LBO Pics

[kevin_t]

Hi

I'm being real honest here, not trying to sugar coat from a "vendor" perspective.

The Silnylon shelters are a much more proven commodity. They have sustained 60 / 70 + winds for days, where we just have not had the opportunity to subject a Cuben one to the same stresses ..yet, but our windy season is coming up.

We did various tests of different construction methods, we are aware of a preference for bonding / taping and sewing in some sort of combination. In our testing of it via pure sewing , we were pleased giving it several shock load tests, granted this is not real world but it seemed good. With the other methods we were not as pleased, and some of it has to do with our customer base, and past experience. Taping, seemed ok, the sheer strength is good, but the peel strength is really poor. It seemed to me, at least that a little peel could allow sand to penetrate and then cause further problems. We know we have a lot of beach / sand type of users so this seems to be a relevant issue for us. It might not be an issue, for pure mountain / forest type of use. WIth bonding, we have a problem with temperature extremes. Once again, we seem to have a customer base that enjoys pushing temperature extremes, partially just cold cold climate campers, and partially hot hot wood stoves. With bonding, we have seen several cold / heat related issues in the past so that is not something we are super interested in. Sure some bonding agents claim better temperature resistance, but in my experience, that never kept a bond from failing given the right circumstances.

Here is where we sit currently, using our present sewing and reinforcement techniques, we were not able to yank, push ,yank , pull any sort of noticeable defect in the seams or tie out / guy out / cone structure. Granted, we build stuff a bit different than almost anyone and distribute stress with doubled re-inforcement and box stitches instead of single layer, light fabric and a bar tack. I do think seam sealing a cuben one with a thick / wide coat is a good idea, and the great thing is this is super simple with cuben and is not even really visible. We will do some serious long term wind stress test and observations soon when we have weather opportunities.

Cuben has several advantages over silnylon, however, for someone using the shelter in a truely harsh environment, I would recommend sticking with sil for the moment, and this is not just in regards to us as a manufacturer. I'm not sure some of the other construction techniques would hold up to certain extremes well. This is not intended to start an argument with any other vendors, and their opinions are certainly valid, but their experience may not mirror ours.

[AK Troutbum]

[zuma]

Cuben does a goood job in wind. No problem there. But there is another important notion with cuben. It doesn't stretch so it's a pain in the ass to get it pitched tight. You most certainly need a flat pitchingspace to get the best results. Catenary curves along the undersides (so close to the ground it keeps open) might improve the pitchability a bit.

So it's not a simple 1+1 thing the choice between cuben and silnylon. It would be nice if both options are available.

[ktimm]

[K.Kading]

[nadchi]

The LBO is a fantastic design with the vestibule the dual entrance adds great a superb flexibility to cope with heat and inclement weather - the ability to open a different door so as not to get a soaking from horizontal rain is a fantastic idea

[Todd Kelly]

[Todd Kelly]

[AK Troutbum]

Nice Todd, where did you take those?

[Todd Kelly]

from a fishing trip around home.