anyone know of a material that can be sprayed on an outhouse groundblind to seal it against water?i leave mine up permanently and noticed several spots from inside that surely leak when raining.some say silicone and others say scotchgard.i don/t want to contaminate my area with some chemical that scares everything away.any help appreciated.http://www.hunt101.com/img/059718.JPG

loner,

Two comments come to mind when reading your post. The Ameristep blinds are supposed to be relatively good in wet weather and I can attest to that. However, in a decent downpour they do tend to leak along the zippers. I don' t know of anything per se that can help with that. However, if you are looking for a general water sealant then there is a pump spray liquid that can be bought at most " X" marts in the camping section which can be applied to a variety of materials in order to give them better water repellancy. It is similar in texture and composition to the UV killer commonly sold with Sportswash.

Loner ,
how old is your Outhouse ? BTW , leaving them up long term doesn' t help any tent style blind retain water repellency . I recently bought a newer Outhouse with the poly lining , if yours is over 3 years with all that exposure you may need a new one as well . Your camo pattern has already started to fade , which makes you more visible . The whole point of having a portable blind is being able to put it away and put it up later .

I would use the Scotch-guard, but apply it weeks before you start to hunt so it can mesh with the material and the odor can die.

As a messurment I would spray some cover sent on it when setting up or store it in some pine straw, cidar chip, etc. But that' s what I would do.

Good luck!

thanks guys! my blind is less than a month old and i realize it will weather pretty badly out in the weather.i have been watching deer i will bow hunt about 75 yds away in an ol man climber.the deer are used to a blind being there since i had one in the same place for the past year.it leaked also,but was dry rotted when i finally put it up after having it in my garage over 10 years.i am 62 and don' t know why i never tried the ground blind until last year.thanks again for your help!

You' re welcome Loner ,
Atsko Silicone is one of the few that I know will preserve water repellency without odor . I will be airing my new one out shortly , and then treating it with cover scent before putting it back in it' s pouch until gun season . I don' t add water repellent at all .

I left my old one out for 2 weeks last year with the blaze topper on , and the topper faded badly on the sun side , it didn' t do the rest of the blind much good either . Pop-up blinds have been a godsend to me , I love portability when I hunt . If the action ain' t happening where I am I can always pack up and still hunt , and I don' t waste any time fretting over what camo pattern to wear .