For years now my wife Kathy and I have been using a Rainshadow tent by Tarptent and are very happy with it.
In preparation for this summer's AT section hike I decided to patch the 1 inch cut in the floor.
I ordered a yard of silnylon to make the patches and bought a tube of clear, 100% silicone sealer.
I used 2 tools to apply the patches, a plastic squeegee and a small, hardwood roller.
Instead of working on the floor I decided to bring the area of the tent floor up to work on a small table.
The first step was to cover the table top with waxed paper so nothing would stick to it.
Then I put the floor of the tent on the table so I had easy access to the area with the cut.
I decided to work the inside of the tent first so I cut a circular patch about 6 inches in diameter.
Next I covered one side of the patch with a generous coat of the silicone sealer and put it down centered around the cut I was patching.
Then I used the squeegee to work the excess sealer out. I'd hold the patch in place with 1 finger and squeegee away from my finger.
I did that over and over, in different directions, wiping the squeegee clean after each pass. Once it seemed the patch was down flat I switched to using the roller going over the patch again and again, cleaneing the roller on each pass. Once the patch was smooth and flat I covered it with a piece of waxed paper and then stacked a bunch of books on the area to hold the patch down. A day later I removed the books and waxed paper and let the patch sit for another day. The next step was to flip the tent floor over and do the outside of the floor.
I did the same thing as the inside with the exception of the size of the patch. On the outside I used a patch of about a 3 inch diameter.
This summer's trip will tell how well this works out. I'll post the results after our trip.
In preparation for this summer's AT section hike I decided to patch the 1 inch cut in the floor.
I ordered a yard of silnylon to make the patches and bought a tube of clear, 100% silicone sealer.
I used 2 tools to apply the patches, a plastic squeegee and a small, hardwood roller.
Instead of working on the floor I decided to bring the area of the tent floor up to work on a small table.
The first step was to cover the table top with waxed paper so nothing would stick to it.
Then I put the floor of the tent on the table so I had easy access to the area with the cut.
I decided to work the inside of the tent first so I cut a circular patch about 6 inches in diameter.
Next I covered one side of the patch with a generous coat of the silicone sealer and put it down centered around the cut I was patching.
Then I used the squeegee to work the excess sealer out. I'd hold the patch in place with 1 finger and squeegee away from my finger.
I did that over and over, in different directions, wiping the squeegee clean after each pass. Once it seemed the patch was down flat I switched to using the roller going over the patch again and again, cleaneing the roller on each pass. Once the patch was smooth and flat I covered it with a piece of waxed paper and then stacked a bunch of books on the area to hold the patch down. A day later I removed the books and waxed paper and let the patch sit for another day. The next step was to flip the tent floor over and do the outside of the floor.
I did the same thing as the inside with the exception of the size of the patch. On the outside I used a patch of about a 3 inch diameter.
This summer's trip will tell how well this works out. I'll post the results after our trip.