'303 Fabric Guard' - UV and water proofer treatment...

[Wetstuff]

I've been fiddling with this too long. I tried a number of brands, even got chems from Beyer Chem where I burned $500 worth of repairs into a North 20 - long story... After all this, the product: 303 Fabric Guard seems to do what I want.




I rinse and dry after a session. The line is a simple thing and the only thing needed to buy are those inexpensive Chinese-made, plactic clamps you can buy from Harbor Freight Tools or other discount hardware sources.



I expect this to keep this black kite from having those brown mud streaks we get at my local launch. It also makes it easier to rinse off the sand and then provides another layer of UV protection - which will be of more value for the person I sell it to than me..

303 comes in 473ml (16oz) bottles and I used a little over two on this kite. I think I could have done it better with a paint gun rather than the sqeeze sprayer attached to the bottle, and I was a little wasteful because I buy it by the case. Expect a retail price of about $12-15.

It's not needed ..but beyond food, water and sex - none of this is needed, eh?!

jim

[wujam]

Thanks for the post wetsuff.

Just curious why you didn't use the 303 Aerospace Protectant. I believe that according to 303's website this stuff is better desinged for sailcloth... dacron... etc.

Thanks.

[jonw179]

nice one, keep us posted on the effects-do you know if it causes and long term damage? I've been looking for a product like this for a long time, but all seem to do damage to the material in the long run..

[Wetstuff]

W-J: I dn'no? This one I get from my marine fabric distributor is "303 HTFG" - 'high tech fabric guard'. A sailcloth distributor I buy from, Bainbridge, has the "303 Aerospace Protectant"... I'd bet it the same juice, but I like real answers too. I'll call them.

Jon - I don't think it can cause any harm. It's simply a surficant with flurocarbons and some filters and been around for at least a decade. It's in every salimaker's and marine chandlery shop?! ...our nylon isn't all that fancy.

jim

[wujam]

Ya wetstuff, please let us know what 303 tells you.

I suspect you're right that they're very similar products and could be somewhat interchangeable.

From what I could figure our of their website, however, it sounds like 303 Aerospace is what they might recommend for sailcloth and anything that isn't designed to normally take on water (i.e. like a cloth, carpet, fabric, etc.). For fabrics that can absorb alot of water, they recommend their 303 HTFG.

303 Aerospace supposedly can make sailcloth slightly strechier... but the sailor who reported this apparently liked the side effects, improved his performance.

[jonw179]

cheers for the response, will definitely try some HTFG on my kites, sounds all good!

[Wetstuff]

4pm NY time Monday - They called me back. The guy was really cool about it - lotsa times the 'scientist types' go into a monotone script for us civilians.

Breaks down to: 'Fabric Guard' is for, as you said Wujam, any fabric that can absorb...'Protectant' for those surfaces that cannot. The key to the later would be to wipe it off so it doens't get gummy and actually attract/retain dust/dirt.

It then also stands to reason that the Protectant - first applied to a rag - would probably be more economical. Just keep the size of the rag down...

The other trick is to start with a clean surface. He said a many new fabrics are loaded with sizing and other finishing chems that will themselves act as a resist to the 303.

Wujam: Didn't you say it sounds like a lot of work for little return?

Given; these kltes in two years are worth about 20% of their original list price - they may not be worth the bother...

Jim

....he was to send me a link about another kiter using 303. I'll post it if he does.

[Wetstuff]

Hell, he sent me about seven links. The specific one closely related to us is: http://www.303products.com/tech/index.c ... uct_ID=377

If you want the whole list, I'd be happy to forward the whole e-mail to you.


jim

[wujam]

Thanks Jim,

Ya, it does sound like 303 Aerospace might be the one 303 would recommend for kites. Did the 303 guy say if HTFG would be any good on kites?

It would take a bit of work... but shouldn't take so long and wouldn't be so bad for smaller kites. I like the idea of using a rag to apply... and another to remove the excess.

As to whether it's worth the effort... in all likelihood it probably doesn't make such a big difference, my guess, but if you're just sitting around waiting for wind and want to hang out with your kites... it might be something to do...

[jrobson]

Did you try any of the cleaner/spot remover products?
Or do you just apply this even on older kites?