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Why doesn't my tent stop rain? |
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6-Apr-2014 12:58:44 PM
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OK all you gear gurus. My ten year old MSR Hubba something filled 3 inches with water at Buffalo in January. Yeah it rained pretty hard, but I copped it worse than others. Is my fly finally RS? Is there any way to repair/rewaterproof it?
If it can't be fixed, is there anyone who needs a perfectly good inner and/or poles for their 2 person Hubba whatever it is?
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6-Apr-2014 1:29:39 PM
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On 6/04/2014 The Gymp wrote:
>OK all you gear gurus. My ten year old MSR Hubba something filled 3 inches
>with water at Buffalo in January. Yeah it rained pretty hard, but I copped
>it worse than others. Is my fly finally RS? Is there any way to repair/rewaterproof
>it?
>
Three inches is a lot of water... Were you located in a low spot where water puddled?
~> Or did the water come in through the walls or roof, instead of the floor?
>If it can't be fixed, is there anyone who needs a perfectly good inner
>and/or poles for their 2 person Hubba whatever it is?
If it is just a matter of re-waterproofing, instead of paying mega for countless tubes of seam-seal, try WW&S's version of cheapo waterproofing, as it actually works!
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6-Apr-2014 5:24:20 PM
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Make sure you are pitching it right. This might mean after a good soaking of adjusting things as wet material stretches. Fly shouldnt be touching inner.
Saying that, if your fly has seen a lot of sun, then yes it degrades. In my experience this means the darn thing rips really easily, this is more of a problem than waterproofness.
If its the seams that are leaking, then get some seam sealant onto the seams and joins.
If the fly is cactus, Might be worth contacting the manufacturer to see if they can sell you a fly only. You would have to make sure it fits your model. I got macpac to sell me a replacement fly to a nautilus, but if never really fitted right so i suspect they tweaked the design at some stage.
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7-Apr-2014 9:40:51 PM
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Could be the floor. MSR tents, like other American tents, have very weak floors, and the gravel on the Catani tent sites is very sharp.
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7-Apr-2014 10:06:24 PM
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I've had that happen with the floor after 3-4 years. Buy the same type of silicon you'd use to waterproof a fish tank. Dilute it with meths to a consistency it can be applied with a paint brush. Paint the exterior of the tent floor and it should be water proof again. Don't get the silicon mix on your clothes, it won't wash off naturally enough.
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7-Apr-2014 10:30:39 PM
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On 7/04/2014 JamesMc wrote:
>Could be the floor. MSR tents, like other American tents, have very weak
>floors, and the gravel on the Catani tent sites is very sharp.
If it were the inner floor it wouldn't fill up - that would mean it's retaining water. T
hat said, filling up by 3 inches due to seepage in your fly sheet doesn't sound right either... my guess is you pitched in a gully at just the wrong angle and a gush of water overloaded a weak point - eg. door or mesh area.
OR it could be a combination of all three - and only part of your floor is weak & the other part is bucket solid.
Can you take it out in a backyard and hose it down, see where it's leaking? Then follow some of the above tips for prevention. Ten years of heavy use is a pretty good life for a tent.
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7-Apr-2014 10:31:11 PM
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I have the outer and poles for a Macpac Minaret if anyone wants it?
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8-Apr-2014 7:02:57 AM
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On 7/04/2014 martym wrote:
>If it were the inner floor it wouldn't fill up - that would mean it's retaining water.
Water proofing works up to a pressure level. The weight of everything in the tent might be enough to force the water up through, but the weight of the water not enough to get back out. A pool under a tent is bad news.
That said, it's not going to defy equilibrium, if there's 3" on the inside, there must have been about 3" on the outside at some stage if it all came through the floor.
I was up there this year and had to do some fast channel digging thanks to neighbours diverting all their run off under my tent. It rained very, very hard though. Quite a lot of water splashed up under the fly and through the mesh inner of my tent. Anything close to the edges was damp like it'd been sprayed with a spray bottle.
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8-Apr-2014 9:54:09 AM
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I'm a fan of silicon. and many layers of it. I just grab cans of the stuff from paddys, I think the brand is astuko, but can't remember, I've reproofed my macpac Apollo, and made a shitty kmart tent pretty darn waterproof with it.
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12-Apr-2014 11:04:47 AM
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Sent you a PM re: "if it can't be fixed" :-)
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