# Is Flex Seal spray the new Plastic dip?



## Cat-man-do (May 16, 2004)

A couple weeks ago I caught an ad for the spray "Flex Seal " product on a late night infomercial. It looks interesting and might be more useful in some applications than plastic dip. I was thinking I could spray my battery bags and make them water-proof. 

Anyone have any experience with Flex Seal spray? Only one down side as I see it...it ain't cheap.


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## Rakuman (Oct 30, 2004)

Cat-man-do said:


> A couple weeks ago I caught an ad for the spray "Flex Seal " product on a late night infomercial. It looks interesting and might be more useful in some applications than plastic dip. I was thinking I could spray my battery bags and make them water-proof.
> 
> Anyone have any experience with Flex Seal spray? Only one down side as I see it...it ain't cheap.


*I think It would be much better than plastic dip as its rubber and not plastic. every time I see that commercial I try to think of things to use it on to justify buying it *


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## mattthemuppet (Jul 16, 2004)

it certainly looks a lot tougher than plastidip, which is pretty useless mechanically. Seriously expensive though - $40 for 2 cans! Add that to the dodgy "do you want to leave this page" popup...

I prefer to wrap my batteries (I make my own from individual cells) in marine tape and then spray it with plastidip to stop the marine tape picking up dust and looking like a giant furball. Heat shrink then marine tape then plastidip is another alternative. It's better to waterproof the battery itself than the thing that it's in


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## scar (Jun 2, 2005)

PlastiDip is a synthetic rubber Plasti Dip 
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## mattthemuppet (Jul 16, 2004)

it's still mechanically rather weak, though I've only used the spray and not the dip. How thick does it need to be before it offers any kind of tear resistance? I usually do 3-4 coats.

I even once tried using it to fix an air leak on an anti-vibration table, for which it was completely useless. An inner tube patch fixed that one though


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## Mortifer (Apr 30, 2007)

those are two very diff products.

You can peel Plasti dip off and leaves no residue behind, I highly doubt it's waterproof though.


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## scar (Jun 2, 2005)

Dip is the way to go. Totally waterproof I do 3 dips. No rippin the dippin. 


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## mattthemuppet (Jul 16, 2004)

scar said:


> Dip is the way to go. Totally waterproof I do 3 dips. No rippin the dippin.
> 
> ***


that's interesting, I always thought the spray stuff was inferior in that regard. How do you do the battery straps? Glue them on afterwards? What about batteries that are bigger than the can? Get a bigger can I guess..

I do like marine tape though, it's very tough and fairly squishy for impact protection.


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## scar (Jun 2, 2005)

For the bar mounted lights - Male piece of Velcro on one side of the battery, female piece of Velcro on the bike frame. Male/female veclro strap around battery and frame










For helmet mounted lights - Male piece of Velcro on one side of the battery, female piece of Velcro on the helmet










***


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## Cat-man-do (May 16, 2004)

scar said:


> PlastiDip is a synthetic rubber Plasti Dip
> ***


Ah, nice link. I didn't know Plastic dip was also sold as an aerosol. "Flex seal" you have to buy over the internet but Plastic dip should be available at places like Home Depot and Lowes. Since I use a cell holder for my main light I can't coat my batteries. Instead I need to coat the battery bag. Right now I just put the batteries in a plastic baggie but I'd feel better knowing that the outer battery pouch could shed some water. I figure a couple coats of spray "Plastic dip" or "Flex seal" should do the trick. ( the straps are removable ).
Hopefully the spray "Plastic dip" is cheaper.


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## ndrordr (Dec 11, 2008)

Cat-man-do said:


> Ah, nice link. I didn't know Plastic dip was also sold as an aerosol. "Flex seal" you have to buy over the internet but Plastic dip should be available at places like Home Depot and Lowes. Since I use a cell holder for my main light I can't coat my batteries. Instead I need to coat the battery bag. Right now I just put the batteries in a plastic baggie but I'd feel better knowing that the outer battery pouch could shed some water. I figure a couple coats of spray "Plastic dip" or "Flex seal" should do the trick. ( the straps are removable ).
> Hopefully the spray "Plastic dip" is cheaper.


Have you tried ScotchGard, its a spray waterproofing that wont make the bag stiff like plastic spray?


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## gmcttr (Oct 7, 2006)

Rakuman said:


> I think I would be much better than plastic dip as its rubber and not plastic. *every time I see that commercial I try to think of things to use it on to justify buying it *


Good lord man! Just get a flat bottom boat and put a screen door in the bottom of it. That should be all the justification you'll need. It certainly worked for me. I do have one minor complaint though.....the screen door is stuck now and I have to climb over the side of the boat to get in and out.


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## Rakuman (Oct 30, 2004)

gmcttr said:


> Good lord man! Just get a flat bottom boat and put a screen door in the bottom of it. That should be all the justification you'll need. It certainly worked for me. I do have one minor complaint though.....the screen door is stuck now and I have to climb over the side of the boat to get in and out.


*:lol::lol::lol: thats some funny sh*t*


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## emu26 (Jun 23, 2008)

Rakuman said:


> *I think I would be much better than plastic dip as its rubber and not plastic. every time I see that commercial I try to think of things to use it on to justify buying it *





gmcttr said:


> Good lord man! Just get a flat bottom boat and put a screen door in the bottom of it. That should be all the justification you'll need. It certainly worked for me. I do have one minor complaint though.....the screen door is stuck now and I have to climb over the side of the boat to get in and out.


Good lord man, is the boat the best use you can think of? Just buy a can rakuman, I'm sure you'll find a use for it


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## emu26 (Jun 23, 2008)

gmcttr said:


> Good lord man! Just get a flat bottom boat and put a screen door in the bottom of it. That should be all the justification you'll need. ....


Hope no-one comes a 'nockin


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## glint (Sep 14, 2011)

I haven't used Plasti-Dip myself, but you could also try liquid silicone, which may or may not be very similar. I'm sure you've seen silicone oven mitts, muffin trays, pastry brushes, cases for electronics, etc... It might work better for waterproofing, and you can also get it in a food-safe grade.


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## anga (Aug 22, 2011)

Has anyone tried this?


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## mattthemuppet (Jul 16, 2004)

Cat-man-do said:


> Ah, nice link. I didn't know Plastic dip was also sold as an aerosol. "Flex seal" you have to buy over the internet but Plastic dip should be available at places like Home Depot and Lowes. Since I use a cell holder for my main light I can't coat my batteries. Instead I need to coat the battery bag. Right now I just put the batteries in a plastic baggie but I'd feel better knowing that the outer battery pouch could shed some water. I figure a couple coats of spray "Plastic dip" or "Flex seal" should do the trick. ( the straps are removable ).
> Hopefully the spray "Plastic dip" is cheaper.


I wouldn't bother using the spray plastidip - it leaves very thin layers (even after multiple coats) that will eventually peel, especially if the object is flexible. It's really only useful for an extra last layer on top of something else that it'll stick to easily, plus it's terrible for filling holes. You'd be better of with the liquid dip or that Scotchguard stuff


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## BlueMoon100 (Jan 30, 2009)

The Flexi Spray crap is the same as "Spray in Bedliner" that you can get for $12 at Home Depot.


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## Ofroad'bent (Jul 10, 2010)

scar said:


> Dip is the way to go. Totally waterproof I do 3 dips. No rippin the dippin.
> 
> ***


Scar's batteries are very well sealed up, with a very tough skin of plasti-dip. He seems to get it neater than I do too. I think the dip is a lot tougher than the spray, or the Liquid Electrical Tape I used to use over self-fusing silicone tape.


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## El34 (Jan 11, 2009)

I have used plasti dip on several of my battery packs as an experiment.

Works great, but takes too long (for the commercial packs I sell) to do the several dips and dry times between dips to get a nice thick coat.

I like the packs I did for myself, but all the extra labor does not cut it when making my commercial battery packs.
Those packs get wrapped in vinyl tape, which means you can take them apart if needed. (That would suck cause I use alot of tape) 

Regarding that TV commercial spray.
That stuff looks like it might be the same thing they sell at automtive stores. They sell rubberized undercoating in a big can.
It's made to coat the insides of auto wheel wells, truck beds, etc
I have used it may years ago. It worked great and also ads some sound proofing.

I have a can in my shop, I should test it on a battery pack.


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## Cat-man-do (May 16, 2004)

mattthemuppet said:


> I wouldn't bother using the spray plastidip - it leaves very thin layers (even after multiple coats) that will eventually peel, especially if the object is flexible. It's really only useful for an extra last layer on top of something else that it'll stick to easily, plus it's terrible for filling holes. You'd be better of with the liquid dip or that Scotchguard stuff


Oh dang it! Now you say....Well it turns out I bought some of the liquid Plastic dip at Lowes. It was only about $5 a can. I'm going to test it out on one of my other ( lesser used ) battery bags before I do the good one I regularly use. I figure 3-4 coats should do it. I would of rather had the "Flex Seal" ( seeing it can coat a screen door ) but $30 is too much for me to spend. Eventually it will have to come down in price. If it does I might buy some.

Anyway, my battery bags have a pretty tight weave so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.


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## Cat-man-do (May 16, 2004)

Well Matt you were right. The Plastic dip spray sucks big time. Basically it has the consistency of spray paint. As such it is very, very thin. Even with multiple coats I don't think it is going to work. 

I ended up covering the bag with black duct (Duck) tape which sheds water very well. I'll still need to put the cell holder in a plastic bag as the bag still has gaps where water can get in but at least now most of the water will just roll off.


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## xyz-saft (Sep 23, 2010)

Hijacking the thread just a little bit. I've bought some hard case LiPo packs and would like to make them waterproof. Would it be doable with plastic dip without damaging the packs?


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## Ofroad'bent (Jul 10, 2010)

xyz-saft said:


> Hijacking the thread just a little bit. I've bought some hard case LiPo packs and would like to make them waterproof. Would it be doable with plastic dip without damaging the packs?


Wouldn't hurt to wrap them well in electrical tape first before dunking them. Incidentally, how are you protecting them? Will the protection circuit get dipped as well?


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## xyz-saft (Sep 23, 2010)

Right now I'm not protecting them at all. Received them a few days ago.


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