Do you seam seal your backpack?

[Rokwiia]

I just received a bag from Seek Outside and I'm thinking I will seam seal it along with the other three bags I have of theirs. Before I do, I wanted to get an idea whether most people seam seal their bag or is there a reason not to do so?

Did you seam seal on the inside or outside? Did it alter the looks of the bag by discoloring the area sealed?

One thing that made me take pause was this recent video by Ripstop By The Roll that used two identical XPac bags and seam sealed one with silicone and the other with DCF tape. They both were damp inside after having water applied to the bag.

I'd hate to go to a lot of trouble when the results scorecard is only a C or C+.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

I never have. Most of my stuff gets organized in dry bags inside the bag. I don't see what seam sealing would really hurt though.

 

[AKSandman]

@wiiawiwb aquaseal works best on the inside of xpac fabric ( I haven’t ever had success with silicone on xpac) If seams are sewn so that sealing is possible and it is sealed correctly, it is airtight. The thing you will likely run into is that most seams aren’t sewn with sealing them in mind, so you won’t be able to seal them very well because of the design. If you do seal the bag (there are benefits to it) put a couple small grommets in the bottom of your backpack bag so water that gets in your bag (trust me, it WILL get in) can easily drain out.

 

[Silvereagle50]

Thought Seek bags were 100% waterproof to start with.


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[Rokwiia]

The XPac material itself is.

 

[mlgc20]

I just did a 7 day hike in Wyoming with my Seek Outside pack. It rained very heavily for 2 days of the hike. I didn't use a pack cover and I hadn't seem sealed it. It handled the rain very well. There was a little dampness inside. But, nothing that was of any consequence. My pack has a full length zipper. That's probably the weakest link. My quilt and clothes were in dry bags. And the little dampness that was in the pack wouldn't have had any impact on those things anyway. I will continue to put my quilt in a dry bag. But, I'm not otherwise worried about water being an issue with my pack.

 

[Rock-o]

I have not seam sealed my 500d DWR coated cordura pack and won't. My logic is that if it rains enough to where seam sealing would matter than the panels are going to soak through regardless of DWR. So, use dry bags inside the pack, a pack cover, or both.

 

[beachbunny]

i've got an so fortress and while i was seamsealing my ku 5200 and ku 3700 ,i figured what the heck, i had enough slurry, why not, does not take much effort

 

[Rokwiia]

i've got an so fortress and while i was seamsealing my ku 5200 and ku 3700 ,i figured what the heck, i had enough slurry, why not, does not take much effort

Did you seam seal you SO in the inside or outside?

 

[beachbunny]

Did you seam seal you SO in the inside or outside?

outside

 

[Jimss]

Unless you are hunting a bunch in western Washington Oregon or Alaska it may be worth it but here in colo wyo Utah and nv I’d say you really don’t need it. I have used a reasonably priced backpack cover on a couple Alaska trips with several days of downpours that was super nice keeping my pack 100% dry. It only weighs a couple ounces and works amazing

 

[RockChucker30]

I'm planning to re-shoot our seam sealing video instructional this week because I found a better product.

Gear Aid Seam Grip + Fast Cure in the bottle with the brush on top is what to use. It goes on thin, dries almost clear, and has some stretch to it. Much superior to silicone or standard seam grip on our packs.

I took a Spectra 6300 bag to Alaska for Caribou this year. Rained the entire first day, and I ended up with a touch of dampness on one side of a stuffsack that was in the bottom of my bag. I'd consider that very good performance given that Spectra is our least waterproof fabric.

Packbags need to have the exterior seams sealed, base talons need to be flipped inside out. Basically seal the opposite side of the seam from the edge binding. Sealing edge binding doesn't work well.

 

[Rokwiia]

@RockChucker30 On your previous video, you seam sealed on the outside. With this new product, do you recommend seam sealing on the inside or outside?

 

[RockChucker30]

Seal the outside of the packbag. Inside of a Talon. Basically, seal the opposite side from the edge binding.