Cuben Fiber Tent

[Nuts]

Put a couple of drops where the hood stitching disappears under the patches?

[ULWalkingPhil]

Put a couple of drops where the hood stitching disappears under the patchs?

That's where I was considering could be the source of the leak. I guess I probably should wait till it's dry before I use silnet? Is there a trick in using this stuff, last time I attempt to use silnet on my Tarp for my hammock, I ended up making a mess, it's was so thick, imposible to brush on.

[photohiker]

Put a couple of drops where the hood stitching disappears under the patchs?

That's where I was considering could be the source of the leak. I guess I probably should wait till it's dry before I use silnet? Is there a trick in using this stuff, last time I attempt to use silnet on my Tarp for my hammock, I ended up making a mess, it's was so thick, imposible to brush on.

Yes, dilute with turps until you get a nice brushable consistency, spread with kids art brush. I tend to over do things, but I'd do the outside as suggested and cover all of the inside stitches in the leak area. Definitely wait until it is very dry.

[Maelgwn]

I would go for seam grip. A lot stronger/more durable than silicon.

[photohiker]

Isn't SeamGrip suitable for PU based products and SilNet suited for Silicone based products?

MLD supplied a silicone sealer with their cuben tent...

[Nuts]

Personally with the cuben tent I would just do the least, a couple of tiny dobs where the last stitch or two goes under the sealed material especially if you have the chance to set it up and check again in the rain/under a sprinkler.. it is likely just wicking a bit. Most of the stitching looks otherwise pretty well sealed (or should be). Odd there weren't a few notes came with it.

[ULWalkingPhil]

Isn't SeamGrip suitable for PU based products and SilNet suited for Silicone based products?

MLD supplied a silicone sealer with their cuben tent...

I believe I should have not received the silnet with my shelter, the silnet is supplied for Silnylon shelters and not for Cuben shelters. I believe someone done a mistake in supplying the silnet.

Now, I'm really confused, I don't know what to use, I've asked Ron from MLD, just waiting on his response. Nothing major, but not expected, Was a bit surprised when I started getting water drops hitting me. Late this afternoon, the rain got heavier, so I sat inside shelter and the water was literally running from the area I pictured. The front of my inner is wet. It's doing this on the other side as well, so it's not just the one seam, the exact same spot on the other end is leaking as well, not as bad as the side pictured.

[Strider]

Not having the best of luck are you

[Rob A]

Brush?
Just run it on straight from the tube. Angle teh tube slightly away from 90deg so that the nozzle sets the thickness and bead width. Dont mess with the proprietary product.
Internal seals erect the tent/tarp inside out.
But If you actually get seamgrip (cuben/polyethylene) the nozzle is a brush.
That said, a lot of things wont stick to a silicone but a silicone will often stick to jsut about everything.

[oyster_07]

A question, if I may: how do you find cuben as a flooring material?

[Maelgwn]

Isn't SeamGrip suitable for PU based products and SilNet suited for Silicone based products?

Yes. I guess in the ideal world one would get some
Cuben tape and use that. I think any if the options would work, just feel like the silicon may not last that long.

[ULWalkingPhil]

I have spoken to Ron, Phoned him earlier this morning.

The silnet is not for Cuben Fiber, someone done a mistake and included that in my shelter, it should not have been supplied with my shelter, it's only good for silnylon.
Seam grip is what should be used on Cuben Shelters.

Regarding my leaking Duomid. Ron says the leak is coming from the stitching on the beak, those two rows of stitching you see on one of my images where the beaks reinforcement bar is located. Ron says that can be repaired via two way's and it's a very easy repair, Seam Grip or some cuben tape, Ron is going to mail out to me both the seam grip and cuben tape for the repairs.

They must not get rain like we do here, Ron says that this is very rare that a cuben shelter gets so much rain that it starts to leak through the stitching to the inside on the beak. I think we all live in harsher conditions compared to those in the states.

Last edited by ULWalkingPhil on Wed 27 Feb, 2013 7:11 am, edited 1 time in total.

[ULWalkingPhil]

A question, if I may: how do you find cuben as a flooring material?

I don't have a Cuben Floor, but I would imagine if you get it in the stronger version such as 1 ounce or 1.4 ounce it would make a excellent ground sheet.

[ULWalkingPhil]

Best advice I can offer anyone purchasing a MLD Cuben Shelter:

Seam grip or tape any stitching you see on that white fabric used on there shelters and seal that row of stitching on the beak.

[photohiker]

I'm a bit mystified by Ron's comments.

If you have a shelter of any material with through-stitching, prolonged rain will soak through the stitching. That is why we need to seam seal our shelters.

[Nuts]

All the stitching is patched over, that's likely good enough. Where the hood is stitched, some sort of flat plastic? reinforcement bar through it, doesn't really need to be waterproof except where the stitching goes under the patch. It'll be right, looks pretty well sealed so far. I'd still just try a couple of dobs of aquaseal (the tape (mylar) really needs to be rolled flat to remove bubbles) but it should hopefully just be a minor thing either way. Look at all the seam sealing P'Hiker did!!

Most importantly.. don't stress!!

[photohiker]

Look at all the seam sealing P'Hiker did!!

Good point haha.

Send it to me Phil, I'll fix it for you

[ULWalkingPhil]

Look at all the seam sealing P'Hiker did!!

Good point haha.

Send it to me Phil, I'll fix it for you

Yes, but yours is a silnylon shelter, Mine being a Cuben does not requre seam sealing, not if you read what's written out there.

But it looks like all shelter's where sewn need to be sealed, there is one exception, that Hilleberg tent I had, did not require seam sealing.

It's been a good test. My Golite Shangri La 3 had only a few drops leak into it in the whole 2 days of testing, apart from water through the door as I entered and exited the shelter while it rained.

The results of this test, is not what I expected.

Like what Ron says, it's an easy repair. Just hope it's a succesfull repair.

Anyone want a shelter tested? send it to me.

You can fix them Photohiker and I'll test them.

[ULWalkingPhil]

I would not call this sever conditions I had in the last two day's to test the shelters, Most of the time it was just showers coming and going. At times it came down heavy but the heavy rain never lasted long. Early this morning when I woke it was bucketing down, so I went outside and sat in my Duomid and I was getting a bit wet. There was a nice wet patch on my self inflating mattress I had inside my Inner.

I've been on hikes where it just bucketed down non stop for a few days, so hard your lucky to see 50 metres in front of you, I expect a tent to keep me dry in such conditions. You should have seen some of the storms and rain, I've survived in my hammock, I never ever had a drop of water get to me in my Hammock. This is what I expect with this Cuben Shelter. I didn't expect I had to make it water proof, On a good note the back side of my Duomid was bone dry. Once I seal those two patches on the side of that beak, I think this will perform as good as my hammock shelter. I have no doubt's about that.

Now, I'm going to take some close up images of the area where the water was getting in, and send those to Ron, so he can see what's going on, and maybe redesign that section. I think it can be better. For a start that stitching on the beak needs to be taped. Ron believes tape that and the problem is gone, I do agree with him on this one. Hopefully his learnt from this, and tapes his shelter on the beak stitching from now on.

He was great to talk to on the phone, so long you can pass his strong accent. I had to listen really hard.

[ULWalkingPhil]

The cuben tape and repair patches turned up in the post during the week, yesterday I had the chance to seal that sewing along the beaks reinforcement tube.

I places a row of half inch wide Cuben Tape on each stitching and than added an additional layer over the point of water entry into the shelter, and placed another piece of that white material over the original. Need to give it at least 24 hours to dry before I can test it out. I might add some taping on the inside as well, just to make sure. I used the SeamGrip on the bottom of the beak where the stitching goes under the other small while round patch.

Thanks to Ron for sending me the tape. Ron told me that he has started to seal that area on all Cuben Duomids since I reported the leak to him.

I also cosmetically rectified that white patch over the top of the shelter where the ends did not meet up. It was bugging me every-time I looked at it. Now you can hardly notice it.

Attachments

IMG_5910.jpg (187.5 KiB) Viewed 11560 times

[photohiker]

Looking good, Phil.

[Picaro]

Is the tape a transparent duct tape, which I have read is the thing to take for field repairs, at the least. Or is this a more special purpose tape ?

[ULWalkingPhil]

Is the tape a transparent duct tape, which I have read is the thing to take for field repairs, at the least. Or is this a more special purpose tape ?

It's a special Cuben Tape, same material as the shelter, but sticky on one side.

[andrewa]

After a glance at these responses, 2 things come to mind.

We do seem to have more issues with getting wet(ter) in Oz than they do in the US. Maybe they have issues with frost and dew, where we just have rain, hence the need for seam sealing.

The second one relates to Hilleberg tents. Why don't they need seam sealing? I've had my Nallo 3GT for 5yrs, and never got wet, even in heavy rain. How coenobite other tent manufacturers have sorted this out?...

Andrew A

[Strider]

This has been covered here before Andrew. Hilleberg seams are 4 fabric layers thick and they use a needle cooling system to prevent hole elongation. Do a search for more info

[Onestepmore]

We had the first use of our cuben tent this weekend - the Hyperlite Mountian Designs Echo II. It was warm and humid here south of Sydney, so we set the tarp up fairly high with a good gap at the bottom. Practically no condensation on the inside, bug shelter completely dry. Had some rain too (only light) no leaks, everything under the beak vestibule stayed dry. 3 mozzies got in while setting up - quickly despatched at bed time. It was super easy to set up - I'd only had it up once in the backyard. The line locks on the guys are great - completely drum tight pitch with no adjusting needed. Heaps of room inside for our 2 x neoairs. I'm very impressed with my bargain 'used as new' impulse e-bay buy. I just need to cut and hem a Tyvek footprint - we used one from another tent but I'll make a dedicated base for this. I'm planning my first solo walk in a few weeks - 3 days on the Six Foot Track in the Blue Mountains andI'll probably take this one, nice and light, hassle free. I can see a lot of use for this tent.

[michael_p]

We had the first use of our cuben tent this weekend - the Hyperlite Mountian Designs Echo II. It was warm and humid here south of Sydney, so we set the tarp up fairly high with a good gap at the bottom. Practically no condensation on the inside, bug shelter completely dry. Had some rain too (only light) no leaks, everything under the beak vestibule stayed dry. 3 mozzies got in while setting up - quickly despatched at bed time. It was super easy to set up - I'd only had it up once in the backyard. The line locks on the guys are great - completely drum tight pitch with no adjusting needed. Heaps of room inside for our 2 x neoairs. I'm very impressed with my bargain 'used as new' impulse e-bay buy. I just need to cut and hem a Tyvek footprint - we used one from another tent but I'll make a dedicated base for this. I'm planning my first solo walk in a few weeks - 3 days on the Six Foot Track in the Blue Mountains andI'll probably take this one, nice and light, hassle free. I can see a lot of use for this tent.

Hmmm...I was camping down at Starlights on Saturday night and a very nice couple arrived and set up a very impressive Hyperlite Mountian Designs Echo II cuben fiber tent whilst we were trying to get the camp fire going.

[Onestepmore]

Hmmm.....I was shown a very impressive hammock set up down at Starlights on the weekend by a very nice guy and two companions who kindly shared their campfire and conversation.

[michael_p]

It's a small world.

It was very nice to meet you and your husband. You were both excellent camp fire companions and we enjoyed your company.

Cheers,
Michael.

[ULWalkingPhil]

We had the first use of our cuben tent this weekend - the Hyperlite Mountian Designs Echo II. It was warm and humid here south of Sydney, so we set the tarp up fairly high with a good gap at the bottom. Practically no condensation on the inside, bug shelter completely dry. Had some rain too (only light) no leaks, everything under the beak vestibule stayed dry. 3 mozzies got in while setting up - quickly despatched at bed time. It was super easy to set up - I'd only had it up once in the backyard. The line locks on the guys are great - completely drum tight pitch with no adjusting needed. Heaps of room inside for our 2 x neoairs. I'm very impressed with my bargain 'used as new' impulse e-bay buy. I just need to cut and hem a Tyvek footprint - we used one from another tent but I'll make a dedicated base for this. I'm planning my first solo walk in a few weeks - 3 days on the Six Foot Track in the Blue Mountains andI'll probably take this one, nice and light, hassle free. I can see a lot of use for this tent.

Let me know how the Six Foot Track is Onestepmore, I'm planning the same for early May.
I'll be down Sydney way for a few weeks, if you guy's want to catch up for a hike while I'm there, let me know.