View Full Version : Silnylon Tents and Silicone Spray - Good combo?
I have a silnylon tent and have been really disappointed, and wet - during heavier rain. I decided to spray the outside with another coat of silicon spray for tents, the heavy duty stuff. Anybody have any suggestions, comments or experiences doing the same?
Thanks!
I have a silnylon tent and have been really disappointed, and wet - during heavier rain. I decided to spray the outside with another coat of silicon spray for tents, the heavy duty stuff. Anybody have any suggestions, comments or experiences doing the same?
Thanks!
did you seal the seams on this tent before using in rain?you can treat silnylon with silacone,i have never gotten wet in any silnylon tarp,except
once where a seam needed more sealing just in one spot:cool: neo
i made an 8 x 10 tarp for my hammock, and over time have treated it with both the spray on stuff and a homemade solution made from silicone caulking dissolved in mineral spirits... both worked. after a situation where i got a bit of spray/mist that i thought was coming THROUGH the tarp, i re-treated it and have had no further problems. i still have some of the homemade stuff left over and will use it again. the spraycan was easier, but resulted in a lot of overspray and lost product. the homemade 'paint' was harder to put on, but all of it stayed on the tarp.
so did you have sort of a mist coming through the surface during a heavy rain? is that why you got wet? there are two schools of thought on that, maybe more. one is that there's condensation under the tarp that a heavy rain, hitting the opposite side, causes to splatter or vaporize. the other is that it's actually rain getting through the silnylon and vaporizing from being driven through the surface.
either way, it's annoying. others with more experience may present the quasi-scientific arguments for each side, as well as any other points they wish to present... i just try to camp in denser foliage or pines now, so the rain doesn't blow in or get driven down onto my tarp, but falls from the trees, straight down.
peter_pan
03-30-2006, 09:18
Silicone is waterproof to a working PSI of 2-3 poinds per square inch...yes, condition can deteriate...and yes, original treatments do vary....Frequently water in a tent comes thru the silnyl tent floor... if the site is poor or there are puddles under portions of the floor and you put weight over them leaks can occur....also, lack of ventilation, a very common problem, can result in up to a quart per person of condensation on the inside in a night...that is a lot of wet and it will fall off or run down into puddles....Bathtub buttoms meanyou take a bath once the water is inside....
A word on venting tents.....From a hammocker, no less.....Over half of all tents are not set up properly to ventilate as designed....Prove it to yourselves...Take this test....look at tents set up, domes, wedges, archers, whatever...almost 100 percent of the time the corners are secured on the rain covers....then look for the lift points or side tie outs...Tents without them are often poor designs....50 percent of those who got a good design with multiple lift points are not using them.....bad decision...sure it won't blow off and sure it saves pegs and cords....Use of these lift tie outs is necessary to establish the venting necessary for the condensation to exit the tent...Sometimes they appear fine without the additional work....BUT nylon, silnyl and urathane coated nylon all stretches in wet (rain or heavy dew)....with the corners fixed, when this happens the material stretches and the shell lays on the inner layer, the venting collapses and condensation is retained....Eventually you'll get water in your "bathtub"....
The tenters mantra should be, " Maximize the use all the tie out features"...Use line tensioners or learn to tie taut-line hitches so that line can be retensioned at every opportunity (mid nite outing) or slacked as material dries.
Pan
PS... This was standard procedure for old timers using cotton tents which relied heavily on tension for waterproofness thru maximized gravitational capilary action, and to insure that they did not rip as the dried ( especially older material).
Yes, it came spitting through the material, I wasn't in it long enough to create alot of condensation. The bathtub floor is the heavier one that sixmoon designs offers, and I didn't notice anything coming up through. It was windy though, and everything ended up wet, and the material was spitting.
I sprayed it with a can of that camp seal heavy duty. The seams are sealed inside and out with the recommended silicone sealer - I had fun doing it actually! A chore I think would have been better done by a professional at the place they make the tent, but not available. If anything, I probably used way too much seam sealer! I got inside and had the hosed sprayed on the tent from every angle as I watched for water seepage from any possible place. Only place would be the spitting through the tent.
Thanks for the suggestions and ideas! Will see how this goes now that I have sprayed it.
orangebug
03-30-2006, 18:52
I sprayed it with a can of that camp seal heavy duty. The seams are sealed inside and out with the recommended silicone sealer - I had fun doing it actually!...Yeh, I loved them fumes also. It only killed the weak brain cells.
ooooh, I stayed way downwind, never smelled anything, and the tent doesn't smell after a 24 hr. dry either ;-)