Seam Sealing tent, weather timing questions

I think it's best to not rush the curing, you don't want to weaken it

Maybe don't worry about seam sealing until you get back. Are you going somewhere it's going to rain a lot?

It's supposed to rain this weekend; not sure how much (mid-atlantic in spring can be pretty volatile). I'll be in the mountains, too, which of course makes the weather a little crazier.

I've got a down bag – worried about getting it wet.

I'd do it inside with the windows open and a dropcloth on the floor. Use additional cordage (just whatever you have laying around) as anchor cords (tied to or around furniture, window locks, stacks of books, etc), and then connect your guylines to those using a small carabiner.

Thanks — I've got a heavy corner desk in the room which should be good for tying. Hadn't thought of window latches, that'll work too. Books we have plenty of as well, including some large heavy textbooks. I think it'll be doable.

Now I just need to manage not to trip over everything. ;-)

I would do it inside too. The fumes are not too bad. I have done it inside before. I wouldn't even worry about the ventilation too much if you can close off the room.

The sealer is a bit sticky when it first goes on. I think its nice to let it dry out a few days if you can.

Hope you have a good trip.

Thanks, everyone, much appreciated! I'm almost hoping for a bit of rain this weekend to see how the tent handles it. :-)

As everybody else said, definitely just try to do it inside.

To cut the silicone, I used Naphtha as a solvent (very similar to white gas), and the fumes weren't that bad (though I did do it outside). Certainly keep the place very well ventilated and just move the tent outside on the day you have sun. Most of the solvent will have evaporated off after a few hours and the tent will therefore not off-gas too much after the initial drying. You'll figure it out without too much trouble.

If you are ever uncomfortable, just stop. No harm done.

White gas inside house?

I hope you have up to date fire insurance : ) or would that be explosion insurance?

Use permatex flowable windshield sealer it is odorless, no mixing,dries overnight and works great. HERE is one of many threads on people who use and like it AND ANOTHER ,you can do a search on this site and find many more,I have used it for years and it works great,I wouldn’t bother with the mess ad smell of mixing especially inside my house.

Thank you for the suggestions on alternative sealers — I'll keep those in mind for the future. I already had mineral spirits & silicone on hand, so used those.

I ended up pitching outside (was going kind of stir crazy inside), seam sealing, leaving the tent out for 6 hours, then bringing it indoors. At that point there were absolutely no fumes. All of the seams were fairly dry, the dots I "painted" on the floor were a bit tacky but nothing too bad. I turned the tent inside out so the floor would get good air flow.

I still have to seam seal the floor seam on the underside, but that's easily done inside at some point today. When I'm not shoveling snow. (Will spring EVER get here?!?).