So I was working on hemming a portion of my SilPoly tarp, and I came across this:
IMG_0747.jpg
One of my cats is obsessed with chewing on plastic grocery bags. My guess is I left this piece of fabric somewhere she could get to it, and she had a field day. Is there anything I can do to repair it? I know it won't be pretty... In case it's relevant, it's on an edge of the fabric that will be the vertical edge of a door.
I would just glue another piece of scrap using pure silicone. If you wanted to after it dried, you could also stitch around the patch for additional strength....
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men should do nothing.”
- Edmund Burke
+1Originally Posted by FJRpilot
Trim out the damaged area and glue a patch piece in. Make sure you have a good amount of overlap between the patch and the base material and you should be fine (maybe at least 3" from the trim line). I don't think stitching would be necessary. Use a credit card or similar to spread and fully wet out the adhesive. Wipe up the excess you squeeze out. You can thin with mineral spirits to make application easier.
I've used this method to patch holes, and also to apply panel pull outs.
Where do I get pure silicone?
Another thing I was considering was sewing on a patch of the grey HyperD 300 I've been using for reinforcements. It wouldn't be functional, but if I did the same thing on all 4 doors it would look decorative at least, based on where it is.
GE Silicone II from Lowes/Home Depot/Walmart/etc..
They make an indoor and outdoor variety, but I think they are both the same stuff, it's just different marketing.
I think glueing a patch on will look much cleaner.
Ugh i feel your pain. I was just putting the last few stitches in a silpoly tarp with absolutely no major mishaps, when i caught an edge of the tarp on the thread cutter on the sewing machine.
The sewed patch was puffy and looked like crap, but i figured i would just have to live with it. I never thought of gluing it down with silicone. I was just about to mix up some silicone ii to seam seal, but it was raining all day so i'm doing it tomorrow.
Thankfully your mishap allowed me to be educated on patching by the fine folks on this forum. You will have to thank your cat for me
Here are pictures of the damage and the first lousy repair.
Hopefully tomorrow there will be a better looking repair on there...
damage.JPG
lousy repair.JPG
Hey, if it works, your good.... Sounds like a good story around a camp fire...
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men should do nothing.”
- Edmund Burke
If you are going to redo that patch, I would suggest round off the corners on the square patch you made. This will prevent the corners of the patch from lifting over time. If this repair is on the edge of the tarp, I would consider a half circle for the shape of the patch. If it is away from the edge, I would go full circle or oval shaped to cover the damaged.
Cheers
Brian
Good judgment comes from experience, and often experience comes from bad judgment. - Unknown
Hope your tarp doesn't come down with cat scratch fever
I am still 18 but with 52 years of experience !
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