[pct-l] Squall 2 on the Coast

[Eric Lee]

Ashley wrote:
>
Well, needless to say our top outer shell of our sleeping bags were soaked.
>From close inspection it was dripping from the roof just about every where
through the fabric. It didn't look like condensation it looked more like the
silicone impregnated ripstop nylon may have been failing.
>

Silnylon isn't waterproof in the same way that, say, a sheet of polyurethane
plastic is waterproof.  Water at a high enough pressure can be forced
through silnylon and emerge from the other side as a very fine mist, like a
heavy fog.  If this keeps up long enough your gear can get damp or even
full-on wet.  This usually only happens in heavy driving rain, not the
multi-day drizzle that the Pacific Northwest is famous for.

However, silnylon can be manufactured to different standards, using
different amounts of silicone on the fabric, and this will affect exactly
how water-resistant it ends up being.  Some lightweight gear manufacturers
make a big deal about the grade of silnylon they use for their materials,
claiming their shelters stay dry longer than others.  No idea what supplier
Henry Shires uses but it's possible that he got a poor-quality batch of
material that ended up in your Squall, or maybe it was simply performing to
expectations.  Hard to say from this end.

Eric