How can I make Tyvek less noisy?

Question

So I've made myself a handy dandy tent footprint out of Tyvek. It's durable, packs easy, cheap to replace.... and NOISY. My entire camping group has complained that it wakes them up when I roll over at night.

Is there a way to "wear it in" so that it no longer makes that loud crinkle noise?

What type of Tyvek? Tyvek 1443R soft structure should be much quieter than Tyvek 1085d, but it's not as heavyweight. (Aravona's answer is the standard fix.) — requiem, Jul 18 '14 at 16:31
Hmmm, this sounds like it might be a good lightweight alternative. — Tom Collins, Jul 20 '14 at 00:56

Aravona · Accepted Answer · 2014-07-21T08:12:17.603

15

My other half used Tyvek when he was practicing Archery and one of the factors there was it had to be quiet, they used it for 4-6 hour stints to sit on.

This is what he and some others in his club did:

Wash it on a cotton / white cycle in your washing machine without any soap or detergent or powders.
Wash it three times but let it dry thoroughly between each wash.
Then if you have a tumble dryer put it on on a standard cycle with three new tennis balls in, this will soften it up further.

He thinks it should retain the waterproofness but bear in mind it might pick up leaves etc more as the fibers will be softened.

edited Jul 21 '14 at 08:12

answered Jul 18 '14 at 16:05

Aravona

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Sounds good. I will try this and report back. – Russell Steen Jul 18 '14 at 18:32
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Checking this as correct. I have tested this and verified that it does DRASTICALLY reduce the noise. I have not verified or tested any impact on the quality of waterproofing. That will come next. – Russell Steen Jul 21 '14 at 00:33
Hopefully it retains the waterproofing :) – Aravona Jul 21 '14 at 07:09

How can I make Tyvek less noisy?

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