Leaking Hannibal Rooftent :(
 

I see on another thread people debating the pros and cons of rooftents. Well I'm back from a very rainy week in Ireland and our tent leaked so much we had to abandon it for a ground tent. It is a Hannibal rooftent and the problem seems to be mainly around the horizontal poles across the top that support the whole thing.

The central pole was fine, but the other two seems to make contact with the outer sheet in the wind, and these 'wicked' the water into the tent, causing a non stop dripping effect.

Has anyone else experienced this, and got any ideas how to fix this problem?

Could it be that it was badly set up? We could not see any issues with the set up, but it seemed that the tension on the outer sheet was not enough.

Also, anyone got any tips on how to dry out a rooftent on the road??

Thanks for any ideas...

I'm still not quite dry!

What outer sheet option have you got? Have you go the standard outer where both side are the same, or have you got the extended outer where the side that comes over the entrance is extended for the enclosed entrance?

Standard Outer
 

Hi Chris,

Yes it's the standard outer where both sides are the same. The tension is provided on each side by two springy steel poles, this keeping outer and inner sheets seperated.

I can see why that would cause problems...the springy poles probably won't stay springy for long...and won't provide enough tension.

We've opted for the extended entrance and the added bonus is that you can tie guy ropes to the top corners and create added tension with them. We also bought the two adjustable poles (but not sure the £18 was worth it).

Have you had a look at playing around with the pole that sits between the outer and inner at the roof apex- if you can move that higher to increase the distance between the two layers, that might help.

Thanks
 

Thanks Chris,

We've jsut been out for another look and have decided to mimic what happens with the cetral pole with the two outer ones. I.E. We want to attached two more poles that sit between the outer and inner sheets. We think we may be able to glue on some fabric and create some sort of steel pole to sit in it.

We may also add so guy ropes once we see the effect of this

thanks again

Hi Ollie,

You should have bought my 110!!
We had a Hannibal and a Howling Moon, the Hannibal always leaked and the Howling Moon never did.
Have you tried waterproofing the material with something like Fabsil? We met a few people on the road that had done this and from what they said it was very effective.
Best of luck.

James

www.womblingafrica.blogspot.com

Sometime, when I'm lonely ........
 

.....I wish I did :)

Anyhow, can't afford two landys now (can't afford the head bashing I'd get most likely!)

I think we've elected to go for a combination of putting some new poles in, and adding some waterproofing. I think that should do it. Taking him down to Cornwall in October for some more weather testing! I reckon that will take us to the next level.

Thanks for the advice. Which tent did you leave on it? I presume the howling moon? Has it gone yet?

Hi Ollie,

Sold the Hannibal cheap and kept the Howling Moon.
Still got it all, everyone that views the landy loves it and apparently I inspire them so much that they decide to go and build their own!!!

Shouldn't wet weather testing should be done in Wales??!!!!

Good luck.

James

www.womblingafrica.blogspot.com

Finally made the fix
 

Just thoughts I'd put an update that we have made the fix mentioned above, adding to extra poles to keep the flysheet away from the the canvas. it definitely helps, but we'll be testing it over the xmas break soon. You can see pictures of the actual fix, and details of the materials used on our blog

http://www.jollyfollies.com/blog/blogfile.html

Give me a shout if you have similar problems

Ollie,
the fly on the Hannibal is not really up to the job (too thin) in persistant heavy rain and the springy poles dont give enough tension as you've found.
With your fix, it might pool water in the fly above the new cross pole - unless you can put some extra tension on the corners of the fly ??? - in a storm in Ghana I did run some guy lines and pegs from the rear fly eyelets to the ground and at the front some bungee straps from the fly eyelets to the roofrack to keep the fly tight (and so it wouldnt take off!)

Going through Europe in Winter (Non Stop rain for 2 weeks!)) I just threw a good quality (Serratus) Tarp over the top of the fly - and that did the trick.
As for drying it out - just hoist it up any chance you get - at lunch stops etc - if it is that wet - ours was wet for 2 weeks and didnt harm it - no mildew at all.

The Hannibal is the best Roof Tent IMO - for Africa - where its hot n fairly dry, for your route I would think about a new Brownchurch (bombproof) or a Maggiolina - (if you are not too tall) - the Howling moon sounds OK - but the Brownchurch is really well made and has a PU fly, galvanised fittings and is better in high winds.

Cheers
Grif

Too Late Now :)
 

Hi Grif - I think the next thing we are looking at is putting some sort of guy ropes in. Trying to figure out if you can get some sort of professional type eyelets to put in.

Now that I have six months experience in all things overlanding there are quite a few things I'd change, but we've got our kit now, and I think the fixing is all part of the fun - honest!

Funny you mention the tarp, as we did discuss that put ruled it out as a bit tricky to secure. When you say 'threw' was it attached to the tent in any way?

Thanks for the advice Gripper .... alway nice to hear someone elses experience.

Cheers

Hi Ollie,
with the tarp I used four bungees - one at each corner and hooked them down onto vehicle
For me the fly needs making in a more waterproof material - I did consider getting one made up from silicon-nylon material (super waterproof) - but didnt bother in the end
- after a very wet Europe - we didnt get much rain through WA - in fact we had the fly off the tent most of the trip, only put it back on when we got back to Morocco.
Im sure your modifications are along the right track - keeping the fly further off the tent - the grangers fabsil idea would help - but the tent will smell bloody awful to sleep in afterwards - very strong odour from fabsil.
Cheers
Grif