We were recently contacted by Ian Outram a customer who wished to find a solution to an old problem, how to reproof ground sheets for tents.
Ian explains “Groundsheets need their Hydrostatic Head waterproofness restoring. Reproofing for flysheets only restores the DWR water repellencey, and is no good for restoring the HH of a groundsheet.”
We pointed him in the direction of Plasti Dip our versatile rubberised paint and Ian took it upon himself to carry out some really useful side by side testing
“I did some waterproofness and folding tests on some fabric, using Plasti Dip, yacht varnish, floor varnish emulsion, and several other (non-silicon based) coatings. Only plasti dip and yacht varnish passed the tests, but yacht varnish although waterproof and pliable did not have the elongation under stress of Plasti Dip, which won the contest, although the yacht varnish would serve if that is all you have.”
We recommend mixing Plasti Dip with our recommended thinner when spraying it or if you want to create a thinner mix for brushing and Ian concurs that for this application, adding thinner does work best.
“I used a 750ml can of regular plasti dip and found it rather too thick for brushing. I tried various solvents and found that white spirit, lighter fuel, and Aspen T4 fuel (clean burning naptha fuel used for lawnmowers, tree surgeons) all thinned plasti dip well (meths did not). So I thinned with 50% naptha fuel and it then brushed well. The 750ml can covered two 2-man tent groundsheets (total about 3 sqm), with enough left for a good second coat around each tent entrance area. Now when you kneel on the groundsheet over damp grass, you don’t get wet knees.”
Thank you Ian for your great in depth experimentation with Plasti Dip. We hope your tents are good for many more years!
A note about primer
Although it is our understanding Ian didn’t use primer for his application, for best results and durability using primer will increase adhesion by up t 400%