I think WL Tadpole Seam is Leaking

[L.D. Cakes]

I kinda made the same mistake with sealing a spot on sil-nylon. I uses AquaSeal at first and it popped right off, didn't stick at all once it dried. I scraped it off and then used SilNet. It worked great!

[StumpJumper]

The tarp is "right side up" but the overlap of the seam switches based on whether the seam is to the right or left of the ridgeline. The fix for this would be to, in my case, pitch the right side a little tighter than the left side. Last night the left side was pitched tighter pulled the center of the tarp to the left of the ridgeline and creating my issue.

Thanks,
Sean

My bad. I misunderstood.

+1 on Silnet. I've used it around tarp pullouts with positive results.

[begleysm]

I contacted Kenyon (the makers of Seam Sealer 3), at DemostiX's suggestion, and the guy actually responded really fast. The whole conversation resolved in 4 hours, on a Saturday.

I asked what solvent to use.

He said that they don't recommend any solvent and asked what is going on with the fabric. I said that the Seam Sealer 3 is flaking a bit and sent him the same photos I showed you guys.

He recommended Warm Water, Soap, & a Soft Brush.

I report back when I get a chance to try to get the stuff off.

Sean

[L.D. Cakes]

I agree with him except for the soap part. I would be afraid to use a solvent on sil nylon for fear of damaging the integrity of the fabric and the silicone impregnation. If it were mine I'd just take my finger nail & scrape it off the best I could being very careful not to wear on the fabric.

[BillyBob58]

Permatex silicone windshield sealer at most auto parts stores

http://www.permatex.com/products/Aut...***_Sealer.htm

I used this years ago on my JRB sil tarp, and so far not one drop has got through in either heavy all night down pours or during hose testing.

And you might want to do a little hose testing also, just to confirm that the leak has nothing to do with the RL as discussed earlier. Once that is figured out, I think I would just flip it over and seal the other side with the above.

[cataraftgirl]

I am a new WL tarp owner and I have a question regarding the "right side up" issue. Was your WL label on the outside of the tarp as you had it pitched, or the underside? I haven't pitched mine yet to check it out, and I also haven't decided about seam sealing it yet. Any info will be helpful. Thanks.

[begleysm]

It makes almost no difference. The ridgeline seam is a "French Seam" which basically just means it overlaps about a 1/2". I consider the "label out/up" to be "right-side up" but either way will work just fine.

As you might notice in a previous post in this thread, 1 thing you might want to do (especially if you don't seam seal it) is ensure that the overlapped ridgeline seam falls to the "correct" side of the ridgeline. This will ensure that the overlapped seam creates a shingle effect where the top piece is above the bottom piece of material forming a shingle instead of a lip.

Sean

[begleysm]

I went through a first pass of cleaning off the Seam Sealer 3. I just used warm water and a toothbrush and my fingers. It worked fairly well to get the stuff off that was (barely) adhered to the silnylon itself. There is still some residue that is adhered to the thread.

I will let it dry and give it another pass to see if I can get any more off but I think this will be sufficient.

I am going to try to find/use a silicon seam sealer similar to what Brian over at OES uses on his tarps. I have an OES MacCat Standard and you can see that the seam sealer was painted on with a brush. This will allow me to cover the entire seam with sealer, do it on the same side I already sealed, and keep the outside pretty.

I'll post updates when I get around to doing this but it won't be for a bit.

Sean

[begleysm]

Well, I went out & got some McNett Sil Net from REI. I got some photos (with my phone) of the seam after I removed as much Seam Sealer 3 as I could. I then applied a coat of the Sil Net and it looks pretty good. The edges aren't quite as straight as the "factory edge" on my OES MacCat but I think it will do the trick

I'll get it out in the rain when I get a chance and deliberately set it up in the same "lipped" fashion as I had it before to really give the sealer a good test.

I'm having trouble with photos at the moment but I'll try to get some uploaded at a later day.

Thanks for the help & suggestions.

Sean