Gluing/bonding/welding silnylon.

[FootTrack]

Hi all,

I am planning to make some vapour barrier clothing with some silnylon I have sitting around at home. As such, I'm trying to find a way to join the different pieces together, without stitching them. Has anyone tried this before and know of a good glue/adhesive that works? Unfortunately, I believe Seam Grip is ineffective on silnylon...

Thanks in advance!

[Franco]

Clean the area to be glued with some turpentine or shellite.
Smear a very thin layer of undiluted silicone* on the two fabric layers.
Let it sit for 20 min or so then press together and put a weight on it .
Leave for 48 hours.
You may want to try on a test patch first.

*something like Selleys Roof and Gutters or GE II, it will be translucent and will have ' 100% silicone' on the label, it will not be white , black or pink...

[andrewa]

I've successfully used double sided tape that was designed for sticking to silicon nylon - used for sail making. It doesn't appear to stick that well to start, and needs a firm rub, but once it sticks, it sticks well.

However, for making anything with curved seams, I'd stitch way before gluing or taping.

A

[Orion]

I wanted to use glue for some difficult to sew seams in a tent. I experimented with a few different silicone adhesives and found that they varied in how strong a bond that was formed. The McNett silicone that is sold for seam sealing was disappointing, whereas a general purpose / aquarium silicone (DAP) I bought at the hardware store was the winner. The McNett is neutral cure whereas the aquarium stuff is acid cure. I don't know if that's got anything to do with it though.

Anyway, whereas the silnylon bonded with the McNett (and a third adhesive I tried) could be separated with some effort, the the better bonds with the DAP product were impressively strong, impossible for me to pull apart with my hands. But it was heavier than sewing and sealing would have been.

This subject came up here once before and Mr. Nuts pointed me to this article (which I haven't read since it's behind a paywall):
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/myog-laminating-silicone-impregnated-fabrics.html

[Macca81]

Franco is on the money here. For tap pullouts i have used pure silicone (i didnt wait 20 mins though, just whacked 'em together) and they are not budging! I would say the bond is stronger than stiching for shear strength, but i wont comment on peel strength.

[FootTrack]

Thanks all, you've done well. I'll give each of these options a test and see how I go. Thanks again for your help

[Franco]

BTW, the method I suggested is the one used to repair silnylon tent flys in non load bearing areas.
The author of that article at Backpackinglight also used the same system (stressing the thin layer bit and using GE II silicone) for bonding the material but added stitching for the guyout loops.

[Orion]

That's interesting. GE Silicone II was the third adhesive I tried. The bond I got using It was better than with the McNett product but not bombproof like what the DAP silicone produced. I could pull it apart.

GE makes numerous products labeled "Silicone II", for different applications. I've used the bathroom variety in the bathroom and the masonry version on cement and brick, and a general purpose household version for many other projects. The variety I used for testing the silnylon was the general purpose silicone. The label reads: "GE Silicone II -- 100% Silicone Sealant -- Clear -- Household Glue". "Our Very Best".

Perhaps the quality of the bond is greatly influenced by factors other than just the adhesive. I thought I treated each sample the same (even application of adhesive, pressed and weighted for 24 hours to cure), but maybe there was some other subtle difference, besides the particular adhesive. I only did one round of tests.

[Moondog55]

I really don't think you will find any advantage to gluing rather than stitching
VB clothing doesn't need to be seam sealed [ unless you want it to do double duty as rain-wear] and needs minimal bulk in the joins at the shoulder if you will be using it under a rucksack
Use either a raglan sleeve or a double yoke pattern
If you are going to be using it for sleeping in a long pullover shirt and a footsack can be better than trousers in my experience
If you will be working in the VB shirt then pit zips can be an advantage if the pit-zips all match up