I make all my gear and have no opinion on makes or models, but I am very interested in outdoor fabrics. ?DCF. is the gold standard for shelter material. ?If you can afford it, buy it. ?You won’t regret it. ? Silpoly does not absorb water and stretch like silnylon and is more abrasion resistant than DCF. ?I believe Dan Durston uses it as the floor material. ?I have made a bivy with a silpoly floor and aside from being very slippery it is working out great. ?(Seam sealer fixed the slippery problem.)
Re: pack material. ?In my opinion, abrasion resistance and waterproofing are most important. ?Look for taped or sealed seams. ?Packs take a lot of abuse and have a shorter life expectancy than shelters. ? I have no experience with Ultra fabrics, but they are well reviewed. ?My next pack will likely be made with Ultra.
?I find noise from my pack usually comes from something inside (e.g. my foam pad rubbing on something). ? If a pack is loaded and tight, I doubt the fabric will make much noise.
My 2p.
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On Aug 27, 2024, at 7:27?AM, Ian Goldsmith <ian@...> wrote:
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DCF is very strong. ?I have a ZPacks Duplex and it’s very hard wearing. ?It is a bit plasticy and can be noisy in the wind.
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Ian Goldsmith - +1 310 612 5649
On Aug 26, 2024, at 9:52?PM, chayaj via groups.io <chayaj@...> wrote:
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It seems the zPacks Hexamid was also DCF?? ?I googled it and found an old review that mentioned "cuben fiber." ?According to google (again), cuben fiber is the same as DCF. ?Since you had a DCF tent, did you find it super noisy or plastic-y? ?When I read Lange's and your descriptions, I imagine a fine, thin material that will need to be babied, but that will also shave off a good pound of weight compared to the non-DCF version. ?
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As an aside, when we first got our Copper Spur UL, we thought THAT was a light, thin-walled tent. ?Now, that is too heavy!
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CJ
