Spend any time in any respect researching outside gear, whether or not it is a new tent or a brand new rain jacket, and you may 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, price, advantages, and downsides. However there is a material that is good for you and your specific use case. We put this information collectively that can assist you strip away the advertising and marketing and higher perceive what every cloth does, what it is best used for, and the place it struggles.
Desk of Contents
Out of doors Material Sorts
Let’s begin by breaking this down into the varied fibers and supplies utilized in outside gear. We’ll skip a number of the older issues, like waxed canvas, since most individuals are accustomed to it. Listed below are essentially the most generally used materials within the outside trade right this moment.
What is the Distinction Between Dyneema and Cuben Fiber?
This causes an limitless quantity of confusion in on-line backpacking boards, however there isn’t a distinction. They’re the identical factor. Dyneema Composite Material (DCF) was referred to as cuben fiber (and likewise 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 referred to as Cubic Tech, which was then acquired by a Dutch firm, Koninklijke DSM, which renamed cuben fiber “Dyneema Composite Material.” (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 cloth is broadly utilized in tents, some (nonbreathable) rain gear, stuff sacks, and lots of different items of substances. 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, sooner or later nylon will moist out and begin absorbing water. Because of this your tent’s rainfly sags when it will get soaked. Nylon can be sluggish to dry.
Polyester
That is one other very versatile, broadly used cloth with one enormous benefit over nylon: It does not take up practically as a lot water. This implies it does 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 is not 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 effectively over the course of practically 20 years of use.
{Photograph}: Scott Gilbertson
Nemo Osmo
What should you 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 cloth, 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 cloth that begins with a nylon face, lays in a polyester grid, then a PET plastic layer to offer waterproofing, and at last, a nylon backing to guard the extra fragile internal 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 a bit of fragile, particularly when it come to abrasion.
Dyneema Composite Material
Within the outside trade, Dyneema is essentially the most acknowledged model identify of a composite materials product of woven ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE). UHMWPE is a broadly 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 Material (DCF).
The ensuing cloth is 15 occasions stronger than metal per weight. That cloth is then sandwiched between outer layers (normally polyester) so {that a} waterproof coating will be utilized (it will not stick with the DCF immediately).
Dyneema is extremely robust, like off-the-charts robust 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 evening of flapping towards sandstone. It is easy to restore, but additionally very costly relative to nylon and polyester, and it does not pack down as small. Nonetheless, correctly used and cared for, Dyneema is certainly the strongest, lightest cloth on this record, making it glorious for packs, stuff sacks, and tents.
Ecopak/Extremely
Ecopack is one other cloth that involves ultralight mountaineering from the world of crusing, the place it was initially used for, effectively, sails. That is one other UHMWPE face cloth, laminated to a water-proof lining. You will see this cloth 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 cloth. However that cloth can be woven UHMWPE fibers (about 70 p.c for Extremely 200), making it rather more abrasion resistant than Dyneema Composite.
Courtesy of Dyneema
Dyneema Woven Composite
Dyneema not too long ago launched a brand new cloth, Dyneema Woven Composite (DWC), which marries a completely woven Dyneema face cloth to DCF. Proper now, solely Hyperlite Mountain Gear packs use this new cloth, however we count on to see others undertake it going ahead because it improves Dyneema’s abrasion resistance. It is going to be fascinating to check DWC to Extremely since DWC is basically DSM’s reply to Extremely. We’ll replace this information when we now have extra time to check DWC packs.
Different Material Components
If you happen to take 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 should 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 cloth additionally have an effect on how effectively it performs, so it is laborious to make apples to apples comparisons.
As an example, 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 rapidly understand that, except for each being product of the identical base materials (nylon) they don’t have anything in widespread. That is the place components like thread depend, calendaring, denier, weave sort, and extra come into play.
What Is Denier?
Denier might be the strangest unit of measurement you may ever encounter. Denier is the burden 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, but it surely’s a helpful strategy to evaluate materials and know, for example, that Hilleberg’s Pink label tents, which solely use 30D ripstop nylon will not be as robust because the fashions made with 40D.
The explanation Hilleberg tents are so effectively made, and final for many years, is that the customized nylon mix and weave the corporate makes use of are higher than what you may 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 beneficial to make comparisons throughout producers as effectively, so you possibly can know that your cheapo Amazon tent with its 8D nylon will not final practically 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 just may see is hydrostatic head, which is an trade customary 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} cloth can stand up to earlier than liquid begins to maneuver by means of the weave. Hilleberg’s Kerlon materials additionally coat either side with a 3-layer utility of 100% silicon, which supplies the nylon an HH score of 5500mm and make the material a lot stronger.
Weaves and Coatings
To showcase one other method wherein all these score and measurements will not be the top of the story, we’ll contemplate yet another tent maker, Durston, which not too long ago dropped the denier of its polyester cloth X-mid tents from 20D to 15D. That appears like Durston made a weaker tent, however in keeping with the corporate, the brand new high-strength 15D polyester provides “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 completely 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 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 distinct path to the completed product, each tents are robust, well-made, and waterproof. The result’s similar—you keep dry.
A Phrase on Dyneema
Dyneema and different UHMWPE materials like Extremely are positively essentially the most thrilling materials in outside 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 outside gear product of Dyneema has come from ultralight backpackers making an attempt to cut back their pack weight.
As famous above, Dyneema’s energy is its resistance to ripping, which makes it an important possibility 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.
