Troutsman

Excellent work, and thanks for the update!

I haven’t made one, but the easiest way would be to fold a circle or rectangle of fabric in half and seal the edges together. Add a top-up valve for inflation/deflation, and add at least one attachment point by sandwiching some floor material into the edge as in this seat: https://www.diypackraft.com/construction/how-to/seat-bottom-assembly-late-2020/

Good to know – thanks for the update!

Yep, that’s the stuff.

The “Seam Grip +WP” is the same product that used to be called “Seam Grip” and you’re right – I just checked and “polyurethane” doesn’t appear anywhere on the new tube or packaging.

Most of the content on this site was written before they changed their product names and messed everything up, so I’m going back to add “+WP” everywhere Seam Grip is…[Read more]

Hmm, yeah, that’s a problem. The “+SIL” stuff is “silicone tent sealant”, and will only stick to silicone coated fabrics, not polyurethane. It used to be called “SilNet,” but I guess they changed the name to “Seam Grip+SIL” for some reason. I will add a note to the instructions warning people not to confuse the two. Unfortunately I think you’ll…[Read more]

Interesting… what brand is it? I haven’t seen this with Seam Grip before (or any of the other McNett/Gear Aid polyurethane products), but I have seen it with all the other seam sealants I’ve tried, which is why I recommend the Gear Aid stuff.

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]