Seam Seal Older Tent

[bounds]

I got a Cabela's Westwind 8 man tent for my wedding gift from the guys in my wedding about 8 years ago. It's been my base camp/truck camp tent since then. It's been great for that, but I noticed a little leakage last fall and the original seam taping is coming off.

I want to take all the old seam tape off and seam seal it as you would a tipi or tarp. What's the best mixture for that? Also, I don't know what the fabric is on this thing, so not sure if you need different mixtures or type of seam seal for different fabrics. Any how to videos for the actual application part?

Thanks guys.

 

[camping1601]

Seam Grip the seams from the outside. The stuff is amazing.

 

[bounds]

Thanks. I forgot to ask. The old seam tape is on the inside of the seams, but seam seal you do the outside? Pretty sure I've read that's the case.

 

[durangobrad]

I would just seam seal or seam grip (tape) the outside and lets the stuff from the inside peal and fall of on its own.

 

[Hunt'nFish]

Last year I refurbished an old 9x9 4 man nylon tent.
What I did was mix up a batch of DIY seam sealer.

Use clear 100% silicone tub chalk and low oder mineral spirits. 1/2 tube to 1qt spirits, applied with a pump spray bottle from dollar store. (Buy 2) the sprayer plugs up easily if you don't flush sprayer out with spirits between coats.

Apply to fabric (inside or out) and wipe with hand to prevent runs and to force sealer into seams. Allow to dry/cure 4hrs between coats. Rain test with garden hose & nozzle, allow to dry, and re-treat until satisfied. Do not forget the floor & seams.

In the end you'll have a tent that is completely bombproof to wind driven rains and downpour deluges.

You can also use this same technique to treat DIY tarps, tipi's, trek-pole shelters, ponchos and even pullouts, camp bags & roll top dry bags using inexpensive rip-stop nylon.
Hunt'nFish

 

[bounds]

Thanks for the input guys! I think I'm going to try the DIY mix as it's a big tent with a lot of seams on the fly. It'll take a lot of the Seam Grip to do the whole thing.

Hunt'nFish - how many coats did you apply?

 

[yardwork]

There are a few videos out there for seam sealing DIY tarps. The ratio most use is 5 parts LO mineral spirits to 1 part silicone. The video I'm thinking of on YT the guy mixed the silicone and spirits up in a bucket and then stuck the tarp in the mix, got it saturated and then drained it and hung to dry. Not very conducive to an 8 man tent. I like Hunt'n Fish's method of a spray bottles. I suppose foam brushes or foam rollers would work well too.

 

[bounds]

Just to clarify, I'm just needing to do the seams. It sounds like the method y'all are talking about involves coating the entire fabric. Is that right? Could I use that same 5:1 ratio if I'm just wanting a mixture to apply to the seams?

 

[Hunt'nFish]

Yes you can just treat seams using the diy mix.

The tent I was refurbishing was in rough shape & was going to be our main base tent in the wilderness so I wanted it bombproof....

2 coats on main surfaces & seams, with a 3rd laid on thick around bottom 1ft of perimeter was enough to pass the garden hose test. I even saturated the zipper's fabric to water proof them... seemed to even help the zippers themselves work smoother.

Just test your mix and method on a small unimportant area to make sure all materials are compatible and no weird reactions occur.
Hunt'nFish

 

[yardwork]

What timing... my son and his buddies camped out in the backyard in the family tent the other night and I noticed the seam tape was peeling up so i decided to do some waterproofing since this thread had the idea fresh in my mind. I used 5:1 ratio as mentioned and a foam brush on the rain fly but it was a pain reaching areas so I ran and got a small spray bottle and used it to do the floor of the tent. It worked fine but if I need to do any more areas I'm going to use some paint strainers in the funnel to keep the chunks out when I pour from mixing container to spray bottle. I ended up with some areas that were heavy on the silicone and thus darker but probably more waterproof. This is 10+ year old Eureka tent so I don't care about the staining.