Flex Seal for Bullman Pioneer steps

[jphillips97]

I just got my pioneer steps... Has anyone ever considered dipping them in flex seal to quieten them? I wonder how it would hold up and if it has any residual oder...

 

[bfriendly]

I wouldn’t worry about odor. I’ve used the spray but never the liquid. Vet tape might be a better alternative. I’ve gon crazy with it just a tad, but I really like it. It’ll wear with foot traffic, but I’ll add a few wraps to my platform etc..

 

[jphillips97]

I wouldn’t worry about odor. I’ve used the spray but never the liquid. Vet tape might be a better alternative. I’ve gon crazy with it just a tad, but I really like it. It’ll wear with foot traffic, but I’ll add a few wraps to my platform etc..

I was considering flex seal as a more permanent option if it would hold up

 

[Maverick1]

I used plasti-dip on climbing sticks steps. Worked great. Just make sure to thin it out with the appropriate agent otherwise it’ll be way too thick. (Not certain if this applies to flex seal, just passing along as they are similar products.). Tried the spray on plasti-dip and it was not thick enough. Took way too many coats to make any sort of difference. Waste of time with that approach. After two seasons of use the steps are still in reasonably good condition. Some wear spots, but that’s to be expected I suppose.

 

[raisins]

be careful not to get the kind with a grit (would wear strap or rope holding step), but i used to paint aluminum recurve risers with many light layers of truck bedliner and it was indestructible

 

[jphillips97]

be careful not to get the kind with a grit (would wear strap or rope holding step), but i used to paint aluminum recurve risers with many light layers of truck bedliner and it was indestructible

I wonder about dipping in bed-liner....

 

[bigcat93]

Following, I have mine wrapped in camoform tape but this sounds interesting

 

[raisins]

I wonder about dipping in bed-liner....

the stuff i used to use was duplicolor bed liner in a spray can

they have since changed their formula so that it contains a grit

this would still work IF you masked off any area your strap might touch (you should round the edges of aluminum that touch the strap also, i bought 2 of those steps and they did not chamfer them and they are too sharp)...or you could spray whole step but then put tape or something on the bedliner where the strap touches

the duplicolor rattle can bed liner (sold at auto parts stores) sticks incredibly well to even oxidized aluminum and is tough as nails, just use many light coats to build it up (duplicolor rattle can anything...spray paint, etc.....is far superior in my opinion to anything else commonly available at box stores)

i'm not sure about dipping, unless you find a non gritty version that sticks well in a big can

i would get a test piece of aluminum bar stock and do your thing with it and then see how it turns out before using on a step

edit: something that might help....if you wanna rough those steps up to make stuff stick, do the opposite of sanding steps when you want to make something smooth...what i mean is first sand with fine grit, then medium, and finish with coarse....this creates tooth at multiple spatial scales...to pull out a 2 dollar word from a previous career

 

[Maverick1]

I wonder about dipping in bed-liner....

I tried the spray on bedliner, rattle-can from Home Depot. It did not work out well: took the shine off the steps, but achieved very little in terms of sound dampening. The texture contained some grit, which was good for traction, but this did little/nothing for the sound. (The steps still sounded like tuning forks.)

 

[Maverick1]

This is my write-up for those climbing sticks:

https://www.thehuntingbeast.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=57563&p=877884&hilit=operation:+quiet#p877884

 

[raisins]

I tried the spray on bedliner, rattle-can from Home Depot. It did not work out well: took the shine off the steps, but achieved very little in terms of sound dampening. The texture contained some grit, which was good for traction, but this did little/nothing for the sound. (The steps still sounded like tuning forks.)

i wonder if you added enough of anything (except tape) to these to make them quiet, would it remove the weight savings? here you have a 3 oz step with 3 oz of plastic tip to quiet it....because the coatings are really dense compared to tapes that puff out....i'd hate to have steps covered in camoform tape hanging off like dirty band aids....but might be your best bet

 

[jphillips97]

I think I will try

the stuff i used to use was duplicolor bed liner in a spray can

they have since changed their formula so that it contains a grit

this would still work IF you masked off any area your strap might touch (you should round the edges of aluminum that touch the strap also, i bought 2 of those steps and they did not chamfer them and they are too sharp)...or you could spray whole step but then put tape or something on the bedliner where the strap touches

the duplicolor rattle can bed liner (sold at auto parts stores) sticks incredibly well to even oxidized aluminum and is tough as nails, just use many light coats to build it up (duplicolor rattle can anything...spray paint, etc.....is far superior in my opinion to anything else commonly available at box stores)

i'm not sure about dipping, unless you find a non gritty version that sticks well in a big can

i would get a test piece of aluminum bar stock and do your thing with it and then see how it turns out before using on a step

edit: something that might help....if you wanna rough those steps up to make stuff stick, do the opposite of sanding steps when you want to make something smooth...what i mean is first sand with fine grit, then medium, and finish with coarse....this creates tooth at multiple spatial scales...to pull out a 2 dollar word from a previous career

I think I will try spray flex seal.

I cut a 1 inch wide strip of 1500 grit sand paper and ran through the strap slot. Smoothed the slot very nicely

 

[Maverick1]

i wonder if you added enough of anything (except tape) to these to make them quiet, would it remove the weight savings? here you have a 3 oz step with 3 oz of plastic tip to quiet it....because the coatings are really dense compared to tapes that puff out....i'd hate to have steps covered in camoform tape hanging off like dirty band aids....but might be your best bet

Yeah, that's about it. I had a lot of time into those sticks. A LOT. They turned out really well and are the quietest sticks I own. But, yes, they come with a weight penalty. As I wrote in one of the posts there, I'd use vet wrap. Not nearly as quiet, but takes a lot less time:

"
What Would I Do Differently?
The steps, but not much else.

If it says anything, I have another set of climbing sticks that I used this season. For those climbing sticks, I applied the heat shrink tubing to the main post as well. As mentioned above, I have been very impressed with the heat shrink tubing.

Instead of Plasti Dipping the steps, though, I used Vet Wrap. It took a LOT less time to apply and seem to do a good job of quieting down the steps as well. I think the Plasti Dip probably does a little bit better job of quieting down the steps from a metal-to-metal contact standpoint, but it takes waaaaay too much time to do properly, and once it starts to rub off, it has to be peeled off and you’d have to start over. "

 

[jphillips97]

i wonder if you added enough of anything (except tape) to these to make them quiet, would it remove the weight savings? here you have a 3 oz step with 3 oz of plastic tip to quiet it....because the coatings are really dense compared to tapes that puff out....i'd hate to have steps covered in camoform tape hanging off like dirty band aids....but might be your best bet

I'm not worried about weight. Iu want to set up a nice ring of steps that will pack tightly.

I also have some tree hopper bolts coming. This is where I got the rubbery coating idea.

 

[raisins]

Yeah, that's about it. I had a lot of time into those sticks. A LOT. They turned out really well and are the quietest sticks I own. But, yes, they come with a weight penalty. As I wrote in one of the posts there, I'd use vet wrap. Not nearly as quiet, but takes a lot less time:

"
What Would I Do Differently?
The steps, but not much else.

If it says anything, I have another set of climbing sticks that I used this season. For those climbing sticks, I applied the heat shrink tubing to the main post as well. As mentioned above, I have been very impressed with the heat shrink tubing.

Instead of Plasti Dipping the steps, though, I used Vet Wrap. It took a LOT less time to apply and seem to do a good job of quieting down the steps as well. I think the Plasti Dip probably does a little bit better job of quieting down the steps from a metal-to-metal contact standpoint, but it takes waaaaay too much time to do properly, and once it starts to rub off, it has to be peeled off and you’d have to start over. "

yeah, i was never a fan of plasti dip for anything but situations where the coating was going to be temporary on purpose

i've seen way too many plasti dipped cars, rims, etc where the stuff starts to come off and look ragged and then you have to carefully peel it off forever like you are messing with a sunburn

 

[raisins]

Yeah, that's about it. I had a lot of time into those sticks. A LOT. They turned out really well and are the quietest sticks I own. But, yes, they come with a weight penalty. As I wrote in one of the posts there, I'd use vet wrap. Not nearly as quiet, but takes a lot less time:

"
What Would I Do Differently?
The steps, but not much else.

If it says anything, I have another set of climbing sticks that I used this season. For those climbing sticks, I applied the heat shrink tubing to the main post as well. As mentioned above, I have been very impressed with the heat shrink tubing.

Instead of Plasti Dipping the steps, though, I used Vet Wrap. It took a LOT less time to apply and seem to do a good job of quieting down the steps as well. I think the Plasti Dip probably does a little bit better job of quieting down the steps from a metal-to-metal contact standpoint, but it takes waaaaay too much time to do properly, and once it starts to rub off, it has to be peeled off and you’d have to start over. "

an alternative to camo form is to get long pieces of stealth strips and then cut them into strips about as wide as electrical tape....then you can apply like electrical tape and get around bends and really mold it and that stuff seems to stick and be more durable than camo form (but way more expensive)

 

[Boomah21]

I used plastidip on my titanium bolts (similar to treehoppers just lighter and louder when hit together lol)
And it worked great and has held up very well. They do not receive heavy use tho

 

[jphillips97]

Sprayed the steps then dipped the steps in flex deal. Tomorrow we will see how it works.

 

[keb]

I used black cloth athletic tape on mine held up well prob 30 hang and hunts with them minimal wear most wear is back of step

 

[kenecs]

View attachment 58166

Sprayed the steps then dipped the steps in flex deal. Tomorrow we will see how it works.

How did this turn out?