Another Use For Seam Sealer.

[headchange4u]

I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my used-but-new-to-me HS Cloudburst 2. I was looking through the reviews on Backpackgeartest.org when I saw this interesting statement (review (http://www.backpackgeartest.org/reviews/Shelters/Tarps%20and%20Bivys/Tarptent%20Cloudburst/Rebecca%20Sowards-Emmerd/Long%20Term%20Report/) by Rebecca Sowards-Emmerd):


My campsite wasn't very flat and I found myself sliding around the floor as the night progressed. As reported in my Field Report, I noticed this behavior on a previous trip. I plan on applying some seam sealer stripes to the floor to add some traction for my sleeping pad.

I had never thought about it before but we all know that seam sealer stays sticky or tacky even after it's dry. I normally dust the areas that I use seal sealer on with talcum power to keep it from sticking. Stripes of seal sealer painted on the floor of a tent would certainly help to keep a pad from sliding around. I have even thought about doing the same thing to my BA Air Core Pad to keep my bag from sliding around. No more waking up at night because I have slid to one end of my tent because I couldn'y find that perfectly flat camp spot.

Anyone else ever heard of this or tried this before? Seems ike I have seen another picture of a tent with several spots of seam sealer on the floor of the tent and I wondered why it was there.

[Smile]

I have a few hiking friends who do this, but it does attract dirt and stuff like little pieces of leaves stick to it as well.

If you have a silnylon tent, you can consider what I did with my old tent. I got a few small pieces of sil and cut it out the shape of my pad, just about 8 inches deep on either end and sewed it to the floor,then sealed with silicone sealer.

It works great, you slip the pad in each end, and it stays in place all the time. The photo shows one end, however this was before I 'evened' it off, that's why the piece is crooked.

[Skidsteer]

That's ingenius, Smile. Nice job.

[Smile]

Well thanks :)

It added about an ounce to my tent weight if I weighed correctly.

[hikerjohnd]

I added the silicone to my pad rather than the floor of the tent. Same effect, no dirt magnet. Although I too think Smile's solution is pretty cool - I may follow suit.

[Footslogger]

Here is a link that Frollicking Dinosaurs posted in response to an earlier thread regarding tent floors.

http://jwbasecamp.com/Articles/Silnylon1/

I tried it ...and it works really well !!

'Slogger

[headchange4u]

Nice read, 'Slogger.

Ingenious idea Smile. I just wish my sewing skills were better!

I think the easiest way so far would be to do as hikerjohnd said and coat just the pad.

[Skidsteer]

Nice read, 'Slogger.

Ingenious idea Smile. I just wish my sewing skills were better!

I think the easiest way so far would be to do as hikerjohnd said and coat just the pad.

FWIW, that'll probably work.

Our housecat put six or seven holes in my TR. After patching the holes I notice that the pad doesn't slide around near so much.

[Big Dawg]

Here is a link that Frollicking Dinosaurs posted in response to an earlier thread regarding tent floors.

http://jwbasecamp.com/Articles/Silnylon1/

I tried it ...and it works really well !!

'Slogger

I saw that article and am considering doing that to my new TT DRainbow floor. Does it attract dirt/debris that much? Considering one of Jim's applications is on the bottom of the tent floor, it seems like it would be a dirt/debris magnet. What's your experience Slogger?

[Footslogger]

Does it attract dirt/debris that much? Considering one of Jim's applications is on the bottom of the tent floor, it seems like it would be a dirt/debris magnet. What's your experience Slogger?
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Well for starters ...I ONLY did the inside floor of our tents (Six Moon Designs Lunar Solo-e). On the first one I followed the directions to the letter. Afterwards the floor didn't feel very tacky at all so I increased the mixture a tad on the second one. The results were outstanding. The floor doesn not appear any different or attract any more debris than it ever did. Based on my experience (although I didn't apply the treatment to the bottom outside surface) I don't think it would make it more of a dirt/debris magnet.

The big difference is that now when I place my mat down inside the tent and sit or lay on it the mat doesn't slide around. I was sceptical about doing this at first but I'm glad I did it and I would do it again on any silnylon tent I would buy in the future.

'Slogger

[Nightwalker]

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Well for starters ...I ONLY did the inside floor of our tents (Six Moon Designs Lunar Solo-e).
Do you have the ultralite floor? Mines got the standard-weight black coated floor, which feels poly. Would silicone stick to that?

[Footslogger]

Do you have the ultralite floor? Mines got the standard-weight black coated floor, which feels poly. Would silicone stick to that?
===============================

I've got the lightweight floor. Same weight as the walls ...just black.

Answer to your question is YES, as long as it is silnylon the treatment will stick.

'Slogger

[headchange4u]

The polyurethane-coated nylon fabrics used to construct the floors of conventional tents typically have hydrostatic head values that range from 5,000mm to 10,000mm for reasons that are noted in the next paragraph. In contrast, the hydrostatic head of standard weight silnylon, according to most manufacturers' specifications, is only 1 to 2 pounds per square inch, which translates (for consistency with industry conventions) into a range of 700mm to 1,400mm. In other words, standard weight silnylon, on average, is less than 15% as water resistant as conventional tent floors.

I found this one of the most interesting parts of the article. It really makes this treatment seem that should be done for the longevity of the tent. I picked up some mineral spirits and silicone at WalMart tonight so I may go ahead and apply this treatment. Kill two birds with one stone; keep my mat in place and increase the waterproofness of the shelter.