how waterproof are zeltbahns?

[organix]

were they coated in anything? The same way a Barber country jacket is coated in wax? Or were they just stretched tight the same way an old style canvas tent is?

I have an old 1944 zeltbahn and its difficult to imagine it keeping any rain off when set up and joined as a tent with others!

[pzrwest]

The material that zeltbahn's are made of is woven very tight and will repell water to a certain point. Water will wick through eventually but if you touch the inside surface the surface tension of the water will be broken and water will start to drip

[Will Brown]

picture... thousand words... you know the saying. I was taking some outdoor pictures a couple of years ago when a cloudburst hit. You can see the rain hiting and bouncing off the Zelt, which is field used example which has seen some wear. Notice the drops beginning to soak in of their own accord after a few seconds.

[Will Brown]

nuts, used the cropped version. This view is better.

[organix]

thanks for the replies guys

will, thats an amazing pic! Did you take that with an SLR or a digi cam? Must be a really fast shutter speed....

[Adrian Stevenson]

I have worn an original Zeltbahn at a living history event many years ago now. (This was long before repros were even though of ) They are waterproof / water repellent.

Cheers, Ade.

[Josef Hahne]

Kameraden,
I don't have the courage to take a hose to any of my SS Plain tree zelts to test the amount of water they shed. I have used an original well worn triangular Italian camo zelt as a part of a tent in the rain and I will say that sheds water like a duck!! When wet the fabric stiffens and takes on the properties of sheet metal. The fabric becomes very rigid & water just runs off it in rivers. Not bad for a well worn piece of 60+ years old fabric!!

Sepp

[Glenn Barbaritz]

nice egg Will. Glenn

[Will Brown]

Glad you like the picture, it was taken with my Sony Cyber-Shot 7.2 Mega Pixel digital camera and took no special action on my part. I was just deciding that the dark clouds overhead were about to cut loose and that I had better wrap things up and was holding down the shutter half way, so that the camera had locked in the proper shutter and aperature setting when down came the rain. I took the picture and wrapped up in a bit of a hurry as you can imagine.

As for the Zelt I was using? It absorbed some rainwater in places as I recall, mainly where surfaces rubbed together after i just balled it up and took it inside. Otherwise the outward face had remained relatively dry. I towelled off the water and spread it out to dry at room temperature.

Unlike my properly rolled up and kitted out Zelts which are in excellent condition the colors on this one are somewhat faded (both sides equally) and the surface of the fibers where the dye has been lost lend it an slightly whiteish appearance.

IMO the repellant factor of a Zelt depends on the period of time it has seen use, how many times it has been rolled (which must weaken the tightly woven fibers) and the care given to by the owner in the field.

I wonder, did The Germans make a practice of washing these things with soap and hot water?

(thanks Glenn, I have two eggs in that condition, one with ring, one without)

[stroh]

M31 zeltbahn

I have an unissued zeltbahn that still has the waterproof coating on the material. The material is a lot stiffer due to this coating than the usual examples. I have never gotten it wet but I would imagine that the water would bead right off. BTW, it's available, PM for details.

Ed