I recently came across xerox never tear synthetic paper, which is apparently waterproof, tearproof and suitable for laserjet printing.

Has anybody ever used something like this caving? I was thinking about getting some for printing surveys and the like rather than laminating them.

yes works well

not seen many cavers using it as its not cheap !!!!

I print all my surveys/ little a5 guidesheets on the stuff. It is nearly indestructible, and mud can easily be washed off. There is a limit to how often you can use a sheet before folding, mud, etc. makes it illegible, but if you're doing that many trips into the same system you won't need a survey any more.

Surprised it hasn't caught on, not sure why you'd bother to print your survey on anything else really.

I considered printing surveys and survey books on this for selling on but I wasn't sure there would be enough interest to actually get anything out of it. A pack of it is like ?300 (probably more now). There is some of it that you can get however that is pretty indestructible.

The Toughprint stuff works well. There are injet and laserprinter versions.
If it gets wet and printed areas are pressed together there can be a little transfer (not enough to reduce legibility).
It comes in 25 sheet packs at (very very approx) ?1 a sheet or larger packs which are a lot cheaper.

Polypropylene Banner Paper used to be very expensive but is now very cheap e.g. 24"x30m 150 gsm roll costs about ?25. You'll need a wide format printer or a pair of scissors to cut the paper down to size. If you use pigment inks the results are waterproof. Not sure about dye based ink.

I guess laminating is still cheaper?

But which is more environmentally friendly..?

andrewmc said:

I guess laminating is still cheaper?

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Yeah, encapsulation is way cheaper - I'd only use the toughprint paper if I wanted something i could scrunch up into a small ball, or needed something I could write on like survey notes

2xw said:

andrewmc said:

I guess laminating is still cheaper?

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Yeah, encapsulation is way cheaper - I'd only use the toughprint paper if I wanted something i could scrunch up into a small ball, or needed something I could write on like survey notes

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Encapsulation, hear hear ;-)

We have had loads of success with Duracopy Rite in the Rain A4 paper. Print with a laser printer, even in colour. Takes pencil fine and you can even erase it. It?s about 60p a sheet in bulk.

Where we have found it most useful is for diving sketch surveys. After doing a conventional survey on dive 1 (compass, tape, LRUD), we process in therion and then plot the data with a graph paper background. Then on dive 2 we can sketch the detail to scale and relative to the line. This saves huge amounts of time in the water.

Example diving survey sheet (3 on a4) :

https://www.dropbox.com/s/y4m6an2af7bmiwi/survey%20sheet%20rev4.pdf?dl=0

Example sketch sheets :

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tgvhkyglr5wrd6z/Map%20wetnotes%20raw%202017-MAPS%2028-30.pdf?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/x94tjbgpk1jerj2/map29.JPG?dl=0

I really like waterproof paper - I bought my last pack from OS, but looks like they have stopped doing it - it was certainly nothing like ?1 a sheet, possibly ?10 for 25.  You can get a Rite-in-the-Rain pack of 10 for ?4.99 at Amazon now, and it gets much cheaper in bulk.

As Steve Clark said, it takes laser printing well, you can literally wash it in the sink (or a handy stream underground), and you can fold it up to tuck into a pocket.  You can't do that with a laminated sheet (or it starts to leak) so you tend to have a stiff spiky thing stuffed into your undersuit, which isn't much fun IMO.

Do you need special (waterproof) ink for printing on this paper?

I've used 'Water-Jet(R)' waterproof 'paper' for a few years with standard canon inks in a Pixma Pro10S for various mapping/surveying activities. I've never used the really expensive stuff to compare screwing them up but the Water-Jet stuff doesn't screw up into a ball in the way normal paper does and will become sharply creased. It's more like the new plastic 10 quid notes in that respect. Similar tear resistance and water resistance to those as well. Can be printed on both sides and will take photo printing. No idea what sizes are available though I have used A4 and A3.
I've used it for info sheets when taking people outdoors (not caving) as it's far nicer than a thick laminate for them to take away. I've printed cave/mine surveys on it for use when out with friends and as a 'crib sheet' for myself in places like Cults & Box.

I don't see it as a replacement for lamintaed sheets as such but in some situations it's a better option and as such a valuable tool to have available.

Technical stuff: 115gsm, 170microns thick, high silica Chlorine-free polyolefin film, complies with all heavy metal regs for use by children etc.

(usual stuff...I have no connection to the company it was just something I came across and have since kept using...different priced and different quality no doubt available!)

Fulk said:

Do you need special (waterproof) ink for printing on this paper?

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No, but the product I got came in two varieties - for Inkjet and Laser printers - so you need to get the right one.
I've now found it, looks like it's still available:
https://shop.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/toughprint-waterproof-paper-for-inkjet-a4/
https://shop.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/toughprint-a4-waterproof-paper-for-laser-printers/