Matt (Admin)

I used to only seal around the places where the seam strips intersect with the floor, but in spite of my best efforts I always ended up with at least one leak that I had to track down, and finally I decided that for me (and most people) it is worthwhile to apply seam sealer to the inside of all the seam strips.

Because you have a zipper, it won’t…[Read more]

When figuring out the temperature and timing, I find it helps to hold the iron in one place and count out five seconds, then remove the iron and roll (or press) the spot as it cools. Then check underneath for melt-through before ripping the weld apart to see if it’s bonded fully. If five seconds isn’t right, try six (or four, etc.). If no amount…[Read more]

Hi Blair, it sounds fine to me. If it is 1000D then you should be able to get a good weld without permanently altering the appearance of the fabric – just move a bit faster. It takes some practice to get the timing right. Cheers

I see them now – it looks like your iron might be a bit too hot, but it’s hard to tell in the pictures. I don’t normally see the woven fabric get shiny like that. (What I see doesn’t look like a problem though.) The fabric shouldn’t melt at all, just the TPU. Lowering the temperature a bit will also reduce the chance of it melting through to the…[Read more]

Hi – your pictures didn’t seem to work (I just see an “image not found” icon), but from what you’ve written it sounds like it’s probably fine. I designed the seams to be way more than wide enough, so even if they’re not perfectly sealed they will be strong enough, within reason. Cheers!

Haha, no worries!

Fantastic! Thanks for posting!

Thanks for the tips, and excellent idea to use the double D-rings!

I’ve gotten to the point where my new packrafts will hold air indefinitely, but I’ve built way more of them than you and my first couple of attempts leaked way worse than yours, so it sounds like you’ve done a great job. You could try to track down where the air is coming from…[Read more]

Hi – it doesn’t look too bad; I would probably just spread a bit of Aquaseal over that area, or seal a scrap of tube fabric over it if you don’t mind the look of a bit of yellow there (it’ll be on the bottom of the packraft, so not visible when in use).

It could be the temperature is too high, but it looks good elsewhere, so maybe just avoid…[Read more]

Beauty!

Thanks for posting this, Layla! It looks really good!