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Hi Matt,

I think my posts are getting caught by the spam bot. I’ve been trying to post in the help thread for a few days now and it looks like the posts are going through, but then nothing shows up!

-Aaron

It might interest you that a similar technique was used in olden times for field repairs of wooden folding Kayaks with a PVC fabric skin: PVC was scraped with a heated knife from PVC patches (or fabric they carried for that purpose) and then the hot PVC was smeared with the hot knife on the area to be patched. Requires obviously some skill.

Very creative tip – thanks for posting! I can see this being especially useful for spots where I accidentally damage the TPU on the tube fabric. Cheers!

This won’t help with having elegant looking seams, but you can use the TPU from the fabric to make patches.  Place a strip of TPU coated fabric with the TPU side down on some parchment paper.  Put on some leather gloves.  Heat the nylon side twice as long as you would for normal sealing.  While holding the fabric strip, raise your iron onto its…[Read more]

Hi!

Received my kit a couple weeks ago so I’m just practicing right now. I’ll begin building soon and will be taking it out to Montana in August!

-Aaron

There’s a Russian packraft boutique who uses this valve hack on their packrafts:https://www.birdypackraft.com/. There’s actually a lot of packrafting going on in Russia, if you know how to use Google translate or Deepl. Personally, I don’t like the Boston valve much. Its too bulky and too protruding. I would go for a bottle cap opening for bag…[Read more]

Hi I’m Dirk UK

I wonder if anyone has benefited from utilising a metal surface under

heat welds where possible to get tpu as hot as possible

I’ve used light saws (teeth taped)and a brass door plate

Wish I had known earlier for to achieve better joins

Interesting! I got some samples of TPU sheets too, but I haven’t had time to experiment with them yet. In a way, it’s a “solution in search of a problem,” but when we find that problem it will be an elegant fix. A higher melting temperature will make it difficult to use though.

Yeah, I apply the Seam Grip to the TPU side (shiny outside) of the fabric in spots like that if they’re somewhere that will be noticeable on the inflated packraft. If it’s somewhere hidden, like near where the tube meets the floor on the inside of the packraft, I apply it to the inside of the tube. Cheers!

Repairing damaged TPU /Seam grip sealant adhesive question

A few times my iron has came too close along the yellow fabric when for example doing the seam stripes.   So little scuffs /damage that might effect the durability.  If I add seam grip to these spots won’t it stain it ?  Is there a way to fix these little blemishes/damaged area wit…[Read more]

I got a sample of a transparent TPU sheet from a German shop: https://www.diekleinewerft.de/TPU-Folie-152cm-breit-038mm-dick-semitransaprent

(They also have TPU tubes for making bladders.)

Unfortunately, this TPU has a much higher melting point than Matt’s fabrics. Since the material has not a fabric backing it warps if its heated and the warps…[Read more]