We went camping at the weekend, which was brilliant, but we had to pack up the tent in torrential rain which was less so.

Two questions:

1) How do people go about drying out a sodden tent? It’s way too big to put up or stretch out in the house and even if the weather wasn’t crap we don’t have an outside space big enough.

Our solution has been to pitch it in the local village church hall:

Which is handy but probably not a solution open to most folk so what do others do?

2) We did get a couple of drips coming through while we were camping (after a full night of heavy rain). What do folk use for reproofing synthetic tents? I’ve seen Fabsil Gold mentioned – do you just slop it on with a paint brush?

Back in the days when I was silly enough to go camping I’d hang ours up in the garage to dry out and reproof.

The tent may not be leaking. When it’s damp you get condensation on the inside, that can drip off.

As for drying, just got to wait for a dry day and pitch it. Unfortunately, our tent barely fits in our garden. 😳

I hang ours in the garage and use a dehumidifier – I have to reshuffle the material to make sure it all dries but it doesn’t take long.

Careful with Fabsil – there’s one type they do that’s not good for material with taped seams.

And one of them (not fabsil) claims you can apply it to a wet tent too as it’s water based so will just dry with the tent.

Which is handy but probably not a solution open to most folk so what do others do?

Self catering cottage. 😉

Yeah no garage either so that’s not an option for us Drac.

The tent may not be leaking. When it’s damp you get condensation on the inside, that can drip off.

Nah it was definitely leaks – dripping down from some of the lantern hanging points on the seams. (It’s actually not a bad tent for condensation – multiple vented portals and windows on it)

You don’t need to put them up to dry them out, a good shake and draping on the line with occasional moving about works for me. A bit of a breeze and sun and they dry pretty fast.

Check things like webbing loops for dampness too.

Yeah no garage either so that’s not an option for us Drac.

I’ve also used the dinning room with a clothes line from corner to corner.

We just drape ours over a clothes horse or two and turn regularly, if its well soaking I hang it over the line or bath till the worst drips off first.
As has been said a few drips in those circumstances are generally down to condensation.

Garden for the big one, garage for the small ones.

Was your leak in a panel or a seam? If the latter then a seam sealer might be an option. It’s still best to apply it when pitched though.

Yeah I’m pretty sure it was a seam. I’ll buy some seam sealer and take it with us next time we go camping. Any recommendations on brands?

The main panels were wetted out – but they were okay as long as we didn’t actually touch them. They could probably do with a bit of a reproof to help beading but to be honest in that rain nothing short of marine-grade tarpaulin was going to keep us completely dry 😀

Aye, for family sized tents it’s going to be garage (if wet outside) and washing line when dry.

Not had to re-proof a tent (or at least not tried) for ages. Our family tent was sold earlier this year (sniff) as we weren’t getting the usage any more. motorman now has it 🙂 Still have my old Quasar though and a 1-man packing tent as new addition.

I did get completely soaked in a tent I borrowed off my dad, I think it might have even been single skin gore-tex, was a foul night with two of us, water was sloshing about by the time morning arrived. Yuk. I think that was as much condensation as leaks.

*enviously eyes people with garages, big gardens or houses large enough to hang up a tent in*

Damn you all.

On the bright side, sticking it in the church hall for a couple of nights only cost us £2. 😀

Hang it up in the house while you camp out in the garden? oh, no, wait.. 🙂

A loft/attic if you’ve got one, always warm up there and hopefully room to spread it out without it being in the way.

If you can just stick it in the garden, even if it’s raining for a few days afterwards it only takes a dry day and you’ll be fine especially if sunny/windy, you can then reproof, get the seam sealer out at your leisure, we had our main tent up in the garden for about 5 days this time last year (mainly due to our laziness)

Swap for a smaller tent that can be dried out indoors.

On one (memorably ‘moist’) busy DofE weekend, we had to dry tents for 124 (so 60+ tents, including the staff tents), with one small sports hall due to the ongoing torrential rain.
And re-issue them 3 days later.
Once more into the rain…

take it round a mate’s house and hang it up on their line for the evening 🙂

i also stored most of my camping clobber in the said mate’s shed which was pretty handy

Last trip I took, I got caught in a storm fierce enough to break the tent. I had to do a mad dash in my underpants to a mate’s tent. The next morning I poured gallons of water out of the thing, couldn’t have been wetter if I’d thrown it in the lake.

When I got it home I draped it over a washing line. An afternoon in the sun and it was bone dry.

A few weeks ago I re-proofed a cheap awning I had bought for our caravan, with Fabsil. Easy to do. Apply neat with a spray bottle & spread it around with a clean cloth. I didn’t do the seams, as had no seam sealer, so it did come in a bit through the seam, but some major areas that were leaking due to the internal coating peeling off were sound after the Fabsil treatment.
A 1 litre tin did two generous treatments on a 3.9m caravan awning.

just stick it on the line…..

that tent looks bigger than my house….

Tie some string to the corners, and go jumping off tall buildings? aka as a Parachute.

After a few jumps it should be dry?

Go round parents house with a big garden. Put it up on a dry day (ensure grass is dry too). Leave for about 48 hrs if possible and wipe down and fold away.
Yes a ball ache.
This was our campsite the morning of putting our tent away last Wed (4 days of heavy rain)

Not our tent, next doors:

Not a drop of rain in our new tent though (Outwell Vermont LP). Our old Vango, fibreglass pole tent leaked.

New blow up tents will suffer the same as fibreglass pole tents. They bend in the wind and can allow pooling on the roof. Steel framed tents keep the tent super rigid and tight.

“Steel framed tents keep the tent super rigid and tight.”

Material is immaterial – not all *insert material here* poles are equal

Swap for a smaller tent that can be dried out indoors.

To be dried in our house it would need to be a tent that can be dried in less space than is required to swing a kitten.

Such a tent is unlikely to sleep four and have somewhere to sit out the rain.

that tent looks bigger than my house….

Your house must be even smaller than mine then!
(Tent footprint is 3.9m x 5m – pretty small compared to some of the monster family tents on the campsites, see superfli’s pics for examples)

This was our campsite the morning of putting our tent away last Wed (4 days of heavy rain)

Get. To. The. Travelodge.