Sealing tent seams advice

it really helps if you can pitch it, or at least put the pole in because you have a smooth surface to work with and you don't risk the bits the of flysheet folding over and sticking together.

I would seal the inside by pitching it inside-out. If you seal the outside you'll have to seal both sides of the pole sleeve.

It takes about 24 hours to prove.  You can put talcum powder climbing chalk on if it's still tacky.

If you can't do it well now, wait and just use that pole hood thing because there's no going back.

Include a little history in your walks. Pecsaetan - Ancient Derbyshire, Staffordshire and South Yorkshire - http://pecsaetan.weebly.com/

Sorry WL, miss read that bit in which case you can do it to the outside but it often looks a mess but it doesn't really matter. I would still pitch the tent. newspaper and the front room and windows open?

 The only other thing is don't hang around too much when your doing it as it start to set a bit quite quickly. You've got time but just not all day.

I am no expert but people tend to recommend thinning the sillnet with white spirit and applying with a brush.

Paddy, does that sound right to you. If so, to what proportion?

Edited to add - ah here we are previous thread

WL wrote (see)

I'd heard that too, Fossil. Interested to know more about this. Roughly how long does the Silnet stuff take to dry enough to pack your tent away safely?

The following is the general consensus, amongst our family, of how to approach the task. You will need enough space/ventilation to errect the tent and leave it for 24 hours, we have not tried to do this without space and time.

1. Errect the tent with the fly inside out, this will give you room to move around and all the seams you want to work on will fall easily to hand. 2. apply masking tape either side of each/all seams, a 1" strip should be wide enough, the sealer is applied between the masking tape. 3. you can apply sealer 'as is' straight from the tube or you could mix your sealer with a recommended thinner. Thinning makes the sealer runny and easier to apply in a thin layer BUT it will make the sealer go off in a matter of a few minutes. 4. remove the masking tape as soon as the mix shows signs of going off - done at this early stage the tape will seperate from the sealer, if left until the sealer has completely cured it is possible to pull away the sealer while trying to remove the masking tape. 5. once the application is complete and all seams have been sealed leave the tent undisturbed for 24 hours. 6. next day the task will be to dust the sealed strips with an absorbing powder - talc will do the job well enough but may need to be reapplied frequently in the first few days. We found an industrial Fulling agent to be very effective with only one application. Powdering seems to save lots of problems with seams stinking to each other.

This is not a definative method, there will be many other ways of doing the job just as effectively.

It's a very simple procedure, well how i do it anyway.

Mix 100% clear silicone with white spirit until it's at a consistency the same as olive oil, using a strip of sponge slightly narrower than your seams (it compresses and widens as you apply pressure)  just dip and wipe the length of all the seams.

I didn't get any drips and the whole thing turned out much neater than i expected. 

Include a little history in your walks. Pecsaetan - Ancient Derbyshire, Staffordshire and South Yorkshire - http://pecsaetan.weebly.com/

Use about 2 or 3 parts white spirit to 1 part silicone. You don't need to be too fussy.

I simply rub it in with a finger.

If you don't dilute it, it tends to form a 'crust' on the surface. This can peel under tension.  A diluted mix seeps into the stitch holes. You really need to have the seams under tension (pitched) to do it properly.

On a warm summers day, it should be safe to take it down after 2 or 3 hours. Then you can bring it indoors and leave it over a chair or similar, to cure for about 24 hours.

Next week. !

Put mine up around mid-day, sealed it and it was back in the stuff sack by the same time next day.

Include a little history in your walks. Pecsaetan - Ancient Derbyshire, Staffordshire and South Yorkshire - http://pecsaetan.weebly.com/