Zpacks Hexamid and a HOLE !

[ericrobo]

Had this Zpacks Hexamid about 2 years and a few weeks ago discovered this :

Zpacks Hexamid hole by Eric Robinson, on Flickr

The hole/flaw is up at the top.

Contacted Zpacks (with difficulty, they said they hadn't received my email... ? Took more than one repeat emails with pictures, and I was beginning to lose hope... makes it tricky them being in USA)

They said they would send some patches to repair, or I could send it back and they would repair it.

But I wanted to know why it had happened.
Was it a bad batch of cuben fibre, in which case other areas would suffer the same fate...

The Customer Manager said she would pass it by their technical guy, but I'm still waiting on this..

I suggested to them the idea of swapping it for their latest Plexamid, or how much discount they were prepared to offer.

Unfortunately the Plexamid is 'temporarily unavailable'.

Anybody any ideas about what could have happened here ?

[Bearbonesnorm]

Is it all the way through Eric or just the outer layer?

[johnnystorm]

Isn't two years "ok" considering its cuben? I don't think I'd be asking for a swap after that time.

[Pirahna]

Isn't cuben supposed to be a bit rubbish when it comes to resisting abrasion and folding?

[Bearbonesnorm]

Yes, certainly has poor abrasion resistance.

[Alpinum]

It's by design when it comes from Zpacks

You can get cuben tape within EU from ExtremTextil in Germany.

[ericrobo]

It’s all the way through Stuart- tested by it letting water through.

Abrasion: I doubt if it’s been caused by abrasion. If you look closely it doesn’t look as if it’s caused by abrasion, no scuff or anything like that.

Cuben Fibre I would say is a lot tougher than any of the materials tents or tarps are made from.

I suspect it’s due to the manufacturing process - in the same way that carbon frames are made, the “weaving” of the fibres has to be done so that it’s consistent, and uniform, otherwise weaknesses.

Doesn’t say much for Zpacks does it ?

I’m going to email them again about this.

Does the repair cuben work I wonder ?
What about gorilla tape or anything...

[Bearbonesnorm]

The cuben bonding tape works very well Eric, so well that in many cases there's no need to actually sew cuben.

[ericrobo]

This guy used packing tape to repair his tarp....

https://youtu.be/8roMOAV9iLs

Might give it a go...

[Gari]

I repaired mine with tenacious tape, been fine for a couple of years now.

[Mike]

Ah, thats no good now you need a new one so sell this one to me

[ericrobo]

Thanks for the tip Gari
Just ordered a roll from Millets

Hi Mike
I'm not selling it.
That Plexamid thingy is unavailable AND it weighs 14.8ozs/420g. It's got more laminates to give it a less "see through".

The Hexamid weighs 10.4ozs/294g
Believe me every ounce/gram counts when you get to my ancient age

It's an absolute doddle to put up.

Another good thing is that (Dyneema) when wet does not add any considerable water weight to your pack.