REALLY reproofing an army poncho.

[RAPPLEBY2000]

Hi I have a couple of old ponchos, hang on...4 ponchos and a few other bits of kit that are all in need of re-proofing.

Before anyone mentions the standard answer: "spray wax", "silicon" sprays", or "retro paint on liquid wax".
(I know about the products, i've used all them all in the past, and even sold the products in 2 camping shops)

that's not what I'm after, What I'm after is the actual PU or PVC type plastic waterproofing that's gradually pealed or fallen off the nylon fabric.

Has anyone found a good substitute?
When fixing a tin roof I was using clear silicon (the sort you get in a foot long tube) one of my ponchos had clearly lost some of it's PU coating, I gingerly spread a small amount very thinly onto the bare area, and it seemed to work, the only problem I don't know how to "fix" or "set" the coating so it remains part of the fabric i.e. I perhaps need some sort of powder to coat the drying silicon before it's stored.

The obvious answer is talc, but I'm not sure if there is a better thing than talc perhaps a sort of oil or even wax?
Not being a chemist I can make an educated guess, any views or info would be great, Cheers.

 

[uncleboob]

Morning matey, think you need to dilute the silicon down so that it spreads and absorbs better...here's a link to some useful info

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=78834


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RAPPLEBY2000]

Brilliant cheers mate, I'll definately try this!

 

[Polecatsteve]

I "reproofed" my British army poncho by spraying it with WD40. After drying in the shed in now beads water again. Use it mostly to sit on when fishing but it works.

 

[RAPPLEBY2000]

Hi nice idea, I think my only concern is that as it's a thin oil, it might never be totally attached to the fabric in the same way, so may "leach" onto other items.

 

[Janne]

Check out the website Www.instructables.com and look for Tin cloth.

WD40 is a penetrating oil, as far as I know it does not harden, so you will make a holy mess everywhere!

 

[RAPPLEBY2000]

I've bought 2 tubes of silicone, waiting for a nice day!

 

[RAPPLEBY2000]

Hi I took the plunge as it was a nice day yesterday and did the whole silicon reproofing on my old and in some places see-through 58" poncho.
I washed and thoroughly dried the poncho.
I then pegged the dry poncho on the lawn.
Then as suggested watered down the silicon with turps/white-spirit and rollered the mixture onto the poncho.
half way through I ran out of the mixture so I made more quite easily though it was slightly thicker when applied.
It worked a treat, no issues at all, the poncho has totally retained it's origonal colour on the non waterproof side, the whole thing was dry in around an hour and not as smelly as I thought it would be.
after it had dried I gave it a fair dusting with baby powder and it is now absolutely fine. no smell, not sticky, and actually looks better than it did I think some of the lining was so loose that the silicon sort of glued it back.
The only thing I've noticed was an unusually large amount of static when I tried on the poncho, but it may be what I was wearing or the fact it was dry and warm.

 

[MikeLA]

What the mix ratio you used?

 

[RAPPLEBY2000]

I didn't measure it, as I was a bit stumped how to measure small amounts of the silicon without covering things in silicon (as it's in the plastic tube), but it was roughly half and half but probably slightly more turps than silicon.
I've tried different amounts and it won't make too much difference to the end result, if you add less turps it'll just be thicker (good if you want a thicker layer) add more turps and it's thinner and will spread more easily and soak in more.

i guess in totall I used half a tube of silicon, which was more than enough to do a poncho.

 

[Amy Turner]

Well half tube?? How well it work

 

[RAPPLEBY2000]

The finish seems really good, possibly better than the original coating! I have no problem in usung the same process to waterproof other kit.

 

[Crowe]

Is that half a tube as in toothpast ? Or as in 310 ml cartridge ?

 

[RAPPLEBY2000]

The big 310 ml Cartridge, please scale it up or down if you want, there is no magic percentage. My mixture as I say was ROUGHLY half and half, it was thick/tacky it felt a bit like rolling gloss paint onto the poncho, you could make it much thinner or thicker, best to test it first.

 

[Rokerman]

I use brick sealant to waterproof everything.