Subject: Re: [baidarka] Silicone skin?
From: Adam Tatarnic (vabolite@home.com)
Date: Mon Oct 22 2001 - 17:32:17 EDT
At 06:57 PM 10/20/01 EDT, ASmeagol@aol.com wrote:
>While looking at old posts on Pouch Boat's building foldables forum, I ran
>across a breif discussion concerning the use of silicone jelly for sealing
>the skin on SOFs. Here's a quote:
>
> "Silicone jelly diluted with turpentine and colored with ordinary
>housepaint makes super-excellent waterproofing material. It it is cheap
>also....."
>
>Not much was said on the forum about this, except for a breif hint abount
>possible low abraison resistance. Has anyone heard of this being done? If
>so, how strong is it, and how does it last over time?
I saw that too, but my boat isn't ready for skinning just yet. I tested
it on a little canvas pouch I made to hold my bike repair kit (this was
good sewing practice too). After it dried I reinforced the seams with
silicone out of the tube, filled it with water, and hung it up for a couple
of days. It seems waterproof, except for a couple of pinholes due to
sloppy application. I can't say anything about its longevity yet. I've
still got to experiment with dilution and number of coats on some canvas
scraps before I try to do a whole boat.
The diluted silicone soaks into the fabric, it doesn't just coat the
surface like it would right out of the tube. I think the latter method is
what had low abrasion resistance, if I remember correctly.
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