Hello all! I’m looking for something like a sealant or coating, maybe an actual sealant, to use for repairing gloves, tarps and the like. I’d like something I can brush on, that will adhere well, and will stay flexible and durable.
I’ve tried Plasti-Dip, but that stuff is not designed to stick well, and peels right off some materials like PVC-coated tarps.
Any suggestions?
If the item is vinyl or PVC-coated then “HH-66” is my go-to.
I’ve also had good luck in the past with “shoe goo”, that works on any material, not just vinyl.
I have not tried it for fabrics/tarps but it might be worth looking into Flex Seal products, I have used them for other purposes and I’d think they should work for this. I’d imagine you could patch a tear in a tarp by spraying or brushing on a thin coat, applying a piece of thin fabric as a reinforcement over the tear while the adhesive is still wet, and then quickly applying another coat on top, so it soaks through the “patch” and bonds it in place. Flex Seal is solvent based so it should partially dissolve vinyl and get a good bond to it.
Thank you sir! Shoe Goo seems like the way to go, since it is abrasion resistant and is sort of designed for this purpose. Amazing Goop and E6000 seem to be variations of the same product.
Your method of affixing a fabric patch is a great idea, though some items would be hard to patch (like gloves). I’m also considering making patches out of inner tube rubber, and perhaps stitching it down around the edges to resist peeling off.
It seems Goop, and probably Shoe Goo too, can be thinned and smoothed with toluene, so it can be shaped to make nice smooth strain relief joints for wire, or painted on to make a thin, tough coating.
I forgot about E6000. Yes, that’s also very good. I haven’t used it for years but I remember using it for craft projects and it will stick to just about anything, and it is semi-flexible. I have seen Goop at shops but I’ve never used it.
I do agree gloves could be hard to patch, I’ve only used that trick with the piece of fabric for things that were fairly flat like tents. For gloves maybe you could use small bits of leather or suede? Or perhaps bridge a tear/hole with stitching and then saturate the stitching with the sealant afterward?
Well the actual issue for me with patching gloves is not gluing the glove shut where the hole is, especially at the fingertips. I guess I could cut a finger-shaped piece of something slippery like HDPE, or maybe waxing a piece of wood, to fit in the finger and keep the front and back of the finger separated.
Another issue is that for some repairs, the glove needs to be “inflated” so that the glue or sealant doesn’t harden in a weird shape. To reinforce old leather gloves, I’ve filled them with gravel and then painted on Plasti-Dip (on rough leather it sticks okay), then poured out the gravel when the stuff was dry. But if there’s an actual hole, that won’t work. I guess I could turn it inside out, put some tape over the hole, then turn it back inside out and paint the outside with sealant, but I’d want some really good tape that won’t leave sticky residue inside my glove.