Seam Grip TF Tent Fabric Sealant

I was extremely hesitant to buy this, based on the multitude of reviews that claimed it was very difficult to apply, and Gear Aid's coverage claims are a lie. But I figured I'd give it a try before buying a new tent. Gear aid is correct. It covers an incredible amount of surface area. It is easy to apply. I used a single bottle to refresh an entire tent. I did the floor in about 40 minutes. I did the rain fly of a tent in about an hour. There's still a little bit left in the bottle. The best strategy is to use short 4-6 inch strokes, pushing the bottle away from you. Just keep moving over inch by inch, and cover the area, then back up and do the same thing again. You'll see the surface gets slightly damp that you've treated. It starts to dry relatively quickly, and sometimes can be hard to see where it's already been treated because of that. I haven't yet sprayed down the tent to see efficacy, but the old coating was still mostly effective so that won't be definitive. And from the small amount of liquid on my fingers, which dried into a polyurethane coating, seems pretty clear it works. Buy it, treat your gear, and enjoy. It's slightly tedious, but not hard. All you're doing is getting the surface slightly damp. You have to make sure to keep pressing the bottle down and squeezing a little bit during your strokes. Occasionally, stop, press down hard, and squeeze, to resaturate the sponge fully. Easy, not super time consuming, and a very inexpensive way to rehab a tent. You're painting on an extremely thin layer which closes the pores of the fabric and makes it waterproof. You are not putting down a multi-millimeter layer of polyurethane. Those people who claim it uses seven bottles, or four bottles, and that you need a paint brush, don't understand how DWR works. Think about the last waterproof jacket you bought, or your tent when it was brand new - it did not have a multi-millimeter thick layer of polyurethane on it. It looked and felt like fabric, and invisibly had a DWR coating on it. That's what you're restoring. That's what this does. And the sponge applicator allows out exactly the right amount of liquid.

This was my first time using this tent sealant, and like other reviewers have stated, 4 oz is not as much as you think it is. I have an older REI Half Dome 2 Plus tent that needed the whole rainfly redone. I bought two bottles of this stuff, thinking that would be enough, but I needed three bottles (another is on it's way). I still need to do about 3 feet by 4 feet section at the bottom of one of the tent ends. I know now that when I first started applying it, I put on too much and learned as I went, but next time I will probably be able to do this size tent with two bottles. I think the applicator that comes on the bottle is trash for larger jobs, but would be okay for small patch jobs needing a touch-up. It's not meant to do a whole tent floor or rainfly. Most of the videos I saw of how to apply it (the REI video in particular on how to waterproof a tent) show this guy just applying it to a small area of flaky residue. I took the foam tip applicator off (its not threaded or anything, it just slides out) and got an old plastic tupperware bowl. I dumped a little bit in after shaking and then got an angle tipped foam brush with wooden handle (these are mostly for painting and arts and crafts, but it worked great for what I needed). I then setup the tent and the rainfly inside out (it's for applying on the underside of the tent rainfly) and brushed it on the entire area, keeping a wet edge (where I could see where I had previously applied the product). Over time, I used my fingers to push the foam brush against the fabric even more and more tent sealant would seep out of the foam as I went, again, keeping that wet edge. I then let it dry like the instructions for 24 hours. It leaves a clear, non-viewable layer of polyurethane on the underside of the tent rainfly. I can feel the difference in the tent fabric when I run my fingers on it. It's hard to describe the difference, but the untreated area feels soft to the touch, like running your fingers across a newspaper, whereas the treated side feels slightly rougher, like the side of a cardboard Amazon box. I'm so happy to breathe new life again into my old gear. I haven't tried a rain test on it yet (still waiting on the 3rd bottle to finish it, but I think my tent will do great now. Just buy an extra bottle than what you think. You can use the extra sealant to do the tent floor to prevent a slipping sleep pad.

Very pleased with this product. It gave new life to my favorite North Face fanny pack, which is no longer made, and now looks brand new! After many years of service, the rubberized waterproof interior layer was peeling off everywhere, so I decided to give this a try. The hardest part was the prep - I used rubbing alcohol and an old toothbrush and a 3M scrubbing pad to remove virtually all of the old rubberized material. Only a llittle remained in a couple of seams that I couldn't get to. Prep is the key to great results - be patient and spend the time to do it right. After thoroughly removing that rubberized material, let it completely dry before applying the new sealant. I turned my fanny pack inside out and followed the instructions, and used the applicator tip to apply a thin layer of sealant to every inside surface. The sealant goes on clear and dries clear, and covers the old rubberized material in the seams that I wasn't able to remove so it isn't visible and looks like the rest of the refinished interior. I am very pleased with how well this turned out, and still have 3/4 of the bottle left to do another backpack. Highly recommended.

I re-coated the floor and fly of a 2-person backpacking tent with this one bottle. It took some effort, as others have mentioned. It's tiring to squeeze the small bottle and make sure you overlap your coatings with the small foam applicator, but I didn't do it all at once. I coated a portion of my fly on a garage bench, let it dry, then moved the fly to coat another section the next day. After a few days, I had coated the whole thing. The condition of my tent wasn't terrible. The original coating was just barely starting to wear in a few places, but one main spot was just above my forehead. There were a few other spots. The floor had begun to wear around the edges. I didn't really have any flaking old polyurethane to get off, but I wiped the fabric with alcohol to clean and prepare it for coating. The fly had a worn spot that dripped to my forehead on rainy nights. No more drips! Yay!

This is perfect! I understand why people would have trouble with sticking if you apply it thick or with a brush, but with the applicator built in to the bottle that's not a problem. For applying we used a 6' folding table. I spent a lot of time getting the old coating off; that makes a HUGE difference! It is difficult to keep the fabric from slipping, but my wife held it tight while I applied it. Be careful not to let foam build up; smooth it out as you go and it's no trouble. Coverage is about 45 square feet per bottle applied as thin as we could do it, so I needed to order a second bottle. What we applied is as smooth and uniform as the factory finish was; I salvaged an excellent tent with this product. I am going to strip the finish off the rainfly as well, this worked so good it's worth the trouble. Definitely would recommend!!!

The instructions state "Squeeze bottle to saturate applicator. Spread very thin..." So I inverted the bottle and squeezed. Nothing happened, so I squeezed harder. The top popped off, making a heck of a mess on the folding table I was using. After a lot of cursing and cleaning, I studied the top. It has a plug that sticks out into the sponge tip, so you have to press on the sponge tip to push the plug open and allow the sealant to flow. So press it firmly down onto your tent, THEN squeeze. It's a clever design to keep the bottle from leaking, but if you don't understand how it works it's going to be very difficult to use. Every time you want to squeeze out more sealant, you have to first press the sponge tip down firmly. OK, that said, I've used this sealant before and it's effective. McNett should change the instructions to state "Press applicator tip down firmly to open valve, then squeeze bottle to saturate applicator."

This works as described. It is easy to apply, and it very effective at re-waterproofing the floor of a 15 year old Coleman tent.

Not the most fun project to do, but thankfully this is one of those projects you don't have to do all that often. The product overall is exceptional. The applicator leaves a lot to be desired. it is about the size of a quarter. I would think that an engineer could design a system that had an applicator two to three times the size. It takes a looooonnnnngggg time with how small the head of this is to do your tent. The product and result afterwards is top notch. I used one full container to do my VE-25 tent and about 75% of the base mat that goes under tent. So expect to have a little left over for other projects when you are done with the base of your tent.

This stuff was easy to use and apply. Our tent was starting to leak and we applied it to the inside of the sides and the floor plus the inside of the fly. We have a big 6 person tent and went through about 6 bottles (don't be fooled by the label saying you need way less). It is a bit of a pain in the butt to apply this to a large tent but did it ever make a difference. Totally worth it. You can barely tell it has been applied. It didn't leave a weird coating on the tent or anything. Make sure you have enough time to do the whole thing in one or two sittings and you track what part you've already done because it is hard to tell where you've already been once it starts to dry (which is quick) so you need to have a system to track that. I definitely did at least one section twice because of this. It helps to have a second person who can hold up a board or something on the outside of the tent while you "paint" on the product if using it on the sides. The floor is easy to do and I suggest you take the fly off and lie it down on clean groud before you do that. I followed instructions on the REI website on how to re-waterproof a tent and started by cleaning it in my bathtub first. Glad we will only have to redo this every few years.

Efectivamente como otros comentarios señalan, es realmente muy tedioso y tardado de aplicar. Pensé que sería sencillo como estos productos de brillo al calzado pero no. Además rinde muy poco, me alcanzó un bote apenas para un bivvi. No lo recomiendo. Sería mejor un producto en spray o atomizador.

Thumbs up to Gear Aid. Tent needed some TLC.

AS an avid camper I do everything I can to ensure my camping supplies have a long life. This was quick and easy to apply with no messy clean up or anything. Didn't quite cover the full suggested size but I may have been a bit to generous with the application.

Seemed to work well to close a hole in my spandex base layer…. So far so good.