ll contemplate yet one more tent maker, Durston, which just lately dropped the denier of its polyester material X-mid tents from 20D to 15D. That seems like Durston made a weaker tent, however based on the corporate, the brand new high-strength 15D polyester presents “96 p.c of the energy of the 20D whereas being lighter.” The corporate merely modified the weave and the coating.
The coatings are additionally totally different. Not like 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 loads 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 distinct path to the completed product, each tents are sturdy, well-made, and waterproof. The result’s similar—you keep dry.
A Phrase on Dyneema
Dyneema and different UHMWPE materials like Extremely are positively probably the most thrilling materials in out of doors gear proper now. They overcome two main downsides of nylon and polyester: They’re lighter and so they do not take up water. A lot of the push into out of doors gear made from Dyneema has come from ultralight backpackers making an attempt to scale back their pack weight.
As famous above, Dyneema’s energy is its resistance to ripping, which makes it an ideal 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.
