I have a Hennesy 70D polyester hex tarp.
last outing it rained hard for 2 hours and I was getting drops trough the seam.
I picked up some "Seam Grip" sealer&Adhesive.
Should that go on the outside (top) or inside (bottom) of the seam
Slack
I have a Hennesy 70D polyester hex tarp.
last outing it rained hard for 2 hours and I was getting drops trough the seam.
I picked up some "Seam Grip" sealer&Adhesive.
Should that go on the outside (top) or inside (bottom) of the seam
Slack
While it's not always pretty, I prefer to seam seal the outside. My reasoning is that the stitching never gets wet at all. If sealing the inside, the outside of the seam will be exposed to water and will rely on the inside seam sealer to stop it from coming in. YMMV.
Why not seal both sides?
I also seal the outside. Never have had a reason to do both.
Thanks,
sealed the outside, not pretty but should work.
Slack
Yeah, Outside only for me. Doing both can't hurt, but a good seal on the top works, so why waste the time and money.
Hobo Off The Ground All Year Round: 8 7
consecutive months since the start, 9/2015 through 11/2022
Fixed your post for you, brother; your reasoning is dead sound, though...
I've never had the need to do it, owing to a 100% success rate with the method so far, but I have responded to questions from fellow HF members who just can't shake their paranoia that their folded grosgrain ridge lines might let them down and suggested that they could always seam seal the underside of the grosgrain-reinforced ridge line seam inside the tarp as a back-up. It's a belt-and-suspenders approach that doesn't compromise the aesthetics of the construction method.
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PU coated tarps have the coating on the underside so it made sense to me to seal the seams on that side the same way it is done with taped seams on tent flies. The sil tarps today are different so either over or under are viable options. Don't know about the Hennessy tarp but seam grip is strong enough that you'll stay dry.
Don't let life get in the way of living.
Regardless of which side you seal,if you brush on some baby powder after it cures it will be much less noticeable.Personally,I seal both sides because I had the unfortunate experience of having a Xenon tarp leak even though I had paid to have it sealed.Because of the steep angle at which it was pitched the water went down the "wall" instead of dripping onto me and my hammock.I considered it a wake up call.I have used Seam Grip and Flowable Silicone with good results so far.
I did the outside on 3/4 of my tarps. The last one was where I only did the inside. No difference really regarding leaking.
When I did the outside, I have to say, it was not ugly at all. You couldn't even tell. People must be making a mess with their finger or brush if that's the case. Otherwise, just lay down a thin trail of sealant like you're caulking a tub or whatever. Obviously it only needs to be about 2x wide as the thread. How wide is thread? Exactly.
I don't have them with me or else I would take a photo to share.
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