Seam Sealing a Tarptent

[Roger Caffin]

Baby powder usually IS talcum powder. Unscented is nice. Works OK.

Flour is an organic: it can and probably will go mouldy if it gets damp. Maybe less than totally desirable?

Cheers

[Ryan C]

I sealed up my Tarptent Moment. All went well with the silicone and mineral spirits. At first I was mixing it too thin and hardly nothing was left after drying. Thicker mixes seemed to work better. It does not look too horrendous but could be better. I have not weighed it yet but would guess it is probably 2oz heavier now since I am a seam seal noob.

I will for sure try the Permatex sealant if a different shelter comes along sometime. It will probably be much easier.

Just to compare, my sealant solution had the consistency of white corn syrup. How does the Permatex compare to this?

[Ken Thompson]

Thickness on the permatex is like thick syrup or honey

[Steve S]

I used to use a "baby" toothbrush, as it was quite a bit smaller and the head was just about the exact size of most seams. I had really good luck sealing other tents with this little brush. Has anyone tried using one of these?
I'm still waiting for better weather to seal my Lunar Duo.

[Roger Caffin]

> a "baby" toothbrush
Never tried that, but I have used some open-cell foam tied to the end of a thin stick. That worked OK.

cheers

[David Lutz]

I just used baby powder to get rid of the stickiness of the silicone sealer I used the other day on my duomid………worked great, thanks.

[David Rowenhorst]

water + flour = paste

[John Donewar]

G E Silicone II, odorless mineral spirits, chopsticks, braided mason's line, support poles of your choice, a foam paintbrush, a small 3 to 4 oz plastic container with lid, 90 minutes to 2 hours and the right weather won't get you into space but it will help you seal your tarp.

Wondering about the in space line?

Here is my tarp suspended in "space" in my patio. :-)

I used many feet of yellow braided mason's line tied high and low to the supports of my patio roof to allow me to set up my tarp under cover where I could work to seam seal it. To get it to a decent working height I used an old tent pole in the front and one of my wife's curtain rods in the rear. ;-P

I squeezed out an arbitrary amount of silicone into the plastic container. I added what I thought was 2 to 3 parts of odorless mineral spirits. I began stirring with one of the chopsticks. I soon realized that this was going to take a while to mix thoroughly. I secured a lawn chair and proceded to mix. The maple syrup consistency that I was shooting for required the addition of more silicone and more mixing.

I never was really good with fractions. :-)

Mixing completed, I proceded to apply the mixture to the seams of my suspended in "space" tarp using the foam brush in an edgeways fashion.

I suspended my tarp in "space" so that I could get the seams under tension and opened up to allow the sealer to soak in and penetrate the seams.

While sealing the seams a couple of drops fell from the foam brush onto the main panel of the tarp. No biggie, it's silicone on silnylon. I used the foam brush after exhausting its load of sealer on one of the seams to feather out the two drops as thin as possible. My tarp is made from silnylon 2nds so no one is going to notice my boo boo unless I point it out or one of you tell. Sshhhh! :-)

It is just a little more water repellant in that spot.

It was 65 degrees with 38% humidity. I would have wished for a little more humidity to lengthen the curing time. I had the time and the temperature. Two out three isn't bad.

Only one of the chopsticks was necessary and the lid for the container is optional. :-)

How and where did you set up your tarp to seal the seams?

Party On ! 2010

Newton

[Roger Caffin]

> I would have wished for a little more humidity to lengthen the curing time.
Ahhh … with many silicones, it's the humidity which drives the curing. So more humidity => faster curing.

Cheers

[John Donewar]

Roger,

I caught a break. TWC says that at 9:AM CST yesterday the weather conditions were 60 degrees and 60% humidity. Their chart also says that the humidity was greater than or equal to 50% during the day. It also shows that for 8:PM CST last night it was 59 degrees and 78% humidity.

All this said I'd like to be good and lucky at what I do but I'll settle for lucky. ;-)

I must say that this is the same source that I used for my weather conditions stated in my original post. :-b

To hedge my bets I left my tarp out overnight underneath my patio cover to take advantage of the higher humidity and longer time for curing of the sealant.

Cheers :-)

Party On ! 2010

Newton

[Jace Mullen]

Hey guys,

I just got my GG Squall classic and need to seam seal it before sunday when I leave. I found 2 things that I thought might work around the house (thus saving me a trip to the store) the first is GE Silicone 1, not II like most people use, any thoughts? the second is the permatex Clear RTV silicone, wich is not the same as the flowable.

Do any of theses seem like viable alternatives?

Thanks!

-Jace

[Roger Caffin]

Hi Jace

Go smear a bit of each on some fabric and see.
Most likely they will.

cheers

[Wayne Wagner]

Hi all-

I've never sealed a seal before, and I just got a Hexamid (cuben fiber). Will the Permatex (or Silnet, for that matter) work on the cuben seams as well as it seems to be working on y'all's silnylon tarps?

Also, some of y'all are using brushes, some are using fingers. Is there a "best" method to apply this stuff? How do you know if you've properly worked the sealant into the seam?

I assume that you really only need to get the sealant into the holes created by the sewing, by the way. The sealant does not need to cover some minimum amount of the tarp in order hold, right?

Sorry for all the n00b questions. Thanks for all your help.

Wayne

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