Waterproofing A Tent Fly- Using Silicon & Turpentine

Bushwalking gear and paraphernalia. Electronic gadget topics (inc. GPS, PLB, chargers) belong in the 'Techno Babble' sub-forum.
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TIP: The online Bushwalk Inventory System can help bushwalkers with a variety of bushwalk planning tasks, including: Manage which items they take bushwalking so that they do not forget anything they might need, plan meals for their walks, and automatically compile food/fuel shopping lists (lists of consumables) required to make and cook the meals for each walk. It is particularly useful for planning for groups who share food or other items, but is also useful for individual walkers.

Re: Waterproofing A Tent Fly- Using Silicon & Turpentine

Postby GregG » Thu 08 Jul, 2021 12:36 pm

I have sucessfully used Selleys tile and glass sealant thinned with white spirits, I only used the white spirits because I had some of the stuff on hand and had no further use for it, it is more expensive than mineral turpentine and as far as I can tell they are equally effective apart from the lingering smell of turps.... phew!. I just kept on adding the WS to a container of silicon until I obtained a saturated solution and painted it onto the outside surface of PU polyester. It has worked very effectively for a couple of years so far. As someone else said earlier it seems not to be a permanent fix but will allow you to get a few extra uses out of a favorite bit of gear.
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Re: Waterproofing A Tent Fly- Using Silicon & Turpentine

Postby Orion » Sat 10 Jul, 2021 5:03 am

I just went through this exercise with a homemade silnylon pack cover that wasn't particularly waterproof anymore. It took several days for it to dry. And while there was an improvement it still let through a significant amount of water when tested.

I threw it out and am going to make a new one with some spare DCF that I have.
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