And different textures too. Adds a whole new dimension... make a 3D topographical map of your intended hike - in silicone - right on your tarp!
And different textures too. Adds a whole new dimension... make a 3D topographical map of your intended hike - in silicone - right on your tarp!
Last edited by NCPatrick; 10-09-2007 at 11:01. Reason: Ummm ok. A little over the top...
"Civilization is the limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessities." - Mark Twain
“I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.” - John Burroughs
hadn't thought about the multiple thinner soakings. might penetrate deeper that way, and you could weigh it after each time to see how much was added.
I used silicone caulking to treat heavy paper mailing tubes to seal and make waterproof. Worked great.
Mixed 3 to 1 low odor mineral spirits to silicone caulking by weight. Wasn't real accurate, didn't need to be. Mixed it up in small batches using only 1 oz of silicone caulking. Found out that a little bit goes a long ways.
I've read where commercial 1.1 oz silnyl is actually 1.3 oz per yard. So figure 0.2 oz per yard silicone. That's 5 square yards per oz of silicone. The JRB 8x8 tarp is slightly over 6 square yards, so 1 oz of silicone will just about do the whole tarp. Figure 1.5 oz would be more than enough.
As warbonnetguy says it takes a long time to mix it thoroughly. Once mixed I simply used those foam brushes to paint the inside and outside of the tube. Hung in the basement to dry. Took about 24 to 48 hours to cure really good. Tried a second coat on one, but the second coat ended up peeling off in some places. The first coat penetrated far enough in the heavy and dense paper and prevented the second coat from penetrating real good.
Did the same on some heavy cordura fabric. Same mixture. 2 coats worked real well. Again just mixed and painted using foam brushes and allowed 48 hours to cure thoroughly.
Water just beads up and rolls right off.
With the low odor mineral spirits, neither my girl friend (whose nose is very senistive) nor I could smell anything in the house at all. Also, don't worry about time. It took a long time, many hours, for it to dry and cure. Even the excess left in the tuna fish mixing can.
that's probably a good thing.
something i've noticed when seam sealing w/ silicon diluted w/ white gas was that it began to thicken before i finished the tarp.
some thing that didn't evaporate as quickly would take longer to cure but it would be helpful for the application.
I too will something make and joy in it's making
Has anyone doen anymore experimenting with this?
Thinking of having a go at it.
cc
Campcrafter
I'd rather be in the mountains thinking about God, than in church thinking about the mountains.
- John Muir
A power drill driven paint stirrer should do nicely. I mix all kinds of things with 'em and they're cheap.
I think that 'silnylon' is a fortuitous offshoot of skydiving technology. As I remember some guy, Mike or Dave, years ago affiliated with a parachute manufacturer in Deland Florida added silicone to nylon, during the manufacturing process. This was when we made this in the States. It was marketed as Zero P for zero porosity to enhance glide performance. Since that many old timer skydivers tried to somehow recoat nylon, but it just never would work.
Last edited by daibutsu; 05-09-2008 at 19:47.
Warbonnetguy...sorry I never answered your question from page 1...I experimented with liquified plexiglass and Minwax Wood Hardner...the plexiglass is liquified in acetone...then pulled to about 19 to 20 inches of vac...more than that and the acetone starts to boil. Once these #'s are acheived...you valve off the vessel and allow the wood to soak until it sinks...anywhere from 12-24 hours. Allow the vessel to come back to atmosphere and remove the soaked wood...the acetone is then allowed to dry at room temp or you can bake it out in a few hours at low heat.
If you were to try the sil nylon in this fashion I would pull the vac until you see the Mineral Spirits boil...then release the pressure...note the boiling point or look up the BP on the internet and keep the vac below this #. Submerse the nylon and pull the vac and valve off...allow it to "soak" for a while...then remove and dry.
just a thought.
Alex Williams
Acts 10:13 "Arise Peter, Kill and Eat."
Job 14:15 "Call upon Me and I shall answer you."
Williams Custom Calls
I am also wondering if anyone has had any success/failures to report with regards to coating or impregnating thieir own nylon. I want to do it, but I am unsure what method to use as several have been mentioned here.
HC4U you mentioned screen printing. My brother works at a screen printing place. Could that be of any benefit to me for this purpose?
My results weren't as good as WarBonnets. I used 1 gallon of coleman gas, a $6 hand mixer from walmart, a big tube of 100% silicone caulk, a 5 quart plastic bucket, some foam rollers/brushes, and $1 per yard (beautiful light brown!) 1.1 oz ripstop nylon. and... latex gloves.
I think the problem I had may have been the fabric. It was ripstop, and by my crude measurements seemed to be 1.1 oz, but upon closer inspection, and given that it came from the $1 bin, it may have been less than that, i.e. very "holey".
~ pint of colemans, big squirt of caulk, mix for a long time, shove the fabric in, mush it around, push, pull, squeeze, poke, prod.... Take it out, lay it on the -clean- garage floor, use the roller to apply everything left in the bucket, hang it up to dry. I was making a tarp and thus had 2 pieces to sil before sewing. Mix another batch, do 2nd piece. Next day, mix 2 more batches and do each piece a 2nd time. By now, I have used > 1/2 of the caulk.
Make the tarp, seal the seams, hang it in the yard, test it with the water hose, gentle rain shower setting. No go. Leaks.
Add 1 can of spray on seam sealer. No go. Add 2 cans of spray on. No go. This is getting expensive. Punt
tight-wad
Bookmarks