Sealing Sil-Nylon

Friday afterniin, knowing that I needed to be at work Saturday (accounting year-end paperwork) I hung my new Superfly in the shop and sealed the side pull-outs. Someone recommended Permatex flowable silicone, which flowed well and penetrated the stitching deeply.

That was Friday late afternoon. Directions say "dries to the touch in 1 hour, cures in 24".

Saturday afternoon I discovered.....NOT dry to the touch. Hmmmmm. Quick search on E-How revealed that silicone caulk cures with exposure to moisture (and I thought it was O2). The weather is cold and dry, so the RH is rather low. I rounded up a spray bottle with water, gave the treated areas a good spritz, and waited.

Sunday afternoon (still more paperwork) when I checked, the caulk had dried quite nicely. Now, I did not run a parallel test to see if un-spritzed caulk would have cured, but I was pleased with the outcome. Learned something new as well.

Jim

Good to know, Jim. I'm going to try the silicone caulk/mineral spirits recipes I've read about on this forum. Super glue, I have learned, is moisture-cured also.

I don't know that humidity worked with silicone, but I've worked with sealants that cure with heat and humidity, and if you put quarter size dollop of water into about 1 cup of sealant and put it in the microwave for about 4 seconds you had better be ready to apply cuz you've got a work life of about 5min....or so I've heard :)

There is a type silicone sealant that's resistant to humidity, so you just have to specifically look for it.