Seam sealing tape?

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Seam sealing tape?

Postby keithy » Mon 18 Sep, 2017 5:01 pm

Just a question on how easy it is to apply seam sealing tape - the ones that require a heat gun or iron to apply to non-sil fabric.

I have some kit that I've noticed the supplied seam tape which has now de-laminated, and I was looking to either fix it with some fabric seam sealing tape. I can borrow a heat gun from a mate, but I've never used seam sealing tape before. Any advice is appreciated.
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Re: Seam sealing tape?

Postby Mark F » Mon 18 Sep, 2017 6:54 pm

To reapply seam sealing tape you need to get everything really clean, temperature of the iron just right and try to mask areas from the size of the iron. I suggest it is a damn sight quicker and easier to just apply a decent seam sealer to the sections of seam where the tape has peeled.

Edit - missed the bit about the heat gun - you need to experiment on some scrap first to dial in the temperature.
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Re: Seam sealing tape?

Postby andrewa » Mon 18 Sep, 2017 8:05 pm

I've used double sided tape designed for gluing Cuban ( Tiergier sells it). I glue strips onto the the nylon facing fabric, then cut along the tape edges with a ruler and Stanley knife, and then peel off the backing, and glue it on. Sticks extremely well to nylons and Cuban.

Doesn't work on silicon nylon, but you can get double sided tape from sale makers that does - it just takes a lot longer to bond.

3 ply goretex needs heat sealing tape. I have a whole lot I've never used, as it got too hard for me, and I stopped making things out of goretex.

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Re: Seam sealing tape?

Postby Franco » Mon 18 Sep, 2017 8:15 pm

I would wash the tent fly, then wipe all of the outside seams with shellite or mineral turpentine, then I would apply seam grip on all the seams.
Saves scraping the inside seams and I would think much easier to get the job done .
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Re: Seam sealing tape?

Postby Orion » Tue 19 Sep, 2017 1:23 am

andrewa wrote:I've used double sided tape designed for gluing Cuban ( Tiergier sells it). I glue strips onto the the nylon facing fabric, then cut along the tape edges with a ruler and Stanley knife, and then peel off the backing, and glue it on. Sticks extremely well to nylons and Cuban.


Great tip. Thanks! Any reason you know of not to use the single sided cuben repair tape instead?

That said, I think I'd still just use sealant...
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Re: Seam sealing tape?

Postby gbedford » Wed 20 Sep, 2017 9:58 pm

I have used heat sealed sealing tape (a couple of brands), seam grip seam sealer, silnet for silnylon and cuban tape. All have their pros and cons. Depends what you are using it on. Flat seams are easier to seal with seam grip etc. Clothing often doesn't have flat seams. I have found it hard to use sealers on other sorts of seams unless on the outside, which doesn't look that good. Using an iron on tape is not that hard. The clear tapes need a piece of paper between the tape and hot iron. Fabric tapes don't seem to need that. Cuban is good but more expensive. The double side tape is really just a layer of adhesive which needs a water proof fabric to provide the seal.
What Franco said about cleaning the seam of previously sealed seams is critical. I have used metho, shellite, acetone to get rid of old stuff. Anyway it can all be fiddly and I am no expert, just don't like to discard a good bit of kit.
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Re: Seam sealing tape?

Postby keithy » Wed 20 Sep, 2017 10:35 pm

Thanks for the advice all.

I should have mentioned. The reason I was looking at seam sealing tape is because I have a dry bag which had a line of tape starting to delaminate, but I didn't fix it when it was small, then got careless and I've snagged something on the tape and pulled quite a stretch of it off. The bag's still in good knick on the outside.

But going through my kit, there are other things I could also re-seam seal, like an older tent fly, and an older Goretex jacket where the tape is peeling up in two areas.

I might try out the heat tape for the dry bag, and just use SeamGrip on the fly and leave the goretex jacket for now.
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Re: Seam sealing tape?

Postby GPSGuided » Thu 09 Aug, 2018 9:26 pm

Tagging on an old thread as a long strip of seam tape has just drifted off the shoulder/neck region on my trusty Marmot rain shell. It's been 6-7 years (?) and still quite functional and undamaged apart from a bit of wear around the cuffs. Reading through this, it would seem DIY application of seam tape will be a bit of a challenge. Is that the correct reading? Or should I just send it to a professional repairer (Venus Repairs in Sydney)? Advice appreciated.
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Re: Seam sealing tape?

Postby keithy » Fri 10 Aug, 2018 3:13 pm

GPSGuided - I was chatting to someone about using a heat gun for the seam tape, and they said it was not an easy DIY job. And with zero knowledge of an industrial heat gun use or tape, I opted to leave the goretex jacket alone, and used seamgrip on the dry bag.

I found a blog where someone used a hot iron with goretex seam sealing tape with ok results, despite the advice that a hot air gun was required, but I was concerned about melting the fabric outside the tape.
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Re: Seam sealing tape?

Postby GPSGuided » Fri 10 Aug, 2018 3:20 pm

Thanks Keithy. Reading your advice and looked around on the web, I gave up. Sent my jacket to Venus Repairs this afternoon for the repair. The lady there said that she will try to resurrect the existing tape or apply a new clear tape over it for $40. Is it worth it at that price? Tough call.
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Re: Seam sealing tape?

Postby keithy » Mon 13 Aug, 2018 2:58 pm

GPSGuided wrote:Thanks Keithy. Reading your advice and looked around on the web, I gave up. Sent my jacket to Venus Repairs this afternoon for the repair. The lady there said that she will try to resurrect the existing tape or apply a new clear tape over it for $40. Is it worth it at that price? Tough call.


I'd be curious to see the results of putting new clear tape over the delaminated goretex tape if you go down that path.

I searched for that old blog I mentioned about the person ironing on the seam seal tape. It is still on the net from 2010 - http://kbenco.blogspot.com/2010/06/heat ... ortex.html
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Re: Seam sealing tape?

Postby GPSGuided » Mon 13 Aug, 2018 5:17 pm

keithy wrote:I'd be curious to see the results of putting new clear tape over the delaminated goretex tape if you go down that path.

I searched for that old blog I mentioned about the person ironing on the seam seal tape. It is still on the net from 2010 - http://kbenco.blogspot.com/2010/06/heat ... ortex.html

I'll try to remember to post with a photo when I get my jacket back this Thu. Mine isn't Gortex but one of the membranes from Marmot and will see what happens. Fingers crossed it's not a wasted expense. I left my trust with the lady who should have a fair bit of experiences with these. I also understand those Kent St outdoor gear stores all use this particular repair shop for various repairs.

In the meantime, came across a well discounted Montane Gortex mountain shell from outdoor gear store that's shutting down in Hornsby, easy buy decision but sad to see another very nice brick and mortar store being closed. Sydney needs more rain to make my rain/foul weather gears worthwhile.
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Re: Seam sealing tape?

Postby GPSGuided » Thu 16 Aug, 2018 2:05 pm

Picked up my repaired jacket and the expert decided to reuse the existing tape to fix the problem rather than to add a clear tape on top. It seemed to have worked as the adhesion looked and felt pretty strong. In discussion, she said the shoulder region is a common problem area. Let alone the stresses, the body oil /vapour also tend to focus on that seam more than others. She suggested gentle hand wash in future than machine washes. $30 and a few more years of use.

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Re: Seam sealing tape?

Postby keithy » Fri 31 Aug, 2018 10:10 pm

GPSGuided wrote:30 and a few more years of use.
Thanks for the update GPSGuided. That looks like a good repair job. I'll have to get my Goretex jacket looked at down here.
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