What if I told you that for about $8, you could take just about any piece of camping equipment and make it water resistant, stain resistant, abrasion resistant, UV blocking, antibacterial, not have the equipment change appearance at all or alter the fabrics breathability in any way what so ever? What if I told you that you could do this by spraying glass on it? You might think I'm crazy, but the biggest technological break through to hit your camping gear could be coming to the U.S. soon.

Nanopool, a German based company, holds the patent to Sio₂ Ultra Thin Layering, or what they more commonly refer to as Spray on Glass. They take pure silicon dioxide and combine it with either water or ethanol (depending on what type of material is going to be coated). The resulting product is then sprayed on top of, well, just about anything. Its already being used in museums as a barrier to protect priceless pieces of art, in hospitals for increasing the sterility of instruments and rooms (apparently, bacteria can't stick to or mulitply very well on the surface of this product, so it limits their growth and makes disinfecting easier) and other cool applications as well.

Nanopool describes Spray on Glass as being transparent and non-toxic and claims it can protect any type of surface against water, UV rays, dirt, heat, bacteria, and to some extent, abrasions. In addition, because the layer of Spray on Glass is only 100 nanometers thick (or, 500 times thinner than a piece of human hair), it is incredibly flexible and will not alter the breathability of whatever it is applied to. For instance, they are suggesting (and apparently testing confirms) that it be applied to plants and seeds to protect against disease, mildew, etc. Imagine the garden I can have this season!

More importantly, imagine being able to apply this level of protection and breathability to say, your tent. Or your backpack, shirts, pants, hiking shoes/boots, etc. Any piece of clothing could now provide sun protection and rain protection. Would it negate the need to purchase more expensive Gore-Tex (or similar) products, knowing you could apply this afterwards? I don't know, I'm not sure how well the water resistant properties would hold up to kneeling on snow or wet ground for long periods of time, but I could see it minimizing the need for a lot of extra raingear, a cover for backpacks, etc. It definitely sounds like a step up from existing spray on water treatment products.

From their webpage, here is list of properties it would add to textiles:

• hydrophobic
• oleophobic
• Anti-Soiling
• Protection against abrasion
• Unaltered breath ability
• No tangible and visible change
• Antimicrobial protection
• Improvement of colour fastness

Here is a list of properties it would add to technical textiles (think tents):

• Protection against hydrolysis
• Acid and alkaline resistance
• Spark protection
• Abrasion protection
• Protection against oxidization
• Improved cleanability

They don't make reference to its applicability to camping gear, but based on the almost Snake Oil, mythical status proposed capabilities, one can easily dream of numerous applications for it to our favorite hobby. It will be interesting to see how well it actually performs, and whether or not its better than some of the currenlty available waterproofing/resistant treatment products out there.

Spray on Glass is currently available in Germany, and is set to go on sale in the UK this Spring/Summer. Based on those estimated prices, its reported to go for around $8 when/if it hits the shelves of your local big box store.