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Yep, the TPU is what makes the fabric airtight, so if it’s damaged that could cause it to leak – check those spots first. Cheers!

And apparently my tablet is schizophrenic when it comes to posting in a forum and I apologize.

Thank you Bruce, I appreciate your advice. The iron came with the V3 kit I recently purchased on eBay and I’m guessing it’s, at least, unused if not new. TBH I find infrared temp sensors to be iffy at best and I couldn’t get a consistent temperature trend to save my life. I find contact thermocouplings to be considerably more accurate and consi…[Read more]

Has anyone considered coating the inside lip of the dry bag closure with sealgrip to help minimize air loss?

Have you considered using a piece of 1/4 or 3/8 pex pipe split lengthwise on one side?

<li style=”text-align: left;”>Craig,I have several Hangar #9 irons. Short answer: they are all slightly different. Most have a 10 to 20 degree temperature swing to activate the thermostat. When activated the thermostat connects the current increasing heat. Heat rises 10 to 20 degrees.
Do buy a thermal infrared thermometer and watch the iron…

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One more question please Matt.  Do you know if the TPU fabric is still airtight if the TPU coating is melted?  On both my rafts i have areas where the TPU has been melted where i touched it with my iron.  Am wondering if air may escape very very slow through these?   Ie.  Does the airtightness come from the TPU or the nylon fabric?

Hi Matt,

OK, thanks for the tips.  As long as i know there must be a leak somewhere i will persevere to find it.  It bugs me knowing there’s air loss coming from somewhere….

I’ll try the more concentrated soap mix as you suggested.  And bribe the kids to stare at it with me ;).

Right on! The packraft looks great and so does the backpack – well done!

I’m sure people would be interested in more detail about the backpack, so if have any assembly shots or more photos showing how you attached things, I’d be happy to post them on the blog where more people will see (with credit to you, of course).

Enjoy the summer while it lasts!

The undamaged fabric is airtight, so you definitely have at least one leak somewhere. The first question to consider is whether or not it’s worth your time trying to track it down. Based on some quick math and an average lung capacity, the rate of air loss you’re seeing is equivalent to roughly 1/2 litre (1 pint) per hour, or 8 ml (0.25 oz) per…[Read more]

Thanks for the info. Been caught up with other stuff lately, but I’m going to give it a try.

I’m experimenting with a Ryobi heat gun with tips purchased from Amazon. So far I’m getting more consistent results then with the iron I’m using. This is my first packraft and I have zero experience.

Is anyone else using the hangar 9 iron having problems with inconsistent temperatures? Thanks.

Finished my Skeena! What an awesome project. Wish I had the hot air gun for those hard to form end welds- like many folks on here, I used far too much aquaseal and patches to stop leaks once done. On the next one (the process is so addictive!!) I’m sure there will be perfect welds.

I couldn’t wait to try it out… Unfortunately in Fairbanks, it…[Read more]