UKH

Think it is about time I reproofed my tent. Not had a silnylon one before so I was wondering whether people had anything good or bad to say about the Nikwax Solarproof or Fabsil UV / Gold products?

I’ve heard the Fabsil stuff is a bit aggressive and might even delaminate taped seams. I’ve also heard the Nikwax stuff doesn’t really last. Probably a case of the former having nasty chemicals which the latter does not…

Maybe there’s another option I’ve missed? Apart from buying another one….

In reply to badgerjockey:

Can those aftermarket products be used on silnylon? Perhaps it "doesn't really last" because it is hard to make chemicals stick to silnylon?

You could try diluting silicone sealant (as in cheap DIY tile gun clear stuff or expensive little McNett tubes from camping shops) with white spirit until you have a half-litre of very thin silicone and then take or make a wide foam brush and apply it to the silnylon? If the flysheet is actually silicone on one side and PU on the other ("taped seams" would appear to suggest it was), like some Terra Nova flysheets, then maybe you could get the aftermarket waterproof treatment to stick to the PU better, in a bath treatment?

You might get a better response posting on one of the (ultra)lightweight backpacking fora, such as trek-lite dot com (uk) or backpackinglight dot com (usa).

In reply to badgerjockey:

I've been told (not sure how believable) that it's impossible to get stuff to stick to siliconised nylon and that's why on my Tera Nova tent they have extra cover bits for the pole seams rather than the usual seam tape on the inside.

How badly is the flysheet leaking?

In reply to badgerjockey:

Does it really need it? I presume you are talking about the flysheet, not the groundsheet.

In reply to J Skye:

I don't believe silicone actually sticks to silicone. Happy to be corrected though.

In reply to Toerag:

think what is being described is when you use the solution on the external seams. I think it is mainly for the threads/stitching holes as the wisdom was to wipe any excess off the fabric itself.

In reply to Toerag:

From:

https://www.gearaid.com/products/seam-grip-sealant-tent-silicone

***

Lots of discussion here:

https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/restoring-silnylon-with-links/

In reply to abcdef:

Blobs of the sealant stick to silnylon, away from the seams, but I don't know what is in the sealant apart from silicone. Diluted sealant almost disappears when it is done thin, so I cannot even see it when I look a few years later. But blobs of undiluted stay on the tent silnylon for decades.

Getting a homemade coating to stick to a fly as a whole treatment is probably an art, I don't know. Diluted silicone sealant definitely doesn't stick to the thin 'window insulation film' that people use as an UL footprint and it just gets soaked into tyvek without being useful, IME.