"No more soakings!" we thought back in the Old Stone Age when miraculous 2oz PU nylon cagoules first appeared. In our primitive way, we never realised these roomy mid thigh over-the-head pocketless anoraks were actually invented for use in snow and powder snow. The seams leaked but early man discovered that a liberal dab of clear Bostic adhesive on the index finger, well rubbed into the seams made all well. We still got soaked with condensation, but that's another story.
Over countless centuries of research it was discovered that said adhesive could be thinned with acetone (use outdoors, unhealthy smelly stuff...) and painted onto seams of home sewed kit which sealed pronto, with the side benefit that the stitching becomes much less likely to unravel. It dries fast in open air with a fairly clear finish. Acetone cleans the brush but there's a good chance it will dissolve a disposable plastic one.
I offer this elderly technology to those who fancy sewing six small tape loops + 6 small reinforcing patches to a sort-of-olive-green sub £10 ripstop Decathlon poncho. The thinned glue seals the stitching nicely. The sides are held together with velcro rather than poppers but none the worse for that. The loops don't show but now the poncho can be fairly quickly converted into a small tarp with the addition of a few thin guys. Not too bad for a tenner + some scraps. And, of course, a small tarp can change a merely tolerable night in a bivi bag into a comfortable one with somewhere to brew and relax as the rain sheets down. Good things, sewing machines.....
Over countless centuries of research it was discovered that said adhesive could be thinned with acetone (use outdoors, unhealthy smelly stuff...) and painted onto seams of home sewed kit which sealed pronto, with the side benefit that the stitching becomes much less likely to unravel. It dries fast in open air with a fairly clear finish. Acetone cleans the brush but there's a good chance it will dissolve a disposable plastic one.
I offer this elderly technology to those who fancy sewing six small tape loops + 6 small reinforcing patches to a sort-of-olive-green sub £10 ripstop Decathlon poncho. The thinned glue seals the stitching nicely. The sides are held together with velcro rather than poppers but none the worse for that. The loops don't show but now the poncho can be fairly quickly converted into a small tarp with the addition of a few thin guys. Not too bad for a tenner + some scraps. And, of course, a small tarp can change a merely tolerable night in a bivi bag into a comfortable one with somewhere to brew and relax as the rain sheets down. Good things, sewing machines.....
