With the return of the Gulf Stream from it's unscheduled winter vacation I'm now waiting for a weather window to pitch and seam seal my Mountain Laurel Designs DuoMid. It's bright yellow colour would create a welcome morning mood light in this season of grey and rain.
I have thought of pitching it in the cavernous basement with the door open but the thought of fume-fuelled hallucinations has me erring on the side of caution.
Patience my young padawan...
6 comments:
Congrats on the new yellow shelter. It is coming along to the SBM-up, right?
Re: Seam sealing, I think it is overrated. Have yet to seam seal any of my shelters, and can't report any leakage.
Hendrik - Unless something lighter and smaller possibly appears then The Yellow Peril will be coming to the SBM-up.
Hmmm, Whilst I'd be happy to use it straight-out-the-box during snowy winter I'm not sure I'd trust an un-seam sealed shelter in Spring over here on the west coast of Norway. Let's see what everyone else thinks....
I put off seam sealing my scarp 1 for some time, but in the end I googled and found out Roger Caffin prefers to use a syringe and his finger to work the silcone into the seam... And he also says pure silicone doesn't give off any fumes...
So lacking a syringe I just used my finger and one tube of the two tubes of GE silocone II I bought with the tent. I just used the nozzle to get a little silicone on to the seam and then worked it into the seam with my finger. Assuming the two tubes had the same weight originally I used about 15 grams of silicone for the tent
Gaute - there seems (seams?!) to be a variety of ways to seam seal shelters. Roger Brown sent me this useful link too - http://www.sixmoondesigns.com/support/seam.html
which utilises the syringe method too but also suggests diluting the sealer. I guess it's a case of finding the method that you feel comfortable using.
Diluting is the way to go. I have done my first Scarp fly sheet neat and the DuoMid diluted. The DuoMid does not leak and is fantastic. No mess and easy to do in fact. Don't seal the inside seam. It rains outside. Also the little amount needed to soak into the stitching adds no weight.
Read this thread after Jim Wood (Guru of kit knowledge) joins in
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=14966&startat=40
Martin - thanks for the link. I think sealing the seams would be a good idea in this part of the world and it would appear the general consensus is a 1:3 solution painted on the outside of the seam. I will wait for sunshine and get cracking!
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