Tent TLC
 

I own a Robert Saunders mountain trek tent that I bought in 2006.


I have used it on a number of occasion and, as luck would have it, despite pitching in snow on a couple of occasions, I have been very lucky in avoiding rain.


On my last trip we did have some rain and I noticed that, although I remained dry inside the tent, rainwater did soak through the flysheet, so that both inside and outside were very wet. The inner remainded dry because it was not in contact with the fly.


I also noticed that, on a particularly wet night, the groundsheet showed signs of dampness (a darkening of the fabric, although almost dry to the touch inside).
I concluded that water had penetrated the outside waterproofing but not the inner coat.

Please note that I pitch on smooth ground, where possible, I remove any sharp objects and I use a tough footprint under the tent.


Any recommended techniques,products or treatments that would restore/improve the waterproofing of fly and ground sheets?

Cheers.

Hi we used an aerosol spray that you can get from your outdoor centre that waterproofs the outside of your tent , we hung it over the clothes line and sprayed it all over , 1 tin did the whole thing . Just let it dry and bobs your uncle .
We used it to camp over the weekend at T-in the park Scotland , and it rained all night !!!
I found it to be great stuff , but not to sure about your ground sheet .

There are many products on the market to do the job of re-proofing a tent. I've tried many over the years but the one that I've found to be the most effective, and longest lasting is Fabsil, you can get it as an airosol, or in liquid form that you apply with a sponge.

You can get it an many outdoor shops in the UK, not sure about the Batlic though.

Here's the stuff -> Amazon.co.uk: fabsil

For the grounsheet, it depends on the material, but I've used wax in the past, not candle wax but the thornproof dressing that they use on wax jackets. Like this here -> Barbour Thornproof Wax Dressing - D270100 : Authentic Barbour Clothing from Country Attire Ltd.

It can be a bit messy though, and you need to make sure you don't pack any treated area next to the tent fabric. If the water isn't getting in then maybe best to leave it for the momment ?

Are you sure the inside of the flysheet is wet due to rain, or is it condesation ? It still won't hurt to re-proof it though. We have both Vango and Sunncamp tents that get heavy condesation in wet weather, especially when we're all in them and they are zipped up. You can stop this by increasing the ventilation through the tent, such as pitching a bit wider so there is an air gap between the flysheet and the ground, or opening any vents.