Sticky Sky Angle Parachute

I have an old Sky Angle Cert3/XL parachute that I just got out of storage for an upcoming flight. It is colored red, blue, and silver/grey. The silver/gray portion seems to be a rubberish coating over black nylon-like fabric. Every silver/grey panel feels sticky and is so sticky that it the panels need to be forcible separated from each other. It is doubtful it would inflate after deployment.

Does anyone know what this is and how to remove it?

Thanks.

…Fred

Some ripstop fabric have a heavy coating that dose feel some what sticky. Because it was folded up for a long period of time it will some what stick together. I think if you just hang up the chute not folded it will be fine for use. Maybe when your going to use it just give the chute a very light dusting of powder.

The coating on the fabric is breaking down due to age. I've seen it on old tents before. With a chute, washing it might help, would not hurt to try it. If still sticky try powdering it I guess. Tents end up junk!!

Same thing here Fred on Skyangle bought in 2004. Both drogue and main are sticky and beginning to peel off in places. When I got mine out, felt like they were glued together. Really took some effort to pull apart. Washing [soaked in sink with soap. rinsed 3 times till water clear and no suds] after drying, folding and let sitting in rocket for couple days to test...still was sticking.

I opted for the good ole Estes trick of liberal sprinkles of baby powder on the offending silver. Seems that color is only one with rubberized backing. So far so good with powder AND it makes rocket smell baby fresh....lol

If at the launch dry dirt will work.
But doesn't smell April fresh.

M

I had the same thing happen with a bunch of SkyAngle streamers I had that used the silver fabric. I tried everything I could think of short of a solvent like acetone. I even bought unscented billiard chalk (I can't stand the smell of Johnson's baby powder) and that really did not completely fix it, especially in the Texas heat. The streamers were made of two strips of material and I ended up just cutting off the silver portion.

Maybe something like GooGone would work? I really think the gooey stuff needs to be completely removed to make the chutes reliable enough to be used.


Tony

Thanks for all the tips. What I ended up doing was to go though the chute panel-by-panel. I liberally sprayed the panel with 409 cleaner and worked it in a bit with a paper towel, let it set in a couple minutes, then wipe it dry with cloth rags (changing often) and hang it for a day or so to thoroughly dry. The first time through made a significant improvement, but I was still not comfortable that it would inflate after deployment. I repeated this treatment two more times. I'm pretty sure it will work this time.

The flight is planned for Red Glare in April. I will update this thread afterwards.

I heard this was due to the chute being made from sail (for sail boats) material. I personally would never use a chute unless it was soft and "slippery" and opens easily. All things considered and for what we pay for chutes of size...I would not trust my recovery on stiff material, no way no how...Just my 2 cents....that is all.
Andrew