Chockstone Forum

      Sponsored By
      ROCK
   HARDWARE

Chockstone Photography

Australian Landscape Prints

Chockstone Forum - For Sale

Buy and Sell Used Climbing Gear Please do not post retail SPAM.

Topic Date User

Wanted: Lightweight Tarp 28-Oct-2019 At 12:30:17 PM IdratherbeclimbingM9

Message

On 5-Jun-2013 widewetandslippery wrote:
>2 options:
>disposals store. about $60 for a fly. Mitre 10 mid weight painters drop
>sheet cut to size $6? dont go the super light weight floor as it doesnt
>sit right.
>
>Option 2. buy ripstop from spotight. buy rafting lanyard patches for tie
>offs. a tube of silicone and some metho. Pour metho and silicone into a
>container and mix. Soak nylon sheet in mixture. Dry. Stick patches where
>you want/need them. Use ground sheet as above. Sub $100 silnylon tarp.

Thanks WW&S, I remembered this thread and it’s contributions recently when I decided to re-waterproof the floor of my tent.

It worked a treat and I’m very happy with the outcome, but have some update info for any who want to do similar...

Silicon technologies have improved a bit since this thread started, and I bought a cartridge of the Selleys ‘Storm’ clear silicon that adheres to any material wet or dry. I tried dissolving some in metho and was unsuccessful, likewise in kero without success, so resorted to mineral turpentine which works, but drying time is longer especially to cure to the point of nil odour.

I used a third of a cartridge in two cups of mineral turps in a wide-mouth sealable jar, and shook / stirred the heck out of it for about an hour and a half to finally dissolve all the silicon into a consistency of paint. I found putting a couple of small washers in with the mixture aided greatly in breaking up the beads of silicon (while shaking the mixture) that had formed half way through the process. The wide mouth jar allowed use of a 2” brush to dip into the mixture and in fact I used the brush to further break down and dissolve the essence of beads that shaking was taking forever to dissolve.

It took longer to prepare the paint mixture than it did to do the job!

The quantity prepared allowed me to apply a single thick coat thoroughly wetting-out the bucket style floor of a 3-person tent, and after three days of drying (cool weather conditions lately), in my garage it has cured with nil odour being given off, though during that time it did smell a bit and was initially tacky to touch.
I’ll let it dry for another week before packing it away just to be sure of it curing and not wanting to adhere to itself!

As mentioned earlier, the final result is great and I reckon will extend the life of my tent by at least 20 years!!