Have any of you ridden a track treated with Soiltac? We are building a dual slalom track and are deciding what the best way is to keep the dirt compacted and the dust down. I know you can use Mag Chloride but it is a process you have to constantly do over and over. I found Soiltac today while researching some things and wondered what it is like. They say applications last a long time, but I wonder what it does to the track surface??
Tracks treated with Soiltac?
- Thread starter CRoss
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I'm not sure, but I think thats what Rockford, Il's track has on it. Does it end up with a sort of glossy look? Whatever they spray their track with works awesome. No dust, no effect by weather, no down time.
Sounds like a cool way to handle your stuff, good luck with that.
Sounds like a cool way to handle your stuff, good luck with that.
I am not sure how the finished product looks. I do not want it to look unnatural. The track is on a natural hillside and I want it to blend in with the surroundings. But the dirt here loves to turn to moon dust so we have to treat it with something. At the same time we want to be as friendly to the environment as possible.
I have no experience at all with the stuff but did a search and they have a good website that explains a lot of stuff. http://soiltac.com It says that it is biodegradable and environmentally safe. To take that shinny/unnatural look off maybe you can mix it in with the top couple of inches of dirt.
I have ridden on it, and it's awesome. I wish all bmx tracks would use it, cause the surface is awesome. It looks like dirt. No different in appearance. It just makes the surface much harder and more erosion resistant. And by hard, I mean the surface is harder than a wedding c@ck (that's a good thing): maybe that's why you observe the "shinny" surface. It'll blue-groove on you. If you can afford it, do it up.
Here's a link to some pics of a bmx track that has been coated with soiltac.
http://www.trilogypark.org/pics.html
Notice the black marks? Yeah, those marks are from tires - the surface is that hard and smooth...
Here's a link to some pics of a bmx track that has been coated with soiltac.
http://www.trilogypark.org/pics.html
Notice the black marks? Yeah, those marks are from tires - the surface is that hard and smooth...
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If you watched the Olympics the track had soiltac...
Yea, I ride there too occasionally, although I live like 2 minutes from it, haha. It is very hard, it almost feels like cement. It does look really natural too.
well I mailed the company to ask which of their products would be best suited for bmx track/DJ lip use; got an immediate reply, here's part of it:
For just 5USD you can get a quite large sample amount, should be sufficient to treat a lip, definately going to try it on the next jump
So how much do you think it would cost to do a small set of trails. I think this would be perfect to protect the trails I built for my city.
We played with Soiltac at our trails but only had the sample(1 liter) that you can get. Where we placed it seemed to hold together for months(maybe 5). We used it it in a wide area so it was spread out thin.
We got lazy and didn't get more. We'll probably get more soon tho. Our trails is seeing allot of traffic and its been dry which equals lots of dust!
Here's another soil stabilizer...soiltac seems more widely used but this looks good to.
DirtGlue
http://www.dirtglue.com/
We got lazy and didn't get more. We'll probably get more soon tho. Our trails is seeing allot of traffic and its been dry which equals lots of dust!
Here's another soil stabilizer...soiltac seems more widely used but this looks good to.
DirtGlue
http://www.dirtglue.com/
well the documentation says 1L from the sample bottle is enough for a surface of 4x2m. Suppose this is enough 1 lip and 1 landing. For 60USD you get a 19l sample pail, so that's about 19 doubles. Nice trail already ;]. Treatment should last at least a year.
mmm, this stuff sounds great - even doing just the lips of my trails would be nice. I rode our stuff yesterday and the thunder storms over the summer made everything bumpy as hell. For $60 - I'd consider getting the 19L sample pail. It seems like it would be a lot better than buying tarps and covering things up.
tarps are work but worth it imo. really depends how much stuff you have to cover. the soiltac is great too. we never used it on lips though. the 1L sample we got was used on the ground in heavy traffic area. we had to mix a couple batches to apply the 1L. think of how many it'll take with the 19L!!! we were just working with a watering can though. how would you apply the stuff? i guess you could get a 55 gal drum and mix a good amount of it, then take from the drum and apply...
Imagine the shipping cost for a 55 gal drum! From what I've heard, the shipping cost is the bulk of the overall cost for getting this stuff, but I've never looked into it personally.
na im saying get an empty 55 gal and use it to mix the 19L hahah
I am waiting for a price quote from them.
What are you mixing? It is my understanding you do not mix the Soiltac with anything when you apply it.
We will use a 110gal sprayer we have that goes in the back of our Kawasaki mule. It has a boom sprayer so you can spray and roads or trails as your drive down them, or we have a hose attachment so we can spray down jumps and berms. This is how we were going to apply the Mag Chloride but we might get Soiltac instead.
What are you mixing? It is my understanding you do not mix the Soiltac with anything when you apply it.
We will use a 110gal sprayer we have that goes in the back of our Kawasaki mule. It has a boom sprayer so you can spray and roads or trails as your drive down them, or we have a hose attachment so we can spray down jumps and berms. This is how we were going to apply the Mag Chloride but we might get Soiltac instead.
Soiltac is good stuff we use it on our pump track here at the house in NJ, The soil is all sand and it does real well holding it together. Just make sure whatever you use it on needs to be packed prior to the application. Gonna use it on our dirt jumps on the next order. We did about 280ft in length by 4ft wide so far on the pump track. Used (2) 5Gal pails $60ea, $80 shipping, with a mix of 10 gallons water to 1 gallon soiltac for a total of 110 gallons of product. Talk to Glenn give him your measurements and he will let you know how much you need and how to apply. Our next order will be the 55gal drum just got to get the funds.
I just got a quote for 4 55gal barrels. Once I get a better estimate on the square footage I need I am sure I will be looking at closer to 6 barrels. After some number crunching after about five years is when it would become more cost effective to use Soiltac over Mag Chloride.
Anybody look into soiltac recently? I've sent an email to them yesterday and they replied saying that they do not sell to private or personal use. I've replied today with a bit more info to see what they say. Guess I could call as well.
Any other companies out there similar to soiltac?
Any other companies out there similar to soiltac?
Try calling. I called and bought a 1L sample bottle. I'm doing some tests to see how to best utilize the stuff on dirt jumps. When they asked me what the intended use was, I just told them "it's for a bmx track," which is one of their 'intended uses' listed on the website.
Soiltac comes in two forms (they have other product lines too, but I just got the standard soiltac), liquid and powder. According to the label, the liquid form has 50-65% of their chemical (a Vinyl Acetate Copolymer Emulsion), and 50-35% water. Shipping this stuff can cost more than buying it, so when I make a bigger purchase to lock down my dirt jumps, I'll probably buy the powder so I don't have to pay a bunch of extra money to ship water across the country.
Soiltac comes in two forms (they have other product lines too, but I just got the standard soiltac), liquid and powder. According to the label, the liquid form has 50-65% of their chemical (a Vinyl Acetate Copolymer Emulsion), and 50-35% water. Shipping this stuff can cost more than buying it, so when I make a bigger purchase to lock down my dirt jumps, I'll probably buy the powder so I don't have to pay a bunch of extra money to ship water across the country.
Jason, Mike G. and Trilogy do their tracks every year and Chris played with a sample at Catty. Mike G. is the best guy to talk to about it, I'm sure he would help you out. I don't have his direct contact info but I could probably get for you or you could get it from Jay D.
We're about to apply some to our new work. We waited till all the new stuff cured/dried out solid and dialed in the flow. Now, we'll apply the liquid form... we got 5 gals which will turn out 55 gals for track applications.
I'll post up some feedback...
I'll post up some feedback...
Nice man! So were you able to work with soiltac, or some other company? Second email sent to me said there was no way they could sell and send to me as a private residential customer.
I also was told of a company called poly pavement. This might have been mentioned earlier in this thread too. Checking out their site, it looks just as good as soiltac, just haven't talked to them yet.
Hey Ted, yeah I'm def aware of trilogy and Mikes experiences. Don't know Mike personally but it'd be cool to talk with him a bit. I really wouldn't need too much of this stuff but it would be great to have some to try out.
Why haven't you tried this by now for your place?
I like to change some of my jumps all the time, sometimes on the weekly so it would be a waste. I also have a ok system of shaping and tarps. Dale has used concrete sealer with good results to.
Well, soiltac is awesome so far. It really bonded all the soil together. We still need to throw a bunch riding and rain at it to see how it holds up but i'm happy =)
The increased traction is the best surprise...we can take our berms even faster without it feeling like the soil is going to break traction....GRRRIP!
My buddy ordered it for me a year ago. Maybe their policy has change since? My buddy does have a few companies, maybe he order it through that....
You can try Dirt Glue if you haven't yet....i'm gonna try it out next if i have a hard time getting more Soiltac.
http://www.dirtglue.com/
The increased traction is the best surprise...we can take our berms even faster without it feeling like the soil is going to break traction....GRRRIP!
My buddy ordered it for me a year ago. Maybe their policy has change since? My buddy does have a few companies, maybe he order it through that....
You can try Dirt Glue if you haven't yet....i'm gonna try it out next if i have a hard time getting more Soiltac.
http://www.dirtglue.com/
I just heard some hearsay, third hand, that soiltac can be basically recreated at home on the cheap. Word is, from a dude who spoke to another dude, who's dad is in charge of a race track on the west coast, that water, vinegar and white glue added to the correct proportions is fundamentally the same thing.
I'll be checking into it once we get our hands on the supposed recipe and give a test. But I thought I'd throw some e-speculation out there.
I'll be checking into it once we get our hands on the supposed recipe and give a test. But I thought I'd throw some e-speculation out there.
Would be interested to hear any home versions of this. Currently using kitty litter.
seriously, kitty litter? how so?
Buy the cheapest white kitty litter you can find (its just white clay) and mix it into the top inch or two of soil at about 15-25% kitty litter. Wet it and let it sit, then compact it. The white clay glues all the loose dirt together and resists rain better.
We have fine white sand here, pretty much worst case scenario.
We have fine white sand here, pretty much worst case scenario.