Mineral spirits and Cuben

[Richard Barish]

I seem to be having trouble getting the seams on my new Hexamid completely watertight sealing them with the Silnet that Joe sent with the tarp. I thought I might have better luck with a sealant that is not so viscous and that spreads out and covers better. I am thinking about trying silicone diluted with mineral spirits. Has anyone sealed the seams on a Cuben items with silicone diluted with mineral spirits? How did that work? Did the mineral spirits harm to the Cuben fabric?

Richard

[Dave Jenkins]

I used silnet thinned a bit with mineral spirits on my Zero pack and did not see any problems on the cuben. Now, I will make not guarantees as to how it will work for you, but it worked for me.

[Link .]

Permatex flowable silicone,I have used it on my cuben tarps no problem

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/xdpy/forum_thread/41124/index.html?skip_to_post=349548#349548

[Sam Farrington]

A couple years ago I did a lot of tests with different silicone sealers mixed with mineral spirits, and found that they all lost more than half their adhesive properties when mixed with the mineral spirits. Had the same results with using camp stove fuel. There was fair to good adhesion of patches without the spirit or fuel, but patches just peeled right off easily with the spirit or fuel mixtures.

I've had good luck lately with the Sea to Summit distributed product named Ultra Seam Sil that I found in a local shop. It is very flowable, when new anyway, and leaves a nice clear cover on the seams that looks almost as good as a very thin clear tape when done neatly.

GE also makes a silicone glue that bonds patches much better than any other silicone product I've found, so I've used it to bond reinforcement patches to corners, without the need for stitching. It is available on the net. Haven't tried it as a sealant.

The biggest annoyance are the brushes that come with the sealants. They quickly wear out and spread too much to do a neat job. I'll be looking around for very small tipped stiff brushes that hold their point. I like these better than foam, because I like to work the sealant well into the seams.

Hope this is helpful.

[Justin R]

How about trying to contact Joe and get his perspective on this?

Maybe that will be helpful.

[Richard Barish]

Thanks for the responses! They're helpful. If I can find that Sea to Summit Ultra Seam Sil or the Permatex (I'd like to do this tomorrow and get out for a short trip this weekend), that might be a good solution.

I did contact Joe. In addition to offering to send more Silnet or replace the tarp (now that's standing behind your product!) – he said: "I haven't tried mineral spirits but I doubt it will hurt the material- give it a try."

I figured somebody here would have tried mineral spirits/silicone on Cuben, though, so I thought I would ask here before applying it to my Hexamid.

[Richard Barish]

+1 Seems to have done the trick. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Anonymous]

I have sealed several tents with Roo Clear including Sil, Spinnaker, Tyvek and Cuben. Tarptent used it for awhile before it stopped sealing tents included in the purchased price.

[Author]

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