experience with cuben shelters

I'm curious to see if anyone has actually tried this out as well. Personally, I don't think a fly alone is enough of a shelter for what I have in mind, and I'm not convinced the cuben fabric can hold up to NZ bush, but I'm willing to be convinced otherwise.

Cuben shelters have certainly been used in NZ before and within the limitations of their design, they work well (it's only when you exceed those limitations there are issues, which is the same for any piece of equipment). Cuben fibre before being used in outdoor gear was/is used for sails on yachts so the material can certainly withstand wind/water if used correctly. Blogs of some people who use cuben tents in NZ (predominately zpacks hexamids and mainly on the Te Araroa Trail in spring/summer): lightweightrob.com restless-kiwi.blogspot.com http://zpacks.com/adventures/ta_gear.shtml http://indefinitelywild.gizmodo.com/can-a-tarp-outperform-a-tent-in-extreme-weather-1642452483 Colin made his own cuben shelter for his walk through Te Araroa http://www.tramplite.com/2013/10/myog-cuben-fibre-shelter.html

Thank-you nzbazza. I appreciate the links.

The zpacks guy used his own design tent. Here's the link: http://zpacks.com/shelter/altaplex.shtml It sounds as though he had no regrets with his choice of model. We have a relatively flimsy tent (Montbell Hexagon) and this means we have to be careful where we pitch it. It means dropping down into a sheltered area in the bush at times or being careful with the angle at which the wind is going to strike the tent. Having said that, there are 2 extra guylines we've never had to use as it's always been pitched in a sheltered spot. If the wind changes direction in the night, it can get tricky. This happened to us once in Cook's Arm on Stewart Island. I had to repair the ripped tent door with a safety pin and a thread and needle in the middle of the night, plus the pole got bent by the single blast of wind as it shifted direction. Luckily it was a 2 zipper tent.