Seam sealing gone bad

“yep, I seam sealed the tarp tent Friday after work. I did it on the OUTSIDE of the tent, which I suppose is wrong.

Also, not until much later did I realize that the stuff I got was the WHITE and not the clear GE silicon stuff (that is mixed with mineral spirits). Soooooo... Now I have a tarp tent that has white lines (hey, so I can find it!!) and lord knows if it will stay sealed on the seams.

Then I tried sleeping in it in the yard as an overnight thunderstorm passed through (merely verifying the neighbor's opinions that I'm nuts, lol). Apparently I don't have the rigging figured out. I hadn't staked the sides at the middle, so rain blew in on one side.

I bailed out around 1 am.

And, so if you do tie the string to the stakes shorter, to pull the sides down to the ground, well, what do you do with that bathtub liner floor? I see there are shock cords on the corners, but am not sure what I'm supposed to do with them, keep them tight, what?

Sign me

"All Wet"”

“Why do you suppose sealing the seams from the outside is wrong? Does Tarptent direct you to seal the inside?”

“lizs - you have been "all wet" for years - its good that you are finally admitting it to yourself”

“LOL, and to hubcap, nope it never said to seal from the inside. Figured I had a 50/50 chance doing it on the outside.

I bought a used tent that was sealed from the inside, so thought perhaps that's the way it was done, so as to maintain the "prettiness," lol.”

“lizs, lizs, lizs......
You are hopeless......

Buy you books, send you to school.......
You still don't learn..... ;-)

I'll give a real response later, got to run.”

“I got a new Black Diamond Lighthouse a couple of months ago and promplty sealed the seams on the outside. The instructions were lousy. I even called the company and asked. The instructions never did say which side to seam seal on. Now I know it should have been on the inside, but hay, it will work. I just have nice shiny lines on all of my seams and feel like a total greenhorn. (I decided on the lighthouse above the tarptent due to the blowing rain problem. The weight LH is less than a pound heavier than the Tarptent I was considering but better shelter - it think.)”

“stick to car camping, frankly I think all the backpacking stuff is over your head.

and a better sign for you is:

"helpless camper"..

LOL”

“Sealing the inside may be prettier, but I don't think it is as effective. Now the white stuff, that's kinda funny. And good grief, bone up on those staking skills. You are giving fuel to the tarptent bashers.”

“Who cares what it looks like?”

“ascethetics (sp?). it must look pretty too.”

“bivy is the way to go.. :)”

“As long as the stuff was silicone based, you won't have a problem. If it was, it will bond to the silicone coating and make it watertight. A non-silicone gel will not bond and will peel off, sooner or later. The good news is I have never seam-sealed my tarptent and it has never leaked, so you may be OK no matter what you used.

Center-of-sides stake-outs: Don't add a string here, put the stake right through the loop.

Keep the shock cords tight, they keep the flooring in place.”

“I care about good spelling, Stikmon, LOL, and you need some work! :-P

I did consider seam sealing from the inside but:

A. Looked tougher to get to some of the seams like that back arc. At least one of those seams couldn't be reached from outside.

B. OK, I figured I'd wipe out on that slickery floor and have a whole mess 'o seam sealer all over the floor. LOL!!

phhhhttt! Maybe I will just make seam sealer flowers and peace signs on the outside and, boy, will you guys be jealous!! :-)”

“Can you put a pizza on the ceiling of mine?”

“I think that CUTTING might not be a good idea, techntrek. :-) Now "painting" it with seam sealer is a whole 'nuther deal.

Why, I think I may have found a career move that will put me on the pages of "that magazine" with my innovations!!!

;-)”

“I commend you for being honest about your Henry Shire's TarpTent. Many of his customers are in denial about the design flaws in this "three season tent". Oh well, at least you could bail and retreat back into the dry house. Imagine if you were 10,000 feet up in the Sierra and had the same thunderstorm?
last edited: 6/13/05 12:33:42 PM”

“Having a white strip on the tarp will go nicely with the pink thingy.”

“There ya go, Geobeet.

Solly????! TAKE IT BACK TO THE NEMO THREAD!! lol”

“hubcap - hey, look the big man tarptent basher himself showed up.

Solitary hiker - give it up. Even your own friends said you were wrong in the NEMO thread. And I'm not getting into it here. She is on the learning curve and will do better next time.”

“right, don't rate anything by how **I** set up a tent, sheesh, whatcha thinkin'??!?!?”

“lizs is such a goober. ;-)”

“Lizs.... I too had the same problem....
After getting a Eurka Backcountry 2 years ago, I thought I had done the seam seal thingy right after I got it but I guess I just put it aside and forgot about it. Then, at Trail Days '05 brief showers SATURATED the inside. (bathtub floor) After returning home and drying it all out, I couldn't find accurate data on inside or outside application. So I applied an application to the outside... then 48 hours later, an application to the inside as well. Drying another 48 hours before putting it in the stuff sack. I have 2 other older Eurkas and they too are sealed inside and out with the Eurka clear water based sealer that came with the tent.
Now I am wondering if that is correct or overkill? Have yet to be rained on to see.”

“lizs, the white bathtub silicon caulk you used will turn loose after a while. What I would suggest is to take the unsealed inside seals and seal with the proper 100% clear silicon sealer we all TOLD you to use mult times. I used full strength without cutting with mineral spirits.

Paint a few strips across the floor and you will not slide around as much.

Pitching a TarpTent requires some planning. Pitch either end into the wind for best use. Some mist will blow in a few inches but should fall harmlessly to the mesh around the floor.”

“someone please post a photo of the stuff I was supposed to use. I looked and looked and looked. I've never used caulk and assumed that was a tube to be squeezed (which I figured out when I started to use it, that it wasn't. By then I just wanted to get the damn thing seam sealed when I had time and it wasn't raining at the moment. We've had a lot of rain lately... oh yeah, you know stovey, lol)”

“A link for you. If you can only find stuff that says it has an anti-fungal treatment added, don't worry. It works just the same. Heck, can't hurt to have that treatment in your tent.

If this doesn't work, go to www.homedepot.com and enter "silicone" in the search box. Look for the clear silicone items.

edit: I took out the link, it didn't work. Use the directions above.
last edited: 6/13/05 1:48:47 PM”

“http://www.rei.com/online/store/ProductDisplay?storeId=8000&catalogId=40000008000&productId=47686837&parent_category_rn=4500661&vcat=REI_SEARCH

This is what I use.”

“Another that may be found in a hardware store:
http://www.polyseamseal.com/products_100SILKB.asp
BE SURE TO ONLY USE CLEAR 100% SILICONE SEALANT
NOT CAULK!!!!!
last edited: 6/13/05 2:16:11 PM”

“Of course we all have told you over and over to use this. ;-)”

“liz, you could have went to http://www.tarptent.com and got directions on how to set it up and seam seal it. Just choose the link for the tent you have

http://www.tarptent.com/ttvirgasquallrainshadow04.pdf

or

http://www.tarptent.com/TTvirga2Squall2.pdf”

“But Ewker, that would have required her to follow directions! ;-)”

“CAULK!!! omg...thats so funny. I use clear silicon caulk to cover over rips and tears in my dry bags, then I cover with duct tape. I've also used to repair a small puncture hole in my large playtups. Also used it to fill some spaces in the flashing material that I used up on my roof...but never thought to use it to seam seal my tent.”

“OK, I'm done busting on lizs.
She's a good sport, but I think I've done enough.
She can't help it if she doesn't have any 'handywoman' skills. ;-)”

“And Lizs too :P .... I hope you all saw where Henry has changed the Cloudburst to kinda do what I have been suggesting all along. Yep he came out with it last week. He's almost there. Another 12 inches and he will have created the vestibule it needs. He must be reading and taking my advise to heart. I'm a genius!

And BTW, I have the free use of a NEMO Burrito for the month of July. NEMO is loaning it to me. I'll be using it at SR'05 and doing a thorough field trial and review. After that I'm going to see if Henry will do a loaner for the Cloudburst 2. Dollars to donuts he won't.
last edited: 6/13/05 3:30:16 PM”

“Oh, but I am "handy"... you just don't know... ;-P”

“Lizs,

Now, you can go backpacking in Colorado!!!

:)”

“stovey...that says it all...and I hope that she knows me well enough by now to know that I'm not serious in my comments. If she doesn't, then shame on her.

Actually, it probably isn't a bad idea, but dust and dirt will cling to silicon caulk.”

“WRONG WRONG WRONG, violin.

That's the stuff for regular tents. It will flake off in days from silicone coated fabrics like the TarpTent is made from.

Silnet™ Silicone Seam Sealer is specially formulated for sealing seams on tents and other products constructed or coated with silicone
last edited: 6/13/05 6:34:11 PM”

“i've never had to seam seal a tent before so I wont laugh at her too much. (even though I would know better then to use caulk..and on the outside no less)”

“I found this... dated 11-08-02

I have learned my lesson well (but d@mnit Im still holding out for that Spongbob tent!!!) ~Lizs~

Have you changed your mind? Did you find it yet? Did you seal the seams real good?

Just wondering :o)”

“lizsbaby, I have about a 3/4 tube of SilNet left. You want it?”

“got to get back to serious real quick {sorry}...but I seamsealed the lighhouse from the outside...and my instructions instructed me to do so...

i got a copy right here:
Using the applicatior, run a small bead of SilNet directly down the center of all EXTERIOR seams....

No?? Just wondering. But I didn't have any problems so far with it.”

“As long as one of the two faces on any given seam are sealed, you are fine. I would be inclined to seal from the outside on any tent that will receive hard winter use. Keeps the water from getting into the seam and then expanding as it freezes. Otherwise, either side is fine.”