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  1. #21
    Senior Member halfastronomical's Avatar
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    Oct 2011
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    Little River Canyon, Alabama
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    DIY FLYING BUTTREST Bridge or WBRR
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    Way to bounce back! That is great news! I have only tried this on a couple of small scraps of 1.1 with a 3:1 ratio. I dipped and then used a sponge brush at first then tried to move it (mistake) Besides making a mess, it worked. The second time (later the same day) I stretched the fabric out first and just brushed it on, which seemed to work far better for me. I have a theory that the sponge brush, after a few hours between coatings, hardened up and allowed me to press harder on the fabric, thus pushing more through to the other side, so that my inside coat was connected to the outside coat, if that makes any sense... I should also note that the second method even weighed slightly less than when I dipped it for some reason, even though the fabric was the same size (about 3x2) It may have also been from the stiffer brush acting more like a squeegee than an actual brush. I hope to do a full size one day, when I have a place to do it right. I would not dare do it in my garage again. I made a huge mess and was in the doghouse with my wife for a few days....

    sidenote: I told this story to my cousin from the Middle East when he was visiting, and even though he knows English very well, he still thought for a few minutes that I actually slept in the doghouse with my wife. He had the strangest look on his face.
    Trail information, photos, waterfalls and vistas on the DeSoto Scout Trail facebook page.
    https://www.facebook.com/desoto.trai.../photos_albums


    Soon I'll lose these rags and run, Returning to the wild where I'm from. -Chris Whitley

  2. #22
    New Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Minnesota
    Hammock
    DIY TheXringHunt 9' WBBB
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    DIY Winter Tarp
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    Quote Originally Posted by olddog View Post
    Glad everything worked out for you. I went thru the same thing with my DIY tarp. Another unknown fabric/ unknown origin from WM but super light. After 3 attempts, brushing, sponging and dipping I would still get misting thru the tarp. Fortunately here in Florida our hanging season is also our dry season and in 2 yrs the tarp was never rained on. The DIY was out of fabric that began as about .75 oz./sq. yd and ended up weighing more than my Wilderness Logic Tadpole. DIY is fun but sometimes it can be more expensive than just biting the bullet and buying a quality product.
    Thanks and sorry to hear your's didn't work out quite as well. I'm not sure how much my starting fabric weight was (kind of wish I did now). I didn't think it was that light but maybe it was.

    In any case we had a good storm today and while I didn't get to be in the hammock while it came down I checked things out shortly after and there were no signs of any leaks anywhere. More data...I love it!

    Question for you...with your multiple coatings did you ever notice any peeling of the silicone on your tarp or was it pretty solid (aside from the leaking of course)?

  3. #23
    New Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Minnesota
    Hammock
    DIY TheXringHunt 9' WBBB
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    Quote Originally Posted by halfastronomical View Post
    Way to bounce back! That is great news! I have only tried this on a couple of small scraps of 1.1 with a 3:1 ratio. I dipped and then used a sponge brush at first then tried to move it (mistake) Besides making a mess, it worked. The second time (later the same day) I stretched the fabric out first and just brushed it on, which seemed to work far better for me. I have a theory that the sponge brush, after a few hours between coatings, hardened up and allowed me to press harder on the fabric, thus pushing more through to the other side, so that my inside coat was connected to the outside coat, if that makes any sense... I should also note that the second method even weighed slightly less than when I dipped it for some reason, even though the fabric was the same size (about 3x2) It may have also been from the stiffer brush acting more like a squeegee than an actual brush. I hope to do a full size one day, when I have a place to do it right. I would not dare do it in my garage again. I made a huge mess and was in the doghouse with my wife for a few days....

    sidenote: I told this story to my cousin from the Middle East when he was visiting, and even though he knows English very well, he still thought for a few minutes that I actually slept in the doghouse with my wife. He had the strangest look on his face.
    Thanks! Yes, I agree brushing (rather than dunking) seemed to me to work the best for application. In addition, my first attempt was in the garage and if I didn't have a drop cloth down I would have been in the same boat as you This latest attempt I just strung up my tarp outside when I saw I'd have at least 12 hours without rain (the manufacturer's recommended time without any water exposure) and that's when I applied the coating. Even though it was a very windy day it still worked really well and there was no mess I had to clean up when I was done. If you do attempt a full tarp I'd recommend this approach if you have a place outside to do so.

  4. #24
    New Member
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    Apr 2013
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    Minnesota
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    Satisfied with the waterproofness of my tarp for now I've taken it down and was able to get some weight measurements.

    So I was able to determine my starting tarp weight was 25 oz. based on some fabric I had left over that weighed 1.7 oz/sq yd and my tarp dimensions of 162 x 118 in. My weight now after the second coat (never got a weight after the first one) is 32 oz giving me a total added weight of 7 oz. or .46 oz /sq yd.

    I'm sure if I would have gotten the first coat right the added weight would have been a few oz. less but for my first DIY sil tarp attempt actually being waterproof and costing less than $25 total I can't complain.

    That's about it for now, after a few outings I'll make sure to report back on the durability.

    Thanks for everyone's help!

    -schaapj

  5. #25
    New Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Minnesota
    Hammock
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    It's been a while but looked up my original post to find the ratio of silicone to mineral spirits I used for the original recoat so figured I'd post an update on durability.

    I've been using my diy coated diy tarp for 8 years now 1-3 times per year and am heading on another trip in a couple weeks. We recently had a day-long downpour so ahead of that I set up my tarp again to test it out. During some of the heaviest rain (I was told by the news it was 5 inches per hour) I found only the tinyest drip every 3-5 minutes from the flat-felled french seam at the top of the tarp and everywhere else was bone dry. It was so light in fact that I even contemplated not doing anything but I had the silicone and mineral spirits on hand and the tarp was strung so here I am looking for my original ratio to fix the tiny leak.

    Taking into account that my tarp never leaves its snake skins unless strung up for my 1-3 trips per year and also gets shoved into a tote with many other things when stored I'd say it's pretty darned durable.

    Conclusion: DIY silicone coating is extremely durable and I wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

    Thanks for everyone's help here, hopefully this inspires someone else to catch the DIY bug as well.

    -schaapj

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