How to repair a seeping SilNylon base

Certainly. I did that in a hotel room in Courmayer in Italy last year.
Buy some bathroom silicone sealant, possibly dilute it 3:1 with thinners, and paint this goo onto the underside of the silnylon groundsheet. Allow to dry thoroughly before rolling it up!!!
I didn't have any thinners at the time, so I just smeared the silicone sealant across the groundsheet using my fingers. Messy, but effective!

Cheers

I bet the other guests really liked the smell of that!

I am sure someone more computer savvy than me will link you to the article on sealing with silicone sealant. But it goes like this: 3 parts 100% silicone sealant to one part odorless mineral spirits by weight, not volume. Stir/mix together thoroughly until silicone is fully thinned out into mix. Paint on thin layer, allow to dry. Plan on throwing out mixing stick, brush, and container. Very hard to clean. One coat should be enough, but two will for sure solve the issue.

There’s a good article about treating silnylon floors here.

Have you considered that it might be condensation? I was convinced i had a leaky floor in a tent, until someone suggested to me it might be condensation. Water would gather under my sleeping mat, especially on cold, humid nights. A sheet of polycro under the tent stopped it.

> I bet the other guests really liked the smell of that!
Tough!
But I did it out on the verandah anyhow.

Cheers

Hi Mike

> Have you considered that it might be condensation?
Yeah, I too wondered about that, but after messing around pushing and poking the groundsheet into the water I decided it was really leaking just slightly. The floor was not new, and had seen a lot of use, and only did it when the floor was almost floating on water, and there wasn't condensation in other places, and … once I reproofed the floor it didn't happen again.

Cheers

Hi,

there is a tiny hole, about 1mm dia, so it is definetely leaking there, but water is coming in on several other spots as well. Should I get a patch for the hole? Guess in the floor I better do, but in the wall I don't have to.

Condensation can be part of it, but would be more at the edges, the water, that is coming down the walls?

Next question would be: same story in a PU coated tent, McNett TentSure or is there another solution. Especially here in Australia, the stuff is 20 AUD. Or should I post that one in a new thread?

Steffen

Steffen, condensation can form on the floor of tents, especially lightweight sil-nylon floors. It doesn't need to run down the walls to pool on the floor.

Hm, there is some water under the sleeping mat on a rainy day (hard to imagine in Australia…), part of it could be condensation. The problem then, one mat has more, the other less condensation (maybe because girls are colder ,-).

Have to check it somehow, put water in and look where it is coming out…..

Cheers,

Steffen

tried it, poured water on the concrete floor, set the tent on top. Its seeping through in tiny little spots as soon as I put my hand on it, don´t even have to press. New coating then. Turned out to be a PU coated Nylon base, but still good thing to know how to fix silnylon since the walls are definitely Silnylon.

Posted a new thread reg PU coated Nylon and possible alternatives to Mcnett tent Sure.

Cheers and thanks,

Steffen.

Hi Steffan

> Turned out to be a PU coated Nylon base,
Best solution is to cut it out completely and replace it completely. Reproofing old PU-caoted fabric is not easy.

Cheers

what a shame, its 4 or 5 years old and was not THAT cheap, Tatonka Orbit 2, and got it out maybe 40 times.
http://mcnett.baron-co.com/page.cfm?pageID=555 won't do the trick?

May as well try, still cheaper than getting a new tent base or a new tent.

Regards,

Steffen

IIRC, the McNett product does work to some degree, but isn't quite "factory quality" in its waterproofing.

What about doing the sil treatment described to the outside of the floor? The sil won't adhere to the PU on the inside, but the face of the fabric (the uncoated side) should still be able to take a coating. I would clean the material first to remove as much dirt as possible and then give it a go. If you're worried about it working, just try it on one spot and repeat the test you did earlier.

Best of luck.

Hi Steffan

I learn something new every day. I hadn't seen that stuff before: I think it is new. Certainly, there could be a need in the marketplace for it. Thanks.

Personally, I think the reliability of new fabric would convince me to cut and sew, but if you do try this stuff please let us all know how it goes. I'm very interested.

Cheers
Roger

Hi Roger/Brian

hm, if I apply a coating to the outside of my tent it may rub off?
Should give the McNett stuff a try, will try it soonish, want to go camping next week (meant to be summer down here). Will get you guys posted. Mcnett customer support said it should work.

Cheers,

Steffen.

Hi Roger,

ok, so you are from Sydney, I am in Melbourne. Got the stuff at http://www.bcf.com.au, SeamGrip for 15.50 (for the tiny hole) and TentSure (for the coating) for 19.50AUD. 3 times as much as in USD, but what can you do, did not have enough time to shop around or to get it sent from the US (if thas would be cheaper with postage included). With BCF I knew they sell it, maybe its cheaper somewhere else. Anyway, the battle is on, will put it on tomorrow, test drive it from 24 to 31 Dec, then I will let you guys know how it went.

Cheers,

Steffen.

1.3 oz silnylon is not waterproof (enough) and will seep if you get puddled water under it with you on top of it. Been there done that with a bivy.

Hi John

> 1.3 oz silnylon is not waterproof (enough) and will seep if you get puddled water under it with you on top of it.

Old argument. My 1.3 oz silnylon groundsheet lasted for several years of heavy use with no leaks.

Cheers

My SMD Duo Lightweight floor did quite well while floating on an inch of water.
Nothing inside got wet.
No dark/damp spots.

We moved to a snow covered patch of kinickinick and carried on without concern.

But next time I'll choose my site with more care, but I don't worry about the floor.

Hm, would be an endless discussion which tent does it and which doesn't and on which occasion. Maybe it is not even related to brand and so on, rather if Ming Lee in Vietnam (that's here my 400 Euro tent was made) had a good day or not. Total Quality (one of these buzzwords in car manufacturing) does exist as much as we Germans won the total war ,-)

Steffen.