Which side is the OUT side - Membrane RSBTR

[Wolfman]

I thought there was a thread on this but I can't seem to find it. Which side is the usual outside for a tarp? And is the shinny side the sil/pu mix and the mat side the PU? I'm about to sew the edging but I can't figure this out. Thanks for any help.

Wolfman

[ksbcrocks]

You want the shiny side facing inside, dull side out. If you need to seam seal, use seam grip and apply it to the shiny side.

[Wolfman]

OK..... That seems counter intuitive to me. Isn't the seam seal design to go on the outside? I also found the same information on RSBTR. Is the PU side (shiny side) less UV resistant?

[ksbcrocks]

Seam sealant doesn't necessarily have to go on the outside. Outside application is what I've done in the past, but if it sticks better to the shiny side, that's what I'm going to put it on. The dull side looks better to me facing out anyways.

I seam sealed my first membrane tarp, but had issues with even after the seam grip drying for 12 hours, once I put the tarp in the stuff sack several places of the ridgeline stuck together. I had to kind of pull it apart and reapply more sealant to those areas.

I have more of the membrane silpoly and will be doing a grosgrain ridgeline to avoid that issue.

[ripstopbytheroll]

Seam sealant doesn't necessarily have to go on the outside. Outside application is what I've done in the past, but if it sticks better to the shiny side, that's what I'm going to put it on. The dull side looks better to me facing out anyways.

I seam sealed my first membrane tarp, but had issues with even after the seam grip drying for 12 hours, once I put the tarp in the stuff sack several places of the ridgeline stuck together. I had to kind of pull it apart and reapply more sealant to those areas.

I have more of the membrane silpoly and will be doing a grosgrain ridgeline to avoid that issue.

Just a note that even though it isn't our official recommendation, you can seam seal the outside with silnet. I tried it a while back and was only able to get the tiniest bit to come off when scraping my nail into it for 10-15 seconds. There's also a vendor doing it this way without issue.