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tents are still constructed from cotton canvas
duck, as are most of the high-grade wall tents
you see in western hunting camps.
Canvas breathes as it sheds water, which
means that tents made of this fabric are wonderfully
comfortable (no condensation) in wet
weather. Worn canvas is easily restored to
waterproof condition by painting on chemicals
that can be purchased in most hardware stores.
Mending the damaged polyurethane coatings
on nylon fabrics is at best diicult.
Cotton has a nonskid surface, has a nice
soft “hand,” and feels good against the skin.
It’s ideal as a covering for foam sleeping pads
and seat and boat cushions, for tent and tool
bags, and for hats. A cotton-poplin parka is
luxurious and will ward of quite a shower
if treated with water-repellent chemicals.
Cotton fabrics retain water repellents much
more willingly than do nylon materials. Note
that nylon stretches when it gets wet, whereas
canvas shrinks.
Being a natural iber, cotton also has considerable
lex. Haul a heavy nylon pack across sharp
granite and the nylon ibers won’t give much.
Do the same with a canvas pack and the cotton
ibers will stretch and return to shape. he result
is that canvas packs often outlive nylon ones,
even though they are technically less strong.
Some of my canvas Duluth packs are more than
thirty years old and are still serviceable.
Army duck is the strongest and heaviest
(and most expensive!) of the cotton fabrics. It
is woven so that each warp yarn passes over (or
under) a single illing yarn (similar to those loop
pot holders you made as a child). “Duck” is available
in weights from seven to ifteen ounces
per square yard. he army prefers twelve- to
ifteen-ounce fabrics for their heavy truck tarps
YARD GOODS AND REPAIR MATERIALS
and bivouac tents, but seven- to eight-ounce
weights are better for family campers. Army
duck is the king of cotton tent fabrics.
Twill is woven so that each warp yarn passes
over two or more illing yarns. It’s less strong
than duck and is used mostly to make military
uniforms. It’s tough stuf and it weighs about
eight ounces per square yard.
Drill is a three-leaf twill made from fairly
coarse yarns. It’s more loosely woven than duck
and less expensive. he cheapest canvas tents
are often made from drill.
Cotton-poplin is a tightly woven fabric that’s
produced by using yarns that are heavier and
more coarse than the warp yarns. Poplin comes
in weights of 4 to 11 ounces per square yard.
Some family-size wall tents are woven from 5 1 ⁄2ounce
fabric.
Egyptian, pima, and Supima cotton: Egyptian
cotton has the longest ibers of all cottons, and
it makes into the strongest and silkiest yarn.
It is by far the most luxurious fabric for the
interior shells of sleeping bags; no other material
feels better against the skin. Pima cotton
was developed by US growers to compete with
the Egyptian product, and it is nearly as good.
Supima is the top of the pima crop. Tightly
woven high-grade cotton isn’t used much in
its pure form anymore (it’s very expensive).
However, it is a marvelous material for sleeping
bags, wind shells, and summer shirts.
Ventile cotton was originally developed by
the British to keep downed RAF liers from
freezing in the North Sea. It is so tightly woven
that it will repel a shower for 20 minutes or
more without the aid of chemical water repellents.
Until the advent of Gore-Tex, all the best
parkas in the world were made from Ventile.
Unfortunately, this fabric is heavy when dry,
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