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I started building a Skeena back in April 2020 and finished it in June for this trip to the Bob Marshall Wilderness in Montana in August.
Here it is next to a few Alpacka Classics.
Some thoughts on the build –
It definitely took longer than anticipated to make, I was probably close to 60 hours on it. I do think one factor was the iron size and this being my first time doing anything like this. Due to covid and wait times, I didn’t have time to get a leather iron from aliexpress. If I were to make another one of these I would get the leather iron in addition to the larger Hangar iron I used.
I went with no top up valve and just made a tube for the Boston valve, a tip I saw on here somewhere. It worked great.
Building it took more space than anticipated
The tips were very hard to seal as I couldn’t find a bowl with the right form, would potentially try to make a wooden form for the next one. Very glad I had the zipper though to be able to get in there.
Seat took a long time, but I think that was due to it being the first thing I did and was very meticulous in creating the reinforcement strips and probably didn’t really need to be.
I only had a couple small leaks when I finished and that was due to me accidentally getting the iron too close a couple times and touching the tip to it.
Here is a pretty extensive album of the build process that I documented along the way!
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Hi!
I have a couple questions before fully moving onto 2R and 2L on my Skeena. Things seem to be going well so far!
The outside floor part of 3L has some overlap from where it should have ended up based on the dot above. Right now I’ve just sealed to the line I made, but is it alright to seal that fully down and then trim 2L at the slit between 1 and 2?
Heat sealing question – I have a few spots on 3R and 3L that have longer bubbles and there’s not a uniform translucency, is this going to cause any issues? I was using the edge of the iron and moving slowly back and forth towards the edge as I have a bigger iron. Definitely seems to be sealed as it survived being turned inside out and I’ve been bending it a little. I also melted the tpu a little on the underside of it. I’ve also included a pic of 2L that I did tonight. Doesn’t have the long bubbles but it’s not the translucency isn’t uniform. I’m using a roller on it after removing the iron. Hopefully I’m just being overly cautious and it’s all good! The seat turned out great and seemed to lose no air overnight.
3R
2L
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Hi,
I am in the practice phase of heat sealing right now before I dive into making the raft and I have a couple questions about my heat sealing and if I’m going about it the right way. I’m using a Hangar 9 Iron that is definitely getting hot enough, but I’m wondering if it’s getting too hot. I was able to get dial it in to where I know it’s definitely too cold and the two pieces would pull apart easily. Moving the dial a tad higher and I can get everything to seal put when I force it apart most of the TPU comes off in one big chunk with a couple smaller areas that stay on other piece of fabric. This happens when sealing the standard (yellow) fabric to the seat fabric, the yellow to yellow, and then the standard yellow fabric to the 450 floor fabric. Based on the heat sealing technique page my iron might be too hot or I’m not pressing hard enough or holding it on long enough (I did have the other side of the TPU start to melt on the floor piece one time). I have attached some photos of my practice runs.
Any guidance is appreciated! Also, I tried to post this last night but it seems to have disappeared so apologies if this comes through twice.
Thanks!
Aaron
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Hey Matt,
I would love to see a video or just pictures of how you attach your seat. I just finished up the new 2 piece seat and I’m having a hard time visualizing how to attach both parts to one point in the back. I saw in the directions that you’ve used webbing and buckles and was looking to go in that direction.
Thanks!
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